Surveillance Cameras - Good For Whom?

Does watching everyone, everywhere all the time with cameras deter crime, or at least reveal it before criminals can escalate or escape?

Obviously. There's absolutely no argument that could say otherwise.

But, does that inherently make it the right thing to do?

Is blanket surveillance of the population, in a free society, the right way to fight crime? Is it fair and constitutional to the law-abiding citizen that they be monitored and recorded every moment that they are going about their business? Is a ratcheted-up Nanny State, acting as baby-sitter, a valid solution to problems whose real roots lie in socio-economic, educational and cultural disparities that remain unaddressed, and thus unchanged?

Or, are we simply abrogating our personal responsibility as citizens to collectively shoulder the burden of maintaining a civil society?

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