Everyone Everywhere Instructed to Go Home as the Dutch Win Internet, Everything Else

[chaya]

Dutch Artists Celebrate George Orwell’s Birthday By Putting Party Hats On Surveillance Cameras

Dutch artist duo Front404 decorated security cameras with party hats in one of the Netherland’s largest cities to celebrate George Orwell’s 110th birthday.On Tuesday, surveillance cameras in the center of the city of Utrecht were decorated with colorful

Comments

[anolinde]

Damn, that's a lot of security cameras... are they all over the place in US cities, too, or is this more of a Netherlands/European thing?

/naive

[redstar826]

I think the big question would be if the information the cameras collect is used ethically and what oversights exist to make sure that material from the cameras that has no relationship to catching criminals is not leaked to the public. What I mean is, using the cameras to catch a robber makes sense to me. But what happens if someone is looking through the video and they find something that could be embarrassing but isn't actually illegal?

[redstar826]

So, you think there is no potential for an abuse of power if the government has access to video of everything that happens on public streets, in public parks, etc?

[redstar826]

Lets say for example, a local politician is walking down a secluded park path with a woman who isn't his wife. It is clear though from the video captured that they on a romantic outing. A government employee is reviewing the tape from that night because someone was mugged nearby on that same night and the police have requested video. He sees the segment with the politician and decides to share the video with a local news station. Maybe he voted for the other guy. Maybe he just wants some attention. Who knows. Is that an abuse of government power

[redstar826]

So, to be clear, you have no issue with equipment being funding by tax payers being used to embarrass and draw attention to people who have done nothing illegal?

[redstar826]

Why do you think that this would be an appropriate function of government? Just because something can be done isn't an argument that it should be done.

[redstar826]

Not everything that could be embarrassing or harmful if released publicly is a 'stupid thing'. See the example of the person holding hands with his boyfriend. Or the example below of someone sharing a video for the purpose of making fun of someone's appearance.

[bellonia]

that's ridiculously homophobic.