Technology has bloomed more and more over the years and it will only keep developing in the years to come. Technology helps people and is used by them in their daily lives. Technology is used for many good things that help the world go round, but sometimes it could also be put to bad use, or a use that makes others not so comfortable in their own environment. There is one use of the technology that is not so entirely a good thing, and that piece of technology is called a surveillance camera. I want to talk about how these special camera's in a way, violate the peoples constitutional right of privacy and free movement.
There are many projects that many activists have created that address this very real issue of privacy rights. One of those projects that I want to talk about is called the Surveillance Camera Players by the group Surveillance Camera Players, which was formed in 1996. This group, the SCP, is a protest group that fights against the use of surveillance camera's, and what they do is walk around New York City and perform George Orwell's 1984 in front of surveillance monitors in the streets and in the subways. I feel that their goal in doing this project was to reverse the tide and show the Surcveillance camera's how it feels to be watched, and also the SCP wanted to make aware to people that it is not right for camera's to be monitoring their every move.
There is another project that address the issues of privacy. This project is called A Preliminary Guide to Public Space in Amsterdam, 2001, by Valerie Tevere. This project is essentially about understanding what is a private space, and what is a public space. Ms. Tevere in this project goes around Amsterdam interviewing random people asking them to describe one private and one public space located in the city. Tevere then goes to those places then starts to interview random people again. Her purpose with this project is to show that there really is no difference between a public space and a private space. It is like no matter where you go it will never be private even if you think it is because, people are every where and they occupy many spaces and if they are not watching you then it is most likely camera's are.
In my personal opinion I believe that surveillance camera's are a necessary evil. These camera's help figure out what happened in crimes, who the suspect is, and they also can find traces of evidence to help the case. A surveillance camera's purpose is to monitor and detect any possible threats so that police can stop the threat in advance or be better prepared for an oncoming attack. On the downside surveillance camera's can make someone feel claustrophobic and like they have no room to be. Everything comes with some consequences, and our consequence is that we get less privacy but more safe.
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