(Via Slashdot) Bloomberg is running a story on a somewhat creepy upgrade to some of Britain’s security cameras:
[A drunken university student] picks up a traffic cone and runs down the street. Suddenly, a disembodied voice booms out from above:
“You in the black jacket! Yes, you! Put it back!” The confused student obeys as his friends look bewildered.
“People are shocked when they hear the cameras talk, but when they see everyone else looking at them, they feel a twinge of conscience and comply,”
said Mike Clark, a spokesman for Middlesbrough Council who recounted the incident. The city has placed speakers in its cameras, allowing operators to chastise miscreants who drop coffee cups, ride bicycles too fast or fight outside bars.
I’ve heard comments to the effect that security cameras are somewhat effective at preventing crime, because the potential criminal knows that he/she is being watched.
I suppose that this enhancement certainly enhances the awareness that one is being watched.
I also suppose that this could be seen as a kinder, gentler version of New York City’s philosophy of being prolific in the generation of tickets for minor offenses, in the belief that minor offenders are more likely to commit major crimes than those who observe minor ordinances. Rather than clogging up the judicial system with minor offenses, you’re encouraging compliance at the scene of the crime.
Despite all that, it still seems mighty darned creepy to me.