It’s worth noting that (at least from everything we currently know), security cameras in the UK didn’t play a significant role in apprehending the terrorists involved in the recent car bombing attempts. Perhaps tracking cell calls helped. Or, perhaps suspicious people who noticed the smell of gasoline. But we have yet to see one report where surveillance cameras played a part in capturing the terrorists or stopping the attacks from happening.
Don’t tell that to Joe Lieberman, though. He wants more surveillance cameras in the US:
Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), the chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, said Sunday he wants to “more widely” use surveillance cameras across the country.
“The Brits have got something smart going in England, and it was part of why I believe they were able to so quickly apprehend suspects in the terrorist acts over the weekend, and that is they have cameras all over London and other of their major cities,” Lieberman said.
The idea of having ubiquitous UK-style surveillance cameras in this country is of significant concern in terms of protecting our privacy.
While there are those who will argue (and attempt to justify) broad and encroaching governmental powers to examine our personal lives, history teaches us that the death knell of a society is when it abdicates its civil liberties in the name of protection against real or imagined threats, empowering and trusting that universal vessel of irrationality: government.
Alex Eckelberry