Smile, You're On Camera

Brian Doherty | December 9, 2002

A gaggle of troublemaking malcontents are calling for public action at noon on December 24: the watched are encouraged to watch the watchmen by aiming personal cameras of any variety back at public surveillance cameras all over the world. If all goes as they plan, "ordinary people all over the world will call into question the growing and dehumanizing effects of increased video surveillance, automated face recognition, and Covernment (Corporate+Government) tracking in public places, as well as private places. Often Covernment officials that use video surveillance try to prohibit others from taking pictures or video within their establishments or regimes, but on this day, many people will photograph these officials, their establishments, and their security systems." This is a notch more aggro then the old Surveillance Camera Players, and it will be interesting to see how many people are willing to risk a public ruckus over this cause. What seems to be the same unnamed group tried the same thing in 1998 and 1999; their Web site doesn't discuss how many people participated.