Security Cameras

A man walks away from a vehicle, then stops, puts his backpack down and removes his shirt. Looking anxiously over his shoulder several times he places the shirt in the backpack, then picks up the backpack and walks out of the camera’s line of sight.

That man was Faisal Shahzad, recently arrested on suspicion of terrorism after he left a vehicle loaded with homemade explosives in Times Square. Government and law officials plan to use video footage taken by surveillance cameras in proving that he had terrorist intentions when they prosecute him.

The danger of international terrorism has led to governments increasingly turning to surveillance cameras as a potential tool in catching suspected terrorists before they can strike. Airports are a particularly high priority, with much research being conducted into the use of facial profiling that can be programmed into computers watching every single camera at the same time. A computer that believes it has a match on a facial profile alerts an operator who can then pay the suspect more attention, tracking them until officers on the ground can intercept them.

Automated facial profiling is still largely untested, but the use of operator watched CCTV is increasing at government installations such as airports, and even in some countries inner city areas. The administrative and political centers of London, England are watched by a network of highly advanced digital cameras, capable of reading the headline of your newspaper from two hundred yards, of instantly comparing your vehicles license plates to a large number of government held checklists and of alerting police when firearms or other weapons are seen in public.

But crime fighting is not the only use for government run surveillance systems. There are valid public monitoring schemes as well, such as the traffic cameras that relay accidents and congestion to local radio and television stations; some of these traffic networks are also available for public viewing thanks to the internet. When the Galileo satellite network system comes online, which is expected to be in 2014, government run traffic information schemes will be capable of beaming that information directly to drivers via two way satellite navigation systems.

Meteorological cameras situated at key points keep track of changing weather conditions and the information they gather – which again in some cases is accessible over the internet – is collated to forecast changes in the weather and issue severe weather warnings where applicable. Satellite based metrological cameras monitor weather fronts while they are still out at sea, to better predict where and when hurricanes will make landfall. From this information local governments can prepare disaster recovery before the storm hits.

In 2008 the Norwegian and UK governments announced a joint initiative to use satellite based surveillance cameras to monitor the level of deforestation in the Congo Basin of Africa. Working on behalf of the United Nations, this scheme will enforce limitations on logging in the largest rainforest in the world, holding companies accountable and ensuring that quotas are enforced.

Even though George Orwell envisaged a government that spied on its citizens at all times for the most nefarious of reasons, the reality decades later is a long way from that vision. Yes, we are watched when we pass through major locations such as airports. Yes, we’re watched as we drive through major cities. But the reality is that 99% of that surveillance is never retained or used. Motorists driving through London, England will be watched almost every single meter of their journey, but unless there is something that specifically causes interest, such as a police flag for incorrect documentation or registered vehicle owners also wanted on warrant, those drivers will not even be aware of the surveillance.

And there no doubt that in some cases such surveillance can be of more help than harm. A traffic camera mounted over a busy highway will ensure a rapid dispatch of ambulances and fire trucks to an accident. Even though such accidents invariably lead to a flood of cell phone calls to the police, some of these calls may not identify the location of the accident correctly; having traffic flow cameras that do identify the exact location means that the emergency services can be dispatched to the right location and the nearest units are always sent.

Government run surveillance cameras may seem to be a sinister idea to make sure that citizens behave or ‘disappear’ but from the weather network to the traffic network to the emergency response network to the terrorist watch network, the truth is that these systems are here to protect us. From one another, from the environment and from our own accidents.