#FlockCameras #surveillance #SurveillanceAbuse #AI #AIManipulation #privacy
Someone is always watching you.
Or so it seems with the proliferation of Flock cameras.
These devices are license plate readers that police in various jurisdictions, also perhaps private security operations, are placing throughout an area to read license plates.
For police, they seem to be a great law enforcement tool. If a crime is committed in a certain area with a surveillance camera, it’s easier to find and capture the criminal.
But, recent news reports are showing that police officers themselves, perhaps spying on an ex-spouse or significant other, are abusing the advantage the cameras give them to fight crime.
And, to take it a step further, these cameras can be used to spy on any of us, for any reason.
We, as Americans, value our privacy. We should be free to undertake normal life activities sight unseen by law enforcement – unless we are actually breaking the law.
In the 1960s, a TV show called “Candid Camera” secretly filmed people doing funny (read: stupid) activities that were set up for them without their knowledge.
They not only didn’t know what they were about to get into, they had no idea they would be filmed doing it.
It was all in good fun, and provided some amusing entertainment. Most of those filmed were not in places they were not supposed to be, and most actually got a kick out of it.
It makes one wonder, though, whether there were any objections to being filmed, and whether those people forbade the show from airing them.
But, as discussed last week, AI, data centers and now surveillance cameras are giving government and other big entities a leg up on getting information about people in general.
There’s no doubt in most people’s minds that this gathering of information is going to be used for purposes not in keeping with the free American life.
Big Brother, from the novel “1984”, is watching. But, they may not be watching to look out for everyone’s safety.
There are certain activities that most people would call “wrong,” but are not illegal. If such activities get filmed, entities can use that information against the person being filmed.
Should police departments decide to become corrupt, they cannot be trusted with such information.
Someone with access could have a swindle side hustle selling that information.
Of course, there are those who argue that if one isn’t doing anything wrong, what’s the problem with filming them? They might be doing something embarrassing, but not necessarily wrong.
Combining AI manipulation with unnecessary surveillance, a situation can look a lot worse than it is. The person involved would have no way to disprove or refute it, even though he or she did nothing wrong.
America and the world is coming into a new age. We may go kicking and screaming, protesting the “advantages” of technology. But, once the capabilities are created and meshed, it is tough to stop it.
We would all be better off presuming that whatever we are doing, even inside our own homes, could be filmed.
Because we are human, perfect behavior will not be the outcome. It’s been said that a person can be judged by what he or she does when no one’s watching. Now, we have to believe everyone’s watching.
There are degrees of “wrong.” Inflating those degrees through technological surveillance and manipulation is the real sin.
Peter