Scared of surveillance?
I'm a nut for the Fourth Amendment and I think privacy is an important right that can't be taken lightly. So it's from this basis that I'm inspired to comment on the growing level of general video surveillance by US governments, locally and nationally. Europeans have installed millions of surveillance cameras they call CCD , a name derived from ‘charge-coupled device’, the actual electronic retina of a video camera. The US is playing catch-up in major metropolitan areas, implementing their own camera programs. It’s all in the name of security, but some wonder if Uncle Sam is becoming Big Brother and challenging our rights to privacy. In assessing whether government surveillance of ordinary citizens in public view goes too far, we have to analyze whether citizens should have a reasonable expectation of privacy in any give area or circumstance. The constitution provides for the right to privacy, but that doesn ’t apply in open areas where you or your personal affects a