David,
You raise an interesting question, and in my experience of some
thirty years wearing a camera system (wearable computer, electric
seeing aid, etc.) I offer the following observation... There
seems to be a strong distinction between private sousveillance
(wearable cameras for personal use) and public sousveillance
(wearable broadcast), just as there is a strong distinction
between public and private surveillance. For example, when I
capture video in order to see better (as a seeing-aid) it
creates some concern, but as long as it is not recorded, the
concern is reduced. However, having been physically assaulted
by security guards simply for wearing an electric seeing aid
that was not actually recording (they merely thought it was
recording), I now usually do record and I inform guards that
they are being recorded and that if they are violent they
will be prosecuted. I've found that many large organizations
do not like this recording, but when presented with its need,
i.e. as a seeing aid, memory aid, as well as for PERSONAL
(read: PRIVATE) safety, I've been able to force them to
accept it, but many organizations such as art galleries,
etc., that have been forced to accept sousveillance
have expressed that they would like the sousveillance to
remain private and not be published on the World Wide Web,
or the like.
This may be reasonable in the same sense that surveillance is
usually private (i.e. kept internally by security forces
and not broadcast to the general public).
However, one drawback of private surveillance (and also
private sousveillance) is that keeping the data private
removes some of the checks and balances that would be
present in public sur/sousveillance.
An advantage of public *veillance is that by making the
data available to everyone, the person or organization
collecting the data cannot easily falsify it, or
retract/destroy it when it doesn't support their cause.
We now have a growing community of more than 20,000 cyborgs
doing sousveillance, both public and private.
One of our recent projects, Operation Python, is a project
to use sousveillance to stop credit card skimming. To
participate, all you need to do is photograph each
department store employee, manager, gas station attendant,
or other person who handles your credit card. Then if
there's ever credit card fraud, you've got some evidence
that can later be used to help find the skimmer.
December 24th is World Sousveillance Day, and co-incides
with the launch of Operation Python,
http://wearcam.org/wsd.htm
Perhaps some of the other readers on this list can weigh
in on the merits of sur/sousveillance and whether each
should be public or private.
Here's a matrix showing examples of four kinds of veillance:
Public Private
Sur Beach Cam Dept. Store Surveillance
Sous Cyborglog/blog Wearable Security Camera
Beach surveillance is useful so members of the public
can use the WWW to check surf conditions before they head
out to the beach.
Dept. Store Surveillance prevents shoplifting.
Cyborglog/blog is useful as a form of social networking.
Wearable Security Camera is useful as a personal safety
device to protect an individual person from acts of
violence, and need not necessarily be broadcast to the
general public.
--Steve
Dr. Steve Mann
Director, EyeTap Personal Imaging Laboratory
http://www.eyetap.org
http://glogger.mobi
>From: D F J Wood <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Dear all,
>
>There's been an interesting discussion going on, on another list of
>which I am a member about increasing challenges to private individuals
>takign photographs in public places, by town centre management
[...]
>At the same time, amongst my cycling friends, there has been a growing
>use of personal head-mounted cameras to capture journey for the purposes
[...]
>life-logging as well as counter-surveillance or sousveillance, this is
>an area that will increasingly come to the attention of regulators.
>
>Any examples or ideas?
[...]
>Dr David Murakami Wood
>
>mailto:[log in to unmask]
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