Smile, You're on Camera!
This morning while I was having coffee in my luscious back garden with the birds singing and the bees buzzing, a helicopter swept over my house as though looking for a criminal. It was low enough that the rotation of the rotors was quite loud. This time, there wasn’t an announcement being yelled through a microphone - but there has been in the not too distant past. What are they actually doing? And why are they doing it in my ordinary neighborhood?
Then, I went for my morning walk on the neighboring streets as I do most mornings. As I turned the corner onto a nearby street, and walked by the second house, I heard a voice saying (as happens most days), “Hello. You’re on camera.” I don’t know about you, but for me, the fact that even the local neighbors are recording my daily morning walk intrudes on my personal rights. I haven’t given anyone permission to record me while walking across the street from their house!
Frequently, when I go grocery shopping at a local center, there is a large surveillance monitor in the parking lot with a verbose and extremely loud announcement that says it is recording the activity in the parking lot in order to keep everyone safe. Safe from whom, I dare ask? Yes, there are homeless people milling around the shopping center, but I don’t think they’re really a threat. At least, that’s not what I’ve heard about around here or witnessed.
These days, many businesses have messages on their phones that your conversation will be recorded “for training purposes”. Uh, no, that’s a straight out lie and, yet again, I haven’t given my permission to have my conversation recorded. Have you ever heard this message, and then have the recording say, “If you don’t want to be recorded, you can press the # key.” I haven’t because it never happens. There is no actual choice about being recorded on the phone if you want to communicate with someone at that business. Is that even legal? I’ve never researched that question.
Surveillance has become an every day occurrence. Even in California, no less, a state that has always had a reputation for rebellion and freedom of expression. I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for 40 years before moving to the Sacramento area, the state’s capitol. In the Bay Area, I wasn’t particularly exposed to public surveillance. While visiting a friend in the Netherlands, she pointed out how even on their highways, there are cameras recording the cars passing by. If a law is broken, an automatic ticket is sent to the offender. No interaction with a human being. Simply a notice arriving after the fact telling you that you’d done something wrong. This was normal life to her, and yet, she definitely felt imposed upon.
When I returned from that trip, I realized that the stoplights in my neighborhood also had cameras on them. I hadn’t really paid attention to them before that. The significance of their presence hadn’t really sunk in. Police cameras became a routine part of the uniform as recently as 2014. It may have resulted in some useful information in a court of law, that’s not really my expertise. What I do know is that it’s yet another place where people are being recorded without their actual permission.
Everyone carries a smart phone these days with surprisingly good cameras on them. Anyone can take pictures of even the most personal interactions in public without having permission from those being photographed. I know I’m starting to sound a bit paranoid, and yet, the reality is that the boundaries of privacy have been indiscriminately removed in this society. I’ve mentioned in previous posts how etiquette has suffered in this country. Respect for personal boundaries has largely disappeared in public, and often, private life.
The “Me first” attitude of my generation has opened the doors to this breakdown. I started thinking about how far back these intrusions have been occurring. The affordability of the camera was definitely a piece of this puzzle. I thought about the show, Candid Camera, that was very popular during my childhood. It turns out that this show started as far back as 1948. Television in every home became the norm in the 1950s. The cameras were 2.5 feet long and weighed 100 lbs. So, hiding a camera in order to surprise someone was a true task, and made this show a lot of fun. Thankfully, the producers of the show only aired episodes when they had permission from the surprised participant.
I find it interesting that the influence of this show has been integrated so deeply into our culture. “Smile, you’re on Candid Camera!” has set up a public meme that is taken advantage of repeatedly in modern surveillance - like the sticker on many businesses that show a smiley face with the message that they are recording you as you enter the store. Apparently notification implies permission if you walk through the door. It’s so ubiquitous that the only way to avoid it is to shop online. Hmmm, those transactions are totally recorded by the computer, huh? For a long time I just ignored it by saying to myself, “I don’t care if they track me. I don’t have anything to hide.” This became my excuse to ignore the indications of what was coming not so far down the road.
During “the Covid era”, people became more and more comfortable with being told what to do. The propaganda machine worked very hard to promote fear in order to gain unquestioned compliance. What’s been interesting for me to discover during the following years, is how much the infrastructure had already been put in place, gradually training everyone to comply in the name of safety. Some people adopted the fear so deeply that they took it upon themselves to police others in their vicinity. The verbal outbreaks I witnessed happening while walking on local paths near my Bay Area home during Covid was highly disturbing.
It’s so common now that we all just take it in stride. This constant intrusion on personal space is readily apparent in the continuous automated reminders and suggestions that show up on my phone. It’s exuding fear all of the time. You might forget your appointment! Have you been paying attention to yourself lately? Is it time for you to come in so we can evaluate how you’re doing? More fear being planted -making sure I realize that I need them to tell me if I’m okay or not.
I recently told notifications to STOP from one of my health professionals. When I arrived at the office, the scheduler came running out saying, “You stopped the texting communications. Without that you won’t get a reminder.” “Yes,” I responded, “I don’t want to be reminded.” She accepted my answer, and starting using my email instead. Hmmm. It’s actually okay in this case as the information sent is more than just an appointment reminder. And, my choice was respected.
How many times have you handed over your driver’s license to be copied at a medical appointment? Or signed a long document without reading it? I once had a doctor, when I refused to give my driver’s license, told me he needed the photo on file to remember who I am. I said, “Just take a picture with your phone and then you’ll have what you need!” Nope, not the right solution. If a doctor’s office calls me, the first questions they ask are for me to verify who I am. Isn’t that backwards? They called me! I should be asking them to verify who they are, not the other way around.
Have you considered that the norm is to give your three digit code to everyone when purchasing with a credit card? That, too, was initially designed for privacy protection against credit card and identity theft. Now, it’s all over the place. So, there’s two factor identification which is supposed to be a better layer of protection, but is actually just a hassle over and over again. Fueled by larger forces in the world, all of these situations are actually completely out of our hands. Their supposed intention is to protect us from “the bad guy” when, in fact, it has become so complex that it is impractical and simply stimulates more fear with its complexity. Yet again, we, the public, are not asked for permission for these changes. They simply occur. Like the automatic updates on my phone.
Does all of this give you a feeling of security? Or would you like to have a choice and give or deny permission?