Submitted 4 weeks ago by activistPnk@slrpnk.net to rant@lemmy.sdf.org
cross-posted from: slrpnk.net/post/27222607
After my bicycle was stolen, the police could not be bothered to look at video surveillance recordings around the scene of the crime. Yet surveillance remains a form of oppression against everyone as police fixate on victimless crimes (drugs, undocumented people, traffic violations, etc).
So new rule:
If police refuse to review surveillance video at the request of a victim, the video camera must be removed.
The issue with surveillance often seems to be less about having the technology and more about how it’s actually used. If it’s not applied to protect people in real situations, then it raises real questions about accountability and purpose.
When it comes to surveillance, the two characteristics are inseparable. That is, law enforcement /will/ abuse it while pitching the most seemingly legit cover story which is rarely the real purpose of the surveillance.
It’s always a matter of envisioning how it will be abused and working out whether it’s an acceptable evil compared to the likeliness of the legit use. IMO the answer is usually no, sadly enough. Snowden has put on display that surveillance users are in fact criminals themselves as they violate warrants and any kind of checks and balances.
wesker@lemmy.sdf.org 4 weeks ago
Any video surveillance of public property should be freely available to the public.
bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 3 weeks ago
Wasn’t there a band in the UK that used a law that allowed them to request footage of themselves from surveillance to make a music video?
activistPnk@slrpnk.net 3 weeks ago
I suppose the nuance I did not elaborate on is the proliferation of private surveillance that is shared with cops. I vaguely recall something about Amazon doing a backroom deal to give the gov unwarranted access to private Amazon Ring cams, which is not something the general public can access.
In the context of my dream law, police failing to use their Ring access to protect victims would have to lead to loss of access to the cams.