A few years ago, I wrote a column about my neighbor’s security camera. He had posted a picture showing an unidentified person standing at the end of their driveway and was asking the neighborhood for their identity. What I saw was a person out for a walk and a crystal clear view of my own front door. Where my absentee owner saw a stranger on their property and was concerned, I saw that I live on my neighbor’s doorbell camera feed and also felt some concern.
A couple of weeks ago fellow Record-Eagle columnist Mardi Link wrote a piece about her relations with both privately maintained doorbell cameras as well as the phenomenon known as Flock cameras; cameras placed by public entities that record and monitor passing traffic around the clock. Her concern was mainly the proliferation of ways that our every move and habit are being monitored, collected, and monetized in ways that would probably cause George Orwell to wag his finger and say, “I told you so.”
As much as doorbell cameras concern me, these Flock cameras concern me far more because of the people who get to see their contents and the powers that they wield. That they exist and where they exist should tell you that. No private citizen would be able to install them but our police forces do it with unilateral ease.
I live just outside of the village of Elk Rapids and only through going down a rabbit hole did I find a website that shows “flock cameras near me.” That site revealed the three cameras perched at the three most popular entrances to Elk Rapids village limits.
In short order I researched and found that these cameras were property of the Elk Rapids Village Police Department. The chief of police confirmed to me that they’d placed them, had informed village officials of their presence, and received their unofficial approval.
The explanation for their existence was purely for crime fighting and crime solving. Examples of a hit and run auto accident and a missing person incident were detailed in our conversation. Honestly, if you’re in the crime fighting business, who wouldn’t like some help from an employee that works endless hours for low pay and never calls in sick?
As an aside though, the chief mentioned that several surveillance cameras are placed strategically throughout the village electronically patrolling potential trouble spots. Safe to assume then, dear readers, that if you come to Elk Rapids to hang out, or even just pass through, your presence has been electronically noted. My guess is that my town is the rule, not the exception.
So today, I find myself concluding that collective fear of missing out has reached its predicted destination — cameras on us all, everywhere, every day. It began on personal levels with neighbors watching neighbors and built from there.
My apologies to the police for lumping them into this FOMO category but I can’t help it.
Technology has handed you this less expensive tool to keep close watch on your constituency so why not put it to work?
So I have two questions.
Who is watching?
Who is watching the watchers?
The “who” ostensibly, are our neighbors, businesses and various police departments.
Who is watching them? By that I mean who else has access to the collected data? None of us knows, but who hasn’t received a notice from any entity that holds our personal information that there’s been a breach? These notices never identify the perpetrators.
Eventually, I hope for everyone’s sake, that you find what you’re watching for.
Or, perhaps, maybe not.