Television newscasters too often try to convince viewers to watch recordings from surveillance cameras in public places. I’m not having any of it. Whatever insight such recordings may give into formerly unseen physical processes, etc, the inherent intrusiveness of such invasions of privacy is too great. No possible gain could justify such ubiquitous invasions.
I’m not impressed by arguments that people have no ‘reasonable expectation of privacy’ except in their own homes with the doors and windows locked and covered (and sometimes not even then). I have a ‘reasonable expectation of privacy’ very nearly everywhere, and so ought everybody. If someone is dancing naked on a flaming flatbed truck speeding down a major highway, expectations of privacy might be argued to be (very slightly) attenuated, IF the dancer were reasonable, and had freely and publicly agreed to forfeit privacy.
Otherwise, people have as much right to privacy in ‘public’ places as in ‘private’ ones, especially as it’s often necessary to pass through ‘public’ places to get to other ‘private’ spaces: or to acquire material goods necessary for survival and/or comfort. And for some people, there are no ‘private spaces’ to retire to. Whatever is done must be done ‘in public’, because more and more areas are fenced and walled off. Even some streets and alleys are ‘vacated’ and built over or declared ‘private’. But the general public are not allowed to go into these ‘private’ passages for privacy, shade, etc–they’re kept out.
So we need to establish a rule that people can’t forfeit their right to to privacy without explicitly stating so, EVERY TIME.
As a corollary, it’s necessary to disable and remove ALL ‘public’ surveillance cameras. Not only do they waste incredible amounts of energy and materials and time, they are insufferably intrusive.
And some of them are actively dangerous. The so-called ‘stoplight cameras’, for example, have horrendously bright flashes, which go off unpredictably, and shine down roadways and sidewalks, unexpectedly blinding passersby–near intersections, when they most need to be able to see.
But even cameras that are unaccompanied by bright flashes have much more nuisance value than any supposed benefits could possibly counterbalance. So if you want me to watch your shows, DON’T show me any footage from ‘hidden’ or other public cameras.
For today’s less-easily answered question, I knew that there was more than one Hawai’ian King named Kamehameha. So I wondered–which one bore the surname ‘The Great’? Turns out it was the first of that name, Logical, I suppose–but logical answers aren’t always right, so it was best to check.
treraia 