I read with interest the comments of Dennis Russell [Fight crime with cameras, Viewpoints, Aug. 8]. He said the police should “cut down on crime … by putting cameras everywhere” and “When you are out in the public, there is no privacy. But when you are at home, that is another story.” It appears that Mr. Russell has a child-like view of life, like putting a big umbrella over the entire neighborhood so he can play outside even when it rains.
Privacy is the state of not being observed. When you are observed, people make judgments on you. Human nature as it is, those judgments are invariably bad ones. The Bill of Rights was written to define those inalienable rights that government cannot take from you. When cameras are placed “everywhere” by the police, that is the government watching you. Imagine being seen in an area where a robbery or rape or murder had just occurred and being brought in for questioning. Apparently Mr. Russell overlooks that fact that, to the police, everyone is a suspect! Imagine being seen coming out of a liquor store with a full paper bag and being judged to be an alcoholic. Imagine being photographed smoking – Oh, my God! – and being identified as an addict, and when seen by the right people, even work against your ever being employed. Imagine driving from here to there and coming home to several speeding tickets in the mail because you where photographed doing 5 miles an hour over the speed limit.
If Mr. Russell says you have no privacy in public, then how would he like someone to follow him along the sidewalk snapping pictures of him, or of his wife or mother or children? How about all those “funny” pictures all over the Internet of overweight woman who were unknowingly photographed from behind to show their big bottoms? How about all those videotapes of fat people walking down the street or eating every time the local news has a piece on the obesity “epidemic”? I’m sure they didn’t want those pictures taken of them.
How would Mr. Russell like cameras in public toilets? How would Mr. Russell like cameras focused on him while he works? I once took issue with a company threatening to have cameras on all of their employees. I even spoke to a lawyer. The lawyer said the 4th Amendment was written to protect people against government, not against private corporations. He said the minute you walk into the workplace, you have no constitutional rights.
When you are in Great Britain, you’re not in Kansas anymore. London has cameras on every street corner. The British police can call for every man in a town to show up for DNA testing when a sexual crime has occurred. The British police can billet themselves in your house for an undetermined length of time as they investigate a crime that has taken place there. Doubt me? Look at Masterpiece Theatre and Mystery on PBS. Apparently the British don’t heed Mr. Russell’s comment “when you are at home, that’s another story.”
Of course, Mr. Russell overlooks the most private part of you – your own body. Many American companies now require prospective employees to take drug tests before they will even look at your application and require random drug tests of their existing employees. They are searching the most private part of you – your body, your body fluids. You are suspect, and you must prove to someone that you’re not a drug addict. Of course, those drug tests also check for alcohol and nicotine. Have a drink or a smoke the night before and you probably won’t get the job.
But I suppose Mr. Russell is in favor of that because he’s of the mental bent that says, “Go ahead. I’ve got nothing to hide!”
The 4th Amendment begins with “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects.” Emphasize the word “persons.”
Yes, Mr. Russell, you carry you privacy around with you.
