"1984" All Over The World

Today is our last school day for this year of 07-08 and I'm looking forward to seeing all the students off for the summer and then going to a teacher unwinding party at the High School. One thing that seems to have been done lately is to put cameras into the High School as a way of cutting down the trouble they have in curbing the problem of violence and just "bad behavior".. It's been in place for a couple of years I it's done that, but in thinking about it, would you want yourself to be on camera at all points when you were out in public spaces? Would you feel ok about it? What if those cameras were being manned by a group of people who wanted to keep citizens from gathering in groups of three or more and exchanging ideas? I know, it's not that way right now, but what if society changed so that it was, their cameras and computers which watched those cameras for suspecious signs could be in place by the time they took power, then what would you do?
Anyway, there is a good article about the use of camera to "cut down on crime" or "help the traffic flow" in the current Rolling Stone Magazine (May 29, 08). It worth taking a look at it. I know that surveillance cameras do cut down on crime and if your not doing anything criminal one has nothing to be worried about (now). But what if a different sort of group were to take power and use those same cameras but in a different manner, it's food for thought. May I also suggest to reread "1984" by George Orwell, many of his thoughts seem to have come to be, I just hope these surveillance people don't take control and keep track of us using biometrics and other facial recognizition software because the results could be very frighting for us all if that starts to take over all in the name of pubic safety.