Blog: PSIM Trends

Boston City Surveillance Cameras - Good or Bad?

There was a great article in the Boston Globe this morning titled, Watching from a distance, about the cameras being put up in cities around Boston to help with surveillance in key areas. There is mention of the opposition to the cameras by some towns and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) because of privacy issues. It is an interesting debate and certainly one that needs to take place but there are a couple of items that often get lost in the discussion that are worth noting.

Here's a couple to chew on:

• As mentioned in the article, nothing is being viewed from the cameras that can not also be seen by someone in the public standing in the same location.
• There is no question that because cameras can be recorded, those images can be abused. But it is also true that there are technologies in place that restrict who can view what images and when they can view them. Organizations can also put in place policies to determine how long the images are saved.
• New technologies are available to allow the images and information to be shared across agencies in an emergency which can help agencies not only coordinate efforts for faster response but also lower manpower efforts. That technology was used in NYC when the plane landed on the Hudson. While I would not be one to argue lower cost justifies loss of privacy (even in these tough times), if it was my child that was kidnapped, or my family that got medical care faster or my community that limited a hazardous waste disaster because first responders were better able to do their job, I would be hard pressed to say that was bad.

Any organization or person can abuse power and technology for their own personal goals.  But I believe that the majority of the professionals that put their lives on the line to protect and save our lives have all the best intentions.  They need the tools to make our streets and our lives safer and we need to assure, through technology and policy, that the tools are not abused.   Certainly the "bad" people out there are not thinking twice about using these new technologies against us.