Is there a happy side to surveillance?
We’ve all heard the arguments that CCTV deters crime (although I’ve blogged before about the stats not backing this up). But even I (yep, me) am willing to admit that there are some positive aspects to CCTV and surveillance. Like what? When a CCTV image proves that someone was where they said they were and not off committing some violent crime. When CCTV clearly shows thugs beating up someone and these thugs can be identified and locked up. I think there are also some good aspects to tracking and monitoring kids these days. There’s an awful lot kids have to navigate and survive: bullying, drugs, fellow students shooting up a lecture theatre taking you with him like that dude in Illinois the other day. So I can see the efficacy of having CCTV in public spaces as long as they are used for what they are said to be used for.
So…there’s a blog I’ve come across called Big Mother. I like this name. It signals that there can be a protective component to surveillance. I’m not sure how often it’s updated, doesn’t look like there’s been any posts since December 2007 (the cynical side of me would suggest that Big Brother caught up with Big Mother and shut the blog down 
Made in Australia
