News: Surveillance cameras popping up all over region in attempts to catch criminalsm, but are they an invasion of privacy?

Jason Tait, a reporter for the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune, analyzes the trend toward installing more and more video surveillance cameras in the search for security, in this article.

The ACLU of Massachusetts does believe that there can be places were security cameras can make sense, to help keep people safe or enforce the law. Good examples are at "chokepoint" areas, like the entrances to public transit systems. But the usefulness of the cameras in deterring crime is exaggerated, and they raise privacy questions, as the article points out.

The story quotes a business owner who "welcome[s] Big Brother" to downtown, but does everyone?

Some of the questions that we encourage people to ask about surveillance cameras include:

- What are the technical capabilities of the cameras? Do they include software that automatically flags people who look "suspicious"?

- What are the plans for sharing and storing the digitized information?

- Can the information gathered by the cameras be used by the officials who control them for personal or political gain?

- What is the cost of using and maintaining the equipment? Will more cameras mean fewer cops or other basic equipment like bullet-proof vests?

- Have simpler methods been considered, such as better lighting, or more community policing? Is this a technical solution to a non-technical problem?

- Are there plans for expanding the use of the cameras?

- What safeguards are there to prevent "harassment by video camera" (e.g. zooming cameras in on women)?