Video of the Day: Surveillance Camera Walking Tour

Videographer Kelly Loudenberg went on a tour with Bill Brown, the co-founder and director of The Survelliance Camera Players. Brown has been giving walking tours for seven years. Kelly tells us:

The Surveillance Camera Players are an anti-surveillance group who protest their opposition by performing plays in front of the cameras. The group maintains that the use of surveillance cameras in public places violate their constitutionally protected right to privacy.

According to Bill Brown, as of four years ago there were 179 publicly installed cameras in the United Nations Neighborhood. Today, he projects, there are an estimated 600 cameras. Mr. Brown also says that the most recent statistics prove these cameras to be ineffective at actually deterring crime.

The tours rotate through twelve different neighborhoods and take place on the last Sunday of every month. Maps detailing the placement of cameras are given out at the beginning of the tour (the maps can also be viewed on their website). The tours are free, open to the general public and last approximately 90 minutes.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in Miscellaneous, News on May 3, 2007 1:58 PM

Comments [rss]

this site is more censored tha

I love the irony when liberals threaten to move abroad. The US has less surveillance than just about every Western country - even after the Patriot Act. Ever wonder why you have to show your passport when you check into a hotel?

Lmnop

Perhaps Mr. Brown should survey his zipper, it's unzipped!!

smiley kam ho

I hope the same applies to the NYPD when we tape them. Why do you need to break my camera, mr. police officer?

What are you afraid of, if you're not doing anything wrong? If you're doing nothing wrong, why object?

If you're doing it right and straight, that would be an asset to your department.

Tom

There is no privacy on public streets.

God, protest something important.

Sleepy

"Constitutionally protected right to privacy"?

Show me exactly where in the constitution it protects our right to privacy. And how one has a right to privacy in a public space. Privacy in a public space is a bit oxymoronic, no?