Are We Heading Towards A Big Brother World?

More and more CCTV cameras are popping up all around the world in any place from outside banking institutions to parks.

Photo from Anders Sandberg’s flickr

Everywhere you go, you seem to be watched at some point or another – in fact in the U.K you can be watched up to 300 times a day.

Is the Big Brother fantasy from the book “Nineteen Eighty Four” becoming a reality? Slowly but surely is probably the answer.

Especially so in the United Kingdom, which is the most watched nation on earth – with a reported one camera to every 14 people as of 2008 (a total of 4,2 million). Other nations around the world are extending their use of CCTV.

On the one hand – if anything does ever happen to you in the street, it will all be caught on camera and thus creates the idea of safety through a sense of security.

The argument is why do we need so many cameras in our cities and towns?

Just imagine, for one moment, we lived in a Big Brother world – where every action was watched and monitored. Would you be happy with this lifestyle?

Surely it’s an invasion of privacy to have so much CCTV surveillance following us wherever we go, as well as a violation of data protection.

It creates the feeling that we are being watched for no real reason other than so people higher up can keep an eye on us.

According to a YouGov poll, the majority of people are in full support of CCTV cameras – thinking they will keep us secure and safe. But would you trade an ounce of liberty for a lifetime of high level security?

The worrying factor is that more CCTV cameras will appear, as if there aren’t enough already. More so worrying is that the next step is for these cameras to feature high-powered microphones to monitor your conversations.

Whilst I can not deny that crime solving could be made a lot easier, I am in the majority when I say I have never broken the law and had no intention of doing so. I feel like my privacy is being severely invaded.

Do you think CCTV is a good thing or do you feel your privacy is being severely invaded?

PhotoLedger: Camera View

See a live concert through your phone’s screen?

Photo from Fredrik Smedenborn

HD video recording is almost in every smartphone now. I believe the one in iPhone is among the best, with 8 Megapixel capture embedded in their elaborate light capturing technology. With only a clutch from our pockets, we can capture movie-like scenes.

A pitfall I see is people tend to use it extensively, and for the wrong purpose. In a recent Pyro Olympics that I’ve been to, people everywhere just shoot the entire show in their phones. Accounts of an eagle-eye told me they mostly watch the fireworks gleam against the Cimmerian sky through the small rectangular screen of their phone or camera. Their view is very limited, and they miss out the entirety of exaggerated lights show. I call it a camera view.

Another instance is in a concert. People just record it all; perhaps YouTube is a reinforcement. I went to the concert to loosen up, jump, wave, scream for the artist and all those fanatical liveliness. People recording missed that hella of fun. Sometimes they do jump and scream while recording, which only messed up the video so why bother then?

That’s the way I see video cameras. It is best for familial moments, or moments dear to us like our first born, graduation, or a legendary outing with friends. It saved us the bulk of VHS recording of the past and gave us the ease of digital sharing.

What’s your view on this?

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Do You Have Social Media Etiquette?

Do You Have Social Media Etiquette?
by Nancy O’Neill of onedotadvice

When you post a photo online or tag a person in a picture, do you ask permission from them first?

Photo from photoXpress

What about sharing private information about your family or friends? Or what about posting videos or photos of strangers on your social media sites?

With the ease of capturing people in public without their knowledge, it’s impossible for someone to retain privacy unless they never leave their house. Let’s say you’re at a restaurant with your family enjoying dinner. Or you’re at school or work going through your daily routine. Or maybe it’s the weekend and you’re shopping at the mall. Anyone with a cell phone could be taking your picture or shooting a video of you without you ever knowing it. Within a matter of minutes, they’ve posted it on Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube. Your name probably isn’t mentioned unless they know you and maybe you won’t ever see the post but your personal life is now public without your permission.

What if you’re with some of your friends just goofing around? Someone pulls out a camera or their phone and starts clicking. Everyone is having fun but maybe not all of the people involved actually want these photos plastered all over Internet. Just because you can take photos effortlessly these days and post them online doesn’t mean you should.

Let’s look at another situation. You attend a conference. You meet lots of people, make great contacts and instant friends, and exchange all your social media information. It’s common for people to be taking pictures of everything and anything all day long at an event. Before your head hits the pillow, there’s a good chance that someone took your picture during the day and that you will be tagged in a photo posted online somewhere. In this situation, it’s probably harmless and most people won’t care if you shared their photo. However, it wouldn’t hurt to exercise common courtesy and get their permission or at least mention that you might share it with several thousand of your closest friends on Twitter or Facebook.

Ask yourself this question. “Would I take a photo of someone and post it on a freeway billboard or send it to a newspaper editor or use it in a book I was writing, all without ever asking the person’s permission first?”

Sharing information, videos, and photos online shouldn’t be any different from what you would respectfully do in person. People are entitled to their privacy. The next time you take a photo or video of someone and are ready to post it online, think about asking their permission first.

When kids are involved, extra consideration should be taken. Everyone, including parents, should think long and hard before posting anything online about their own kids or other kids without permission. What you share now will have an effect on their lives for many years to come.

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