(Not So) Candid Camera

A camera at work. I'm not a huge campaigner for privacy from CCTV, and I know cameras like this one are there...well, not to catch me out. But they still make me uneasy.

Some might be surprised I didn't finish that sentence by saying "it's there to protect me". This was a deliberate omission.

Because how exactly do they protect? Most crime I'm likely to face is impulsive, very much in the heat of the moment. Cameras might help prevent the small proportion of theft & violent crime which is premeditated...but that's hardly most crime. I guess it does help catch the culprit, but that's not the rhetoric used by those who advocate CCTV.

But "it'll let us get the guy who got you" isn't quite as attractive a trade-off for the loss of privacy...is it?

...hence my unease.