Smile!
Do you ever get the feeling someone’s watching you?
Do you ever get the feeling someone in…oh, I dunno…China… may be watching you?
Since 9/11, more and more security cameras, traffic cameras and live web cams have been placed around the city of Boston. Some are placed for safety, some are placed to placed to inform viewers on traffic flow and weather, and some are just kinda cool.
Just how many cameras are in the city of Boston? There are too many to count, and with new security, traffic and street cameras being placed every day — not to mention the countless live web cams streaming all day long, everyone is getting their 15 minutes, er, 24/7 of fame.
I can understand the justification for placing traffic cameras. They come into play with hit and runs, running red lights, car theft and accidents, making the roads a littler safer to drive in Boston. And that says a lot.
But what about the cameras on the streets? Is this an invasion of our privacy? I can see how this is a concern to some — someone has the potential to watch you walk to class and around the city. But why worry? If you’re not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about, right? What are you hiding??
Earlier this month, the Cambridge City Council put the breaks on a project that would have activated eight surveillance cameras in the Cambridge after receiving heat from the public, saying it was an invasion of their privacy.
Security camera view into Porter Square in Cambridge
Police say the cameras will help cut back on crime, but are they just an inexpensive way to take cops off the street while increasing security surveillance? And where is this information being kept and who has access to the footage? In a recent article, Cambridge Fire Chief Gerald Reardon argued the cameras are meant as a tool for 911 dispatchers to view evacuation routes in emergencies, rather than as surveillance equipment. After all, the footage is grainy and the detail is pretty low.
However, now you have a reason to smile the next time you get on the T. Boston has installed about 500 cameras in the MBTA. So if you have a special ability to sneak on the T for free (Oh hey, Aviv.) you may want to rethink that monthly pass.
So, remember that time you picked your nose on the way to class? Someone may have been watching. Busted.
BU Today has been broadcasting live, 24-hour web cam feed for quite some time. There are shots from the George Sherman Union, Marsh Plaza, the Medical Campus Quad, the School of Public Health — there’s even one on top of the climbing wall at the gym, so now you can have proof you made it to the top. Check them out here!
Cameras throughout BU can help potential students get a feel for the campus. With shots detailing the fitness center, the GSU and foot traffic outside Marsh Plaza, you can get a better sense of what life is like at BU — and after seeing how busy the GSU gets at lunch, you might reconsider coming here. Think the campus looks like the brochures year-round? Think again…
I don’t feel threatened by the presence of these cameras around the city. I’d be really impressed if someone had the time and the determination to watch me all day long. Consider the unlikely — if you were mugged, if you were involved in a hit and run (you being the victim, of course), if someone ran a red light and totaled your car, you’d want a camera to have recorded it, wouldn’t you?
So try to relax and smile, because someone may be watching.
Traffic Cams around Boston
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