AMERICA - Boston Attacks and Use of Surveillance Cameras

Note that the U.S. Supreme Court has made rulings that citizens CANNOT expect protection of privacy while in public areas, including streets.  If you think about it, it's logical.

"Boston Attacks Inspire Use of Surveillance Cameras in Cities Nationwide" PBS Newshour 5/15/2013

Excerpt

SPENCER MICHELS (Newshour):  Americans are used to being watched on closed-circuit TV.  Cameras are ubiquitous, especially in large cities.

The video surveillance industry brings in $3.2 billion dollars a year, and it's expected to grow quickly, especially after the Boston Marathon bombings.  At one business in San Francisco, 22 cameras continually watch employees and guests enter and leave the building and drive their cars into and out of the garage.  It's all recorded for future use.

A guard monitors the cameras in real time, and one night recently, those cameras caught this scene;  a woman employee going to her car on the street while a male watches her and starts to follow.  As he circles back to her car, for some reason, he sees other vehicles approaching and he makes a quick exit.

Would the cameras have helped had there been a crime?  Could their more obvious presence have prevented one?  It's all part of today's debate over surveillance.