Hmm, I like the idea.

If UK authorities are insisting on having CCTV coverage everywhere the best thing to do is to open the feed to everyone.

I would say that this also helps to cut down any Police abuse of power, as anyone who happens to be interested can watch what local bobbies are doing.

Brings a new meaning to "reality TV"...

Absolutely. If we must have CCTV everywhere, make them all webcams. Why should they get all the fun.

Oh yeah, nice one, get the unpaid public to watch for crims instead of getting proper coppers on the street.

or on the other hand: a brilliantly simple way of putting the unemployed to use - especially the can work but wont work brigade.

Ideally, it needs to be in the hands of the people it protects. Opening it up for public access is a great idea! Though I can't say that I'm for having cameras everywhere, but I think that it being an open access type of system makes it more livable.

@Policing on the cheap: It's one of those half full/empty situations. Cops can't be everywhere at once, which is why there are these types of programs to involve the community.

At any rate, cameras are indiscriminate and do not hold any bias, they only tell what they see. If they are made open to the public then I think that can give us a closer view on the truth of the scenarios they capture.

They should also give the public access to the archives of the system as well!

Stunning! What I do outside my home should be my business and only my business. It might be the police's business, too, if I'm doing something wrong, but it is most absolutely and utterly not my neighbor's business. Does no one think there's any privacy concern in all this?

If they are now piping this thru to the TV network surely it follows reason that they will soon see it as an excuse to put the license fee up?

I guess this could be a problem for some people. Bloke comes home from work saying he's had a bad day at the office, and his missus asks him to explain what she has just recorded on the video recorder involving him and someone who appears to be doing a Paris Hilton impression before money was handed over.

I trust they monitor who watches specific feeds regularly? Being able to monitor children walking home alone isn't a power I'd trust to just anyone, especially since it also allows people to assess the blind areas in cctv coverage.

Do hope it doesn't have that Northern Twit doing the voice over.

"What I do outside my home should be my business and only my business"

And god forbid all those people walking past you that watch you molesting a phone box, let alone the people watching on remote surveillance cameras.

You can't moan about privacy when you're walking around the friggin' high street. There's tons of people already who have their own cameras pointing out their window recording you walk past their car/drive/bike/etc so that you don't piss up it (and if you do, you get turned over to the law).

Take your head out your arse, and stop getting your dick out in public. That way nobody will shop you for being a serial phone box rapist, and nobody will have a pop at you for being a privacy zealot when it's not applicable.

Either that or get a Harry Potter invisibility cloak or something.

</rant>

I say shut it. the cops have got a hard enough time as it is, I think the more they assimilate with the public the better they can operate. Everyone slags the cops out and it kinda grates me, they deal with the scum of the UK and just because a hoodie scratches your middle class car, they are rubbish and didn't turn up for an hour blah blah blah. Should be doing a better job etc.

If 64.5 million people have access to the huge ammount of Cameras in the UK does it not increase the odds of people being positively id'd for crimes?

it is a little worrying re privacy but then we are talking about public places... its confusing

'What I do outside my home should be my business and only my business. It might be the police's business, too, if I'm doing something wrong, but it is most absolutely and utterly not my neighbor's business'

Unless its his wife your doing the business too :)

No mention about any increase in divorce rates, maybe we should look for a blip in a year or two ?

"Either that or get a Harry Potter invisibility cloak or something"

Why not bring out a range of clothing sporting the EURion constellation. You know, the pattern of circles used by editing software to identify the fact you are editing a banknote.

Wonder if it'd do the same to CCTV software?

'What I do outside my home should be my business and only my business. It might be the police's business, too, if I'm doing something wrong, but it is most absolutely and utterly not my neighbor's business'

Absolutely, however, what happens on the main road 300 meters that way (ie, away from your premises) should be everyones business if its some chav toss trying to filch my granny's handbag. i doubt you'd have a camera pointing directly into your front yard. if you -do- however, high power slingshot + keen aim + camera blind spot FTW!

Lester did not write this article. No heart for you Mark. Nothing personal brother.

It just goes to prove that if it's available on the "telly", then people will watch it. I wonder how many wanted to warn about anti-social and criminal behaviour, and how many just wanted to watch same ?

Sounds to me like something from nineteen eighty four.

"Smith, Winston - Try to keep up"...

A particularly bad idea in the current climate of suspicion and fear that the government introduced with some of their "reforms"

I wish they'd ban the wearing of hoods except when the weather warrants it!

I went into "The Officers Club" yesterday for a long-sleeve T shirt. Dammit, they didn't have a single one without a hood!

You don't need a "Harry Potter Cloak" - just a hood.

This sounds like a fantastic idea. Can't say I'd b glued to it all evening, but I can imagine it's one of tose things that you just find yourself watching while channel-surfing.

@policing on the cheap: This scheme is a sort of modern version of the days before we had a police force, when the community regulated crime. Of course back then people were out in the streets, and sorted out any bad behaviour. I think it's sad that society has given up on self-regulation and is leaving it all to teh cops. We have a role in regulating antisocial behaviour too, whether you like it or not.

@unbelievable: "What I do outside is my business..." what are you talking about? What you do outside is everybody's business, especially everyobe in your immediate vicinity. What more can you say.

'What I do outside my home should be my business and only my business. It might be the police's business, too, if I'm doing something wrong, but it is most absolutely and utterly not my neighbour’s business'

If you are doing somthing wrong in my nabourhood it absolutely is my business. Its an attitude like that which is causing allot of crime. People get away with petty crime because its not reported. It used to be the case that you would get a clip round the ear from your neighbour (As a kid) if they caught you up to no good, which instilled in you a sense of morality. Now if you complain to someone about there kid you get "Its not your business what he’s doing. Who do you think you are? The police?"

I think it is a brilliant idea. Hell Id pays a subscription fee to have that! As for the rubbish about privacy, did you not read the article? The feeds are degraded to make that a non-issue. I dont know how it works, but I think it would be good if there was an email address so that if you spotted any minor crime, where no one is at risk, you could note the time and camera number (Or somthing) and email the police so that they could have a look at the tape at a later time, rather that the hundreds of crimes that must be missed because there is a finite amount of people who can be sat watching CCTV for the police.

I hear what everyone is saying about transparent accountability - e.g. chavs are less likely to rob people because others are watching, but does it not strike anyone that this is even more like 1984 than we already are?! No-one will rebel against anything (even when it becomes necessary for the long-term good of society) because everyone else is watching, and you will be pointed out to the authorities. As Franklin said, those willing to give up a little liberty for a little security deserve neither liberty or security...

Highly amusing that some people think it's okay for the police to watch everything we do, but not the general public. Where do policeman come from, then?

Granted, you would hope that your average policeman would be less likely to abuse the right to spy on you. But I personally would not want to bet my freedom on it. (Oh. Wait.)

It's the same issue, folks. If you feel uncomfortable about the general public watching you as you walk down the street, logically you should feel the same if they are dressed in funny clothes and have the power to maintain law and order.

Seems to me like this scheme would be a great way of getting public support for masses of CCTV infrastructure (more than there is already) to be installed. Why? Because we can all watch it of course. How long would it be before someone then decides to close off public access to this public-approved CCTV system in the name of security?

...for the amount of time it takes for an FDR quote to appear near an article about CCTV?

In any case, after chewing on this for 30 seconds over my chicken sandwich, I declare it a good idea.

On the one hand, I'm sure I would enjoy watching this kind of thing, and can see how it could help cut crime.

On the other, the idea of, potentially, being watched by persons unknown as I go about my daily routine makes me very Uncomfortable.

Comparing this to the fact other people on the same street as you can see you is missing the point somewhat -- it's usually possible for you to see them too, and even tell if they're looking your way. Having people watch you straighten your undies, or whatever, might not be the end of the world, but most people would only do that when they were "alone". The picture being degraded does make this kind of thing less of an issue though, it has to be said.

Then there's the point that police officers are people too -- yes, of course they are, but one would expect someone who watches cameras for a living (be it police or private contractors) to have some "professional detachment", and colleagues present, as well as not necessarily knowing the people involved.

The last problem I have is mentioned above -- this type of scheme would be very useful to paedophiles, and other criminals, to track their victims and find holes in CCTV and badly-lit ill-frequented areas.

This scheme sounds so Ballardian it's untrue.

This is how it will play out... if it's rolled out in a big city like Manchester then within maybe 2 months you will have people being killed and/or raped on the next side-street which doesn't have cctv... why you ask?? Because a gang of chavs will be monitoring the feed, and when they see a nice girl walking alone in a quiet street in the evening they will all leave their houses and get her. Add to that the fact they will know where the cameras point, and the rare semi-intelligent chavs will be able to plot a route and place where cctv just isn't going to see them.

Sometimes, what makes alot of people feel safer, also makes criminal's jobs easier... either by creating a false sense of security for the victims, or by aiding the criminals somehow.

It amazes me how willingly people give up their privacy for the vague boon of some added security. Yes, there is a thing like privacy, even in public. Nobody should watch through a camera how on a deserted street a woman adjusts her skirt or a man picks his nose.

The comments:

"Highly amusing that some people think it's okay for the police to watch everything we do, but not the general public. Where do policeman come from, then?"

There are chosen from the general public by their ability to understand the law and not abuse it. There is a reason why not everyone gets accepted for the job.

"It used to be the case that you would get a clip round the ear from your neighbour (As a kid) if they caught you up to no good, which instilled in you a sense of morality. Now if you complain to someone about there kid you get "'ts not your business what he’s doing. Who do you think you are? The police?'"

If somebody's child does something wrong you are not going to install common decency into it through a camera. Teaching manners, at least in my time, was the parents' job.

"@policing on the cheap: This scheme is a sort of modern version of the days before we had a police force, when the community regulated crime. Of course back then people were out in the streets, and sorted out any bad behaviour. I think it's sad that society has given up on self-regulation and is leaving it all to teh cops. We have a role in regulating antisocial behaviour too, whether you like it or not."

The reason that we have a police force is to discourage people from taking the law into their own hands. Now you want to watch neighbours through cameras, when are you going to call for public hangings when the majority of a street's neighbourhood agress on it?

"You can't moan about privacy when you're walking around the friggin' high street. There's tons of people already who have their own cameras pointing out their window recording you walk past their car/drive/bike/etc so that you don't piss up it (and if you do, you get turned over to the law)."

So cameras justify more cameras?

Let me ask you who are so optimistic about this two questions: Where do you want it to stop? When are you going to ask for surveillance in "problematic" homes to reduce domestic violence or child abuse?

What you willingly abet in creating in is an atmosphere of total paranoia, where everyone sees everyone else as a possible perpetrator. Instead of communicating you opt for watching each other and instead of solving society's problems at the root you just want the symptoms to go away.

["Highly amusing that some people think it's okay for the police to watch everything we do, but not the general public. Where do policeman come from, then?"

There are chosen from the general public by their ability to understand the law and not abuse it. There is a reason why not everyone gets accepted for the job]

Hahahahaha. Ahahahahahahahaha.

Ah, the internet cracks me up.

Hey, how come when the police fuck up "we're only human, so expect mistakes" but when it comes to taking what they want it's all "but we don't let just anyone in".

In short, Marco. What a load of bollocks.

How long will it take for all hubbys and wives doing a stalker-scan of their husband/wife to check out if he/she's seeing someone else?