As we mentioned earlier, there's a good piece in the Sun today on CCTV in Scotland, a Scot is recorded up to 300 times a day – and another £4 million has just been spent on even more CCTV.
The piece carries a quote from yours truly. When the headshot of me they've used in the piece is blown up to the size they've used on the page, an unsightly spot emerges on my chin… another reason to dislike surveillance!!
As I hope I've made clear in my posts here in the past, we're not rabid about this issue – technology certainly has a part to play in law enforcement. The point is that there's a balance to be struck, that we've gone far too far down this road, and are unique in the extent to which we've done so.
To that end, the Sun piece uses one of the statistics I think is most telling in the debate about CCTV -
Shetland Islands Council, one of Scotland's smallest local authorities, have 30 more CCTV devices than San Francisco
The piece coincides with the news that, last year alone, the police in South Yorkshire spied on over 500 people using their surveillance powers. Those aren't people caught on CCTV by accident, mind – that's 500 people specifically named as "persons of interest" and monitored deliberately.
"Nothing to hide, nothing to fear" people (sometimes even very smart people) often say – do you feel the same if you are one of those Scots watched 300 times a day, or one of the South Yorkshiremen monitored by the police without your knowledge?
By Alex Deane