COLUMN: Who’s watching? Everyone
The trouble with basing your expectations on science fiction is that the future is often already here, you just don’t recognize it. Remember the dog treadmill on The Jetsons? You can buy one right now. Or, how about Rosie, the robotic maid in the same Saturday morning cartoon? You can by a whole fleet of little robots that will vacuum and wash your floors, turn off your lights, bake bread and turn on the coffee pot; they just don’t look like Rosie.
The same holds true for the fictional Big Brother. “Orwellian” has become part of our language because of the book “1984” that depicted a society where everyone was being watched.
Well, it turns out that everyone is being watched by hundreds of cameras every waking and un-waking minute. According to a recent study, Britain has 4.2 million closed-circuit television cameras watching its citizens. It has been calculated that each person is caught on camera an average of 300 times daily. I don’t know what the numbers are for the U.S., but I doubt we are far behind.
Even in the relative peaceful anonymity of Cache Valley if you go on a two-hour shopping trip you probably end up being seen by 20 – 30 cameras. Every time you go through an intersection with stop lights you get caught on camera. Every automatic teller machine transaction records your photo. When you go through the drive up window at Taco Swell, get gas at self-service pump or walk through just about any store, you are recorded on a camera. And, this doesn’t count the eyes in the sky. Anybody can go on the Internet and get a satellite photo of their house clear enough to count the lawn chairs in the back yard. Don’t you think the government has access to even clearer, live satellite photos?
This is a great way to catch the bad guys, but who’s to say who the bad guys are?
I sort of doubt that everyone in charge of security cameras and their recordings is well paid, well trained and ethically pure. Who’s to say they won’t use what the cameras catch for unintended purposes? I’m sure that every couple who checks into a motel says they are married and up until recently all we had to dispute this were fake names on a registry. Now all the Mr. and Mrs. Smiths of the world are being caught on video at several spots in the motel.
The trouble with security is that you have to trust the people in charge of security. Have you ever gone into a bookstore where you are asked to place your bag behind the counter? The store owners do not trust you not to steal books, but you are supposed to trust them not to steal something out of your bag while you are shopping. How is this fair?
Plus the Internet is one big repository of everything you have done, both good and bad, since the dawn of the Internet. Every keystroke buying something, every chat room, news group and every posted photo are all there forever. Throw in all the idiots with cell phone cameras and it is quite likely that you are being photographed more than Paris Hilton at the beach.
Dennis Hinkamp works for USU Extension Communications and believes it is okay to be paranoid when everyone really is watching you. Comments and questions can be sent to Dennis at dennish@ext.usu.edu.