“We’re not grinding axes,” he said
The surveillance society
OTTAWA At least 14 Canadian municipalities are using surveillance cameras to monitor people in public spaces, and another 16 are considering them or have considered them, according to the first independent study Canada Goose online of video surveillance in Canada.
Canada Goose sale But though publicly run “open street cameras” attract most attention, they make up a relatively small percentage of all camera surveillance, says the first phase of a report by the Surveillance Camera Awareness Network (SCAN). Canada Goose sale
Canada Goose Outlet Private closed circuit (CCTV) cameras in convenience stores, shopping malls and banks, along with cameras on buses, subways, taxis and in airports are far more numerous and increasingly common, say the SCAN researchers, a group canada goose outlet of academics operating under the banner of the Surveillance Project at Queen’s University in Kingston. Canada Goose Outlet
canada goose uk black friday The use of surveillance cameras has exploded worldwide, especially since the 9/11 attacks on the United States. Britain, for example, now has an estimated 4.2 million cameras, the most extensive network in the world. canada goose uk black friday
Canada Goose Online The report offers no estimate for Canada, buy canada goose jacket cheap though it notes this country has nothing like the density of public cameras found in Britain. “Yet the growth of camera surveillance in Canada is undeniable, and is steady,” it says. Canada Goose Online
Its use could even accelerate, said Queen’s sociologist David Lyon, who supervised the research. “The driving forces are all there.”
Gatineau is among the canada goose black friday sale municipalities with canada goose coats on sale open cheap Canada Goose street cameras, which the researchers define as police sponsored systems established in conjunction with municipal councils. They were installed along the former city of Hull’s bar strip in 1993 in response to endemic late night drunken brawls.
Ottawa doesn’t use them yet, but discussions are buy canada goose jacket ongoing between the city, police and neighbourhood safety groups.
According to Mr. Lyon, at least 86 Ottawa intersections already have traffic cameras. And many federal buildings and monuments, including the National War Memorial, fall under the gaze of CCTV.
As well, Parks Canada installed canada goose store surveillance cameras along the Rideau Canal’s downtown section last year canadian goose jacket in response to boater complaints about crime.
Canada Goose Jackets Last October, British Columbia announced it would spend $1 million for cameras in downtown Vancouver, the suburb of Surrey and Kelowna. Canada Goose Jackets
The SCAN research is funded by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, which has concerns that the use of surveillance cameras Canada Goose Jackets is growing without sufficient oversight or public debate.
But Mr. Lyon said SCAN, formed last March, has no pre determined agenda. “We’re not grinding axes,” he said. “We’re raising questions and trying to set out the way things are. We really do want to give the Canadian public a better sense of what’s going on.”
Canada Goose online The growth of camera surveillance in Canada has been largely noncontroversial, the report says. “Unless they are placed at a particularly sensitive spot, the public tends either to welcome them, tentatively, or to be indifferent.” Canada Goose online
uk canada goose outlet The study found that surveillance cameras aren’t seen by the public as “ominous, threatening or dangerous.” The initial suspicion has long worn off, and the concept of privacy on public streets “has no resonance whatsoever” with most people. uk canada goose outlet
canada goose store Fear of crime is often used to justify open street surveillance systems, canada goose coats driven in part by the publicly perceived success of CCTV in the United Kingdom. The trigger is often a high profile crime in a particular community. canada goose store
Surveys show the public believes the cameras are useful in deterring crime, the report says. Lyon said “there’s something almost tragi comic” Canada Goose Outlet about how a major crime sparks demands for surveillance cameras. “If you’re promising that the cameras will make a difference, it’s simply a hollow claim according to the evidence. There’s no evidence whatsoever.”
Even if cameras did Canada Goose Parka make a difference, he said, “it would be forensic, after the event, rather than preventative.”
canada goose clearance sale The report says fear of terrorism has fueled an expansion of camera surveillance within public transportation systems. canada goose clearance sale
canada goose coats Transit officials in Toronto plan to deploy 12,000 cameras on buses, subways and streetcars by the middle of this year. Montreal’s transit system is adding 1,200 cameras to its surveillance network. Nearly 800 cameras monitor all commuter activity on Vancouver’s 28 kilometre Sky Train route. canada goose coats
canada goose coats on sale Most taxis in Ottawa canada goose clearance sale now have cameras, and OC Transpo installed them on hundreds of its buses last year as a pilot project, though they have since been removed. canada goose coats on sale
cheap canada goose uk There are no reliable estimates of the number of canada goose clearance private surveillance cameras, but the report says there are at least 100 in Vancouver’s Granville Mall district alone. People there “are thus under frequent surveillance, even without the introduction of open street camera surveillance,” it canada goose says. cheap canada goose uk
buy canada goose jacket The report raises concern that surveillance cameras may be used for purposes other than crime prevention, a process known as “function creep.” For example, retail cameras installed to catch shoplifters may be used to monitor employee behaviour. buy canada goose jacket
Surveillance also can be used to separate those who “belong” in a public space from those who do not, such as transients and panhandlers, the report says. That increases the potential for profiling, stereotyping and discrimination.
canada goose Laws require those using stationary surveillance cameras to newmediadoc.com notify the public. But most signage is at best “rudimentary and incomplete,” the report says, raising questions about whether informed consent is really being obtained. canada goose
SCAN plans to issue a second report later this year. Among other things, it will examine the use of cameras in Ottawa taxi cabs, automatic licence plate recognition technology and surveillance cameras at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.
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