4. CCTV - Closed Circuit Television

The UK has more cameras pointing at its citizens than any other country in the world. Perhaps more than a million cameras are connected to video recorders situated in control rooms dotted around the country.

A CCTV camera is often seen mounted up on street corners, car parks, shops. People are so used to seeing them that they tolerate them and for the most part probably don't even notice them.

Recent technology has enabled the images obtained from CCTV to be combined with other systems that recognise faces (facial recognition systems) and those that identify number plates (automatic number plate recognition).

The argument for them is that:

• they reduce crime in the street
• they reduce theft from shops
• they improve safety and security

Some questions:

• How far should this surveillance go?
• Do you want strangers to know where you are at all times?
• Do you trust them not to misuse the information?
• Do they actually reduce crime or simply move it elsewhere?

They are now starting to appear in our places of work. Is this an invasion of privacy? Should ordinary managers have the right to use CCTV to monitor their workers?

Cameras are also appearing in school classrooms. Is it right that teachers and students are monitored in the classroom?

Once again it is a balance of the right of the citizen to privacy against their effect on potential wrongdoing.

Additional stories:

• BBC article on CCTV and privacy