Citizens are used to CCTV surveillance but a parliamentary group says that cameras are being turned on governments to keep them in line. “Sous-veillance” will see video sharing sites such as YouTube used by citizens to shine a spotlight on things such as deadly hygiene lapses in hospital wards and uncollected rubbish, according to the European Information Society Group (Eurim). The vision of the “public monitoring the state” and shaming them into action using cameraphones is one of several key ways that Eurim says technology can be used to transform government and empower the public.

Its report says: “New web applications such as YouTube or Patient Opinion enable people to monitor the state and to be heard. People can easily post videos of dirty hospital wards, of uncollected rubbish or of pot holes in the road, to a world-wide audience. “Sous-veillance might transform political engagement due to its ease of use, by engaging even the time-poor majority and extending citizenship beyond the usual special interest groups.” But it warns that the approach does risk airing vendettas against individual public workers, introducing greater budget pressures and distracting from wider public service reforms.

This isn’t news, just interesting to see how the watchers are becoming the watched, and how they will deal with this obvious dilemma. My concern is from the danger of internet censorship and laws against video recording “the authorities” in action.




  1. hhopper says:

    Har! If there’s ever a revolution, it’ll probably start on YouTube!

  2. bobbo says:

    I see nothing wrong, in fact I see it as a beneficial DUTY of the state to surveil “the public” with closed circuit TV and DNA sampling. The counter is every bit as important==people surveilling the government, and all for the same reasons.

    Kudo’s for putting your finger on the key difference between the two activities. Its spotty right now but I see that struggle for the First Amendment as very real. You can see it in the “free speech zones” that the political parties are getting used to imposing on society. A fascist type ban on criticism is philosophically not far away.

  3. Improbus says:

    As long as I don’t have to look like Flavor Flav this is all good.

  4. Micromike says:

    #1 – Good suggestion
    #2 – I agree whole heartedly.

    The government has already started dealing with this by requiring you to obtain a license to film in any large city. It seems to be based on the quality of your equipment and it is assumed private citizens have no need for broadcast (high) quality cameras so they must be licensed. The next step might be outlawing video recording of government employees or property because that would provide information to terrorists. We will have to be diligent to keep our right to record things in our own lives no matter how it relates to government.

    Americans are so afraid they want to be monitored 24/7 for their own safety, and we need to watch the monitoring entities. Big Brother is watching, the best thing we can do is watch back, because he is misbehaving also.

  5. MikeN says:

    Weren’t you guys complaining about a website that put up professors’ classroom politicking?

  6. bobbo says:

    #5–Mike==can’t you event try to be relevant at least 30% of the time? I recall the subject but don’t think I posted on it.

    If I did post, I hope I said anyone/everyone should be responsible for what they say. Its called “the truth” not to be subjected to the procrustean obsfucations of certain political hacks such as yourself.

  7. ECA says:

    Iv said before…
    IF they do it to us, WE do it back on THEM HARDER..
    When the Paparazzi Surround THEIR homes and watch EVERY second of THEIR lives, so we can see the BACK STREET things going on…THEN I will know Im safe..

  8. JPV says:

    They will just make it illegal to video tape someone, and upload it, without their prior consent.

    You’ll see…

  9. Geoffrey says:

    #1,2,3,4,6,7: Agreed 100%.
    #8: I fully expect you will be proven correct.

    This subject is a far bigger deal than it seems at this point in time in my estimation.

    Unfortunately the majority of citizens are not as thoughtful as most of us. This is not arrogance. TV is most people’s main information source, even today.

    The masses will ignorantly generally follow along with authority no matter what, because the words that come from the mouths of authorities still carry an air of authority, as it were. This can continue even well after facts and logic would conspire to suggest otherwise. For example, most American citizens believed the government/media lie that Iraq was responsible for the attacks of 9/11, and amazingly many still do believe this lie. The psychology of self-justification plays a large part here. In other words it’s hard to accept the fact that someone was able to trick us into believing a falsehood for a while. It is similar to what causes older parents and widows to so often fall prey to financial scam artists and resist logical advice from other family members.


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