RunningWithBulls.com - The curse of Sanfermin

Bruce Schneier raises this question in respect to CCTV cameras being used on streets in England.

He comments on a case heard in Liverpool Crown Court:

“Two council CCTV camera operators have been jailed for spying on a naked woman in her own home.
Mark Summerton and Kevin Judge, from Sefton Council, Merseyside, trained a street camera into the woman’s flat.
[…]
The images from the camera, including the woman without her clothes on, were shown on a large plasma screen in the council’s CCTV control room in November 2004, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

Over several hours, she was filmed cuddling her boyfriend before undressing, using the toilet, having a bath and watching television dressed only in a towel.”

Judge Gerald Clifton told the three men: “To dismiss what was happening as laddish behaviour, something that the 21st Century apparently condones, is absurd.

Now, leaving aside the possible juvenile comments that could, and most definately were being made during the time these images were being viewed on the CCTV control room, this is one of the reasons behind people’s objection to CCTV cameras.

To have “people” of this calibre working in an area like survelience, is a disgrace. To give people of this calibre access to spy on people’s lives as these people have now been convicted of, goes beyond the reasoning behind these CCTV systems.

CCTV systems are put in place to try and combact anti-social behaviour, and of course, terrorism.

What these people have been convicted of is anti-social behaviour against the public. How are the members of the public of this district supposed to now trust the council? How was this crime reported? Was it via a whistler-blower, and if so, what would have happened if they were quitened?

As the Judge quite rightly put it, “Her life has almost been ruined, her self-confidence entirely destroyed by the thought that prying male eyes have entered her flat.”

Imagine if the details were of a more sinister nature.

Judge Clifton dismissed this with: “I am amply satisfied that your involvement was larger than you are prepared to admit, that you were at some stage controlling the camera, and that you were watching and enjoying the events going on.”

The Judge in this case is to be comended on his decision, particularly in requiring Mr. Summerton to sign the Sex Offenders’ Register.

While nothing like this has been reported in Ireland, how can we be sure that this does not go on in the CCTV control offices here?

And particularly with the talk of bringing road traffic cameras onto our streets to record registration plate details. Cameras of that high magnification can also be used for other uses.

These decisions have to be brought to the public, and discussed openly and publically, otherwise similar crimes could be committed in Ireland.

Sources from BBC (here also), and also The Register.