In my little piece about gmail last week I noted that my journey to work covers many CCTV cameras. In a piece published on the same day at CNN it was noted that there are something like 4.2 million cameras observing our moves around the British capital. That really does seem like a great number. An American author – Jeffrey Rosen – notes,
Instead of being perceived as an Orwellian intrusion, the cameras in Britain … were hailed as the people’s technology, a friendly eye in the sky, not Big Brother but a kindly and watchful uncle or aunt [source]
Do you really think this is the case? I certainly don’t think of it as the people’s technology although I will admit to resigned acceptance of the devices. On the whole I suspect they are a necessary evil in the world we inhabit. Is that a foolish notion?