We’ve covered the idea of inverse surveillance previously. By “watching the watchers,” a la George Holliday, it keeps their behavior in check. The ferocity with which some law enforcement personnel — right up to the top — have opposed such oversight seems to far outweigh any realistic concerns over security.
Maybe they know that they too can “have something to hide.”
Since 9/11, there has also been a steady stream of incidents involving overzealous security guards and police officers hassling people exercising their rights by taking pictures of public places.
Combine these trends and you get last week’s story from Philadelphia, where a man was cuffed and jailed allegedly after doing nothing more than taking a picture of another bust with his cell phone.
So what does this have to do with libraries? Well, there’s a lot of chatter about how Library 2.0 could take off more if we would just lighten up about that
pesky privacy tenet of our profession. But before we run out and start storing and sharing patron data without proper safeguards and policies, we should be prepared for others abusing the power that this gives them.
We’ve covered the idea of inverse surveillance previously. By “watching the watchers,” a la George Holliday, it keeps their behavior in check. The ferocity with which some law enforcement personnel — right up to the top — have opposed such oversight seems to far outweigh any realistic concerns over security.
Maybe they know that they too can “have something to hide.”
Since 9/11, there has also been a steady stream of incidents involving overzealous security guards and police officers hassling people exercising their rights by taking pictures of public places.
Combine these trends and you get last week’s story from Philadelphia, where a man was cuffed and jailed allegedly after doing nothing more than taking a picture of another bust with his cell phone.
So what does this have to do with libraries? Well, there’s a lot of chatter about how Library 2.0 could take off more if we would just lighten up about that
pesky privacy tenet of our profession. But before we run out and start storing and sharing patron data without proper safeguards and policies, we should be prepared for others abusing the power that this gives them.
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