CCTV cameras

What do you think about the increasing use of CCTV in the UK? Do you see it as an invasion of privacy? Or do you welcome it as a way of making the world a safer place to live?

I don’t really understand why people seem so nervous about CCTV. I have read 1984, and don’t really see that the way that we use CCTV is remotely the same. To my mind, I know that I have nothing to hide, so I don’t mind if the CCTV cameras follow me everywhere I go outside my home. I admit I would not like it if they were to try and view me in my own home, but that’s only because I’d feel sorry for whoever was operating the camera having to watch me scratch my bum all evening.

That’s one of the most common counter arguments given in this debate against the invasion of privacy point – that if you have nothing to hide, then you have nothing to worry about, and this is my position too. I wouldn’t mind a chance to get up to something that I could possibly get into trouble for!

I do question why so many people are worried about these and see them as an invasion of their civil liberties. I have always acted while out and about as if I were under constant watch anyway… that way I was always sure that I hadn’t done anything that I would be ashamed of, or worried about others finding out about. It does rather beg the question of those people that are so worried about them as to what it is exactly that they are scared of them finding out about them? Maybe they might catch you out in you affair? Or catch you speeding? Or stealing an apple from a fruit stall? I really have no idea what they are so worried about, but they do seem to be worried about something.

To be honest, we are already under almost constant surveillance wherever we go already, so it’s really not too far a leap to complete CCTV coverage now.

Some people say that they are worried they will be used to spy on people and my response to that is simple ”well don’t do anything that needs spying upon”

CCTV doesn not bother me in the slightest. I can walk anywhere I want safe in the knowledge that I know I don't do anything illegal, so therefore have no reason to let them bother me. If anything, I find them a comfort. People are much less likely to commit an offence on you walking past a CCTV area. I think it should be more widespread in all areas.

I think that the benefits of CCTV surveillance are outweighted by their downsides.
In reply to the points about 'if you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to worry about', would you feel the same if you were being watched directly? For example, imagine you're walking to the shops when you notice a policeman walking behind you, staring. You keep walking, and the policeman is still following. He goes into the shop after you, stands and watches you while you get your shopping, and then walks behind you as you go home. Personally, I would find this very unnerving, even while accepting that I'm less likely to get mugged if the policeman is nearby. It's an intrusion into my life which I haven't asked for.
I also suspect that CCTV cameras just move problems elsewhere. Someone going out wanting to break into a car, for example, might just go somewhere where they know that there aren't any cameras, rather than really be deterred from comitting a crime.
Also, CCTV cameras encourage us to mistrust each other. They imply that we need surveillance to prevent us all mugging each other, wheras surely there are better ways of encouraging a community to be cohesive.
There's also the inevitability of CCTV footage being misused. I'm sure that loads of bored security guards monitoring CCTV have zoomed in on womens' cleavage, laughed at people tripping over etc. I don't want to be turned into someone's amusement as I walk down the road, whether I know about it or not.
Perhaps a stronger argument is that CCTV cameras are 'the thin end of the wedge'. If we accept CCTV cameras, we are more likely to accept more intrusive forms of surveillance, such as ID cards, CCTV cameras with microphones, mosquito devices and so on.

There is already a great deal of legislation as to how CCTV surveillance may be used and protection of peoples’ rights to privacy.

One of the other benefits of CCTV that many don’t recognise, but that I personally appreciate due to experience, is that they also ensure that the police themselves are forced to behave properly and not act as they used to, not that long ago, in harassing and assaulting individuals that they suspected, but could not prove, of doing something wrong. Another usage that I have appreciated is when I was sleeping rough, that it provided a much needed source of protection from other members of the public attacking me while I slept or rested.