SHARON BRADFORD FRANKLIN
Tennessean.com
Sunday, December 24, 2006
The town of Eagleville, Tenn., is not the only small town seeking
to install a sophisticated video surveillance system. Since Sept.
11, communities nationwide have increasingly turned to video surveillance
cameras as anti-terrorism and crime-fighting tools.
Many communities have established systems with the latest high-technology
features, creating powerful and intelligent networks of cameras.
Residents generally believe the cameras will make communities
safer, and they seldom seem concerned about potential intrusions
on their privacy rights or civil liberties. Most of us seem to
believe that individuals have no legitimate "expectation
of privacy" once they leave their homes and step into the
public streets.
But even if you were not doing anything illegal, would you be
completely comfortable with having your every movement recorded
and available for later review? What if you were filmed entering
an infertility clinic, an Alcoholics Anonymous gathering, or the
meeting of a controversial political group? What if your movements
were stored in a digital database readily searchable by the government?
What if organizations or individuals outside the government had
access to the film? When you think about it, wouldn't you like
to set some limits on what the government can film and on what
may be done with the footage?
If communities establish video surveillance systems, they should
do so only after carefully evaluating the purpose and design of
the system. To promote such an approach, the Constitution Project
has issued Guidelines for Public Video Surveillance, a set of
bipartisan consensus recommendations, as well as model legislation
to enable communities to easily enact the guidelines into law
(www.constitutionproject.org).
Finding common ground
The Constitution Project is an independent think tank in Washington,
D.C., that promotes and defends constitutional safeguards by bringing
together liberals and conservatives who share a common concern
about preserving civil liberties. The guidelines were produced
by our Liberty and Security Initiative, a bipartisan group of
former government officials, scholars, business leaders and other
experts, that works to protect Americans' civil liberties even
as we work to enhance our nation's security.
The Constitution Project's guidelines demonstrate that communities
can establish video surveillance systems that protect residents'
privacy rights and civil liberties. We recommend that before installing
a permanent surveillance system, the community's government should
conduct an open review process — with an opportunity for
public input — outlining the precise geographic scope and
capabilities of the proposed system, and evaluating its potential
impact on residents' privacy rights and civil liberties. Systems
should be specifically designed to minimize intrusions on residents'
privacy. For example, technologies like "digital masking"
should be used to hide the identities of people incidentally captured
on camera who are irrelevant to any criminal investigation. Further,
there should be regular audits to review how the system is being
used.
Following such procedures, communities can design surveillance
systems that will protect residents' privacy rights and civil
liberties in addition to their security. Both goals are important,
and both should be pursued.
Email
