Privacy Violations or Security Measures… You Decide
A small suburb of Philadelphia is making national headlines as it has been dubbed, “the most watched” city in the country. Lancaster, PA is home to some 55,000 residents, yet the city will soon be monitored by more outdoor cameras than larger cities like San Francisco or Boston. An article in the Los Angeles Times states “some 165 closed-circuit TV cameras soon will provide live, round-the-clock scrutiny of nearly every public street, park and other public space in the town of Lancaster”. Proponents of this measure argue that having increased surveillance will result in a reduction of crime in the town while opponents are outraged at the Big Brother nature of this measure. It remains to be seen whether this surveillance will continue to have those Lancaster residents on watch.
To read this article in full, go to http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-spycam-city21-2009jun21,0,3641451.story
In related news…
An article in this week’s Wall Street Journal calls to attention the fact that the Iranian regime has developed, with the assistance of European telecommunications companies, one of the world’s most sophisticated methods for controlling and censoring the internet. Technology experts claim this web spying aid enables authorities to not only block communication but to monitor it to gather information about individuals as well. It is said that many other countries including China & Britain are developing and beginning to use similar surveillance tactics.
To read this article in full, go to http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124562668777335653.html
Both the above news stories call to attention the importance of protecting ones privacy. An essential natural right, privacy violations can occur across many mediums of everyday life. We advocate citizens to take action to protect their personal, financial and business privacy before they too become victim to a privacy violation.
Posted in: Miscellaneous, Privacy, Uncategorized on June 23, 2009