Setting the Watch: Privacy and the Ethics of CCTV Surveillance

227 Pages·2011·0.729 MB·English

by  Beatrice von Silva-Tarouca Larsen

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SETTING THE WATCH
Many liberals consider CCTV surveillance in public places—particularly
when it is as extensive as it is in England—to be an infringement of
important privacy-based rights. An influential report by the House of
Lords in 2009 also took this view. However there has been little public, or
academic, discussion of the underlying principles and ethical issues. What
rights of privacy or anonymity do people have when abroad in public
space? What is the rationale for these rights? In what respect does CCTV
surveillance compromise them? To what extent does the state’s interest in
crimepreventionwarrantencroachmentuponsuchprivacyandanonymity
rights? This book offers the first extended, systematic treatment of these
issues. In it, the author develops a theory concerning the rationale for the
entitlement to privacy and anonymity in public space, based on notions of
libertyanddignity.SheexamineshowCCTVsurveillancemaycompromise
these rights, drawing on everyday conventions of civil inattention among
people in the public domain. She also considers whether and to what
extent crime-control concerns could justify overriding these entitlements.
The author’s conclusion is that CCTV surveillance should be appropriate
only in certain restrictively defined situations. The book ends with a
proposal for a scheme of CCTV surveillance that reflects this conclusion.
Studies in Penal Theory and Penal Ethics: Volume 5
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Studies in Penal Theory and Penal Ethics
A Series Published for
the Centre for Penal Theory and Penal Ethics
Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge
GENERAL EDITORS
ANDREW VON HIRSCH, ANTHONY E BOTTOMS
Ethical and Social Perspectives on Situational Crime Prevention
edited by Andrew von Hirsch, David Garland and Alison Wakefield
Restorative Justice and Criminal Justice: Competing or
Reconcilable Paradigms?
edited by Andrew von Hirsch, Julian Roberts, Anthony E Bottoms,
Kent Roach and Mara Schiff
Incivilities: Regulating Offensive Behaviour
edited by Andrew von Hirsch and Andrew Simester
Previous Convictions at Sentencing: Theoretical and Applied Perspectives
edited by Julian V Roberts and Andrew von Hirsch
Setting the Watch: Privacy and the Ethics of CCTV Surveillance
Beatrice von Silva-Tarouca Larsen
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Setting the Watch
Privacy and the Ethics of CCTV Surveillance
Beatrice von Silva-Tarouca Larsen
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To my husband Jorgen and my son Nicholas
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Acknowledgements
MyheartfeltthankstoAndrewvonHirschforhisinspirationandsupport.
I am also very grateful to Mary Gower, Stuart Feather, Helen Krarup, and
Ann Philips at the Institute of Criminology in Cambridge, who could not
have been more helpful.
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Preface
The lyrics of pop songs often reflect the Zeitgeist and current pre-
occupations.
Some years ago, ‘Hard-Fi’, hailed as the ‘next major British band’,
released the album Stars of CCTV. Its eponymous title song had this
somewhat frantic refrain:
EverymovethatImake
getsrecordedtotape
sosomebodyupthere
cankeepmesafe.
I’mgoingouttonight
I’llgetmyhairjustright
I’malwayslookinggood
formyspotlight. ...
awinningsmileuptothegallery,
gonnagetmyfaceonthesixo’clocknews.*
Closedcircuittelevision(CCTV)surveillancehasfounditswayintoBritish
consciousnessafterall,inspiteoftheapparentindifferencecitizensdisplay
in the face of the CCTV phenomenon. While not directly an ethical
discourse, the song has a message: the words not only capture today’s
obsession with getting noticed and famous, and how unquestioningly we
have bought into the promise of security; they are also telling us that we
should not be fooled—being watched by millions of cameras as we go
about in public does something to us and it makes us change how we
behave. In spite (or because) of its upbeat mood, the song is cunningly
subversive. We want to challenge the naive and gullible simpleton with the
winning smile. Is it not rather grating to think that every move gets
recordedontape?ImaynotalwayswantthespotlightwhenIgoout.And
anyway,whoisthatsomebodyupinthegallery,andcanhereallykeepme
safe?Howisitthatmyfacecouldenduponthesixo’clocknews?IfIhave
not got my hair just right, that could be rather embarrassing.
In my discussion of the ethics of public CCTV surveillance, or open-
streetCCTVasitisoftencalled,Ishallpursuethisthemeandtrytounpick
the questions the song raises in the minds of those who listen. My focus
*StarsofCCTV
WordsandMusicbyRichardArcher
Copyright2005BMGMusicPublishingLimited.
AllRightsReserved.InternationalCopyrightSecured.
UsedbypermissionofMusicSalesLimited.
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