Why We’re Not Concerned Enough About Hidden Cams
People in the West claim to be very concerned, or even extremely concerned, about their privacy, but many privacy advocates and experts have found that our actions do not live up to our verbal claims. And when it comes to concern about hidden cams, many of us are not nearly as concerned as we should be. Hidden cams have become a reality of life in our society, but many people never give a thought to this potential threat to our privacy.
For the most part, we’ve accepted hidden cams. A recent movie was set in the United Kingdom because it relied heavily on the use of video from closed circuit television, and in London, for example, surveillance cams catch almost everything anyone does in public. Not only do we accept both visible and hidden cams, but now we’re making them a part of our popular culture.
Hidden cams are not necessarily a bad thing. We, as a people, do not need to rise up and demand that no one ever uses hidden cams in public places, or that all hidden cams be banned. The problem with our position on hidden cams is that, by and large, we expect and accept that they’re being used properly. Quite often, we don’t have a clear idea what private businesses or government agencies are using hidden cams or where they might be used. We assume everything is fine, as far as hidden cams are concerned, because we’re not hearing otherwise in the news.
The problem is not so much that we do not care about the use of hidden cams or how they affect our lives. The problem is that we expect good stewardship. We trust that everyone is doing what they are supposed to do, and we don’t think too much about it. Where hidden cams are concerned, this can be a very serious problem if our trust is misplaced.
The question is what if we’re terribly wrong about the people using hidden cams? This can happen either in private establishments or in a larger way with government surveillance.
As an example, most of us expect that our employers may use hidden cams in public areas of the office. While we may not like this, we do understand that preventing employee or customer theft is important to maintaining their business success. They may also be using their hidden cams to observe employees who regularly leave early. And in certain professions, we may want hidden cams watching our customers, as well as employees, to protect us.
But what if our employers start eavesdropping with hidden cams in the dressing rooms? This is not legal, of course; however, some employers may feel that they have a right to hear conversations their employees may have about the company, and the locker room is a logical place for those conversations. We assume our employers won’t watch us in private areas, where we may be undressing. We trust them. And usually we’re right. But we should consider the consequences if we’re wrong.
With government surveillance using hidden cams, the consequences can be just as great, if not greater. We assume that certain government agencies use surveillance in certain areas. For instance, if you enter a federal building, you assume hidden cams are capturing your image as you enter and while you are in the building. This helps protect everyone who uses the building, and we accept this as beneficial surveillance.
But say you’re on probation for a minor criminal offense, and your probation office is in a federal building. You’re captured on hidden cams going into the building, and going into the probation office. You expect that this record of your visit to a probation office will stay confidential, but what if someone misuses it, for whatever reason?
This is not to say we should be paranoid about hidden cams. But we should be conscious and aware that our actions are captured on hidden cams almost anywhere we go, and we should be concerned about how these hidden cams are used.
Tags: surveillance | hidden | cams
Filed under Electronics
March 20th, 2012 at 6:19 am
Do you have some thing which can jam a normal laud speaker blazing out in public gatherings. It will be an instant best seller in any third world country !!!!