Track 21

Unit 8

Political science

Big brother and the surveillance society

Page 75

Try it out!

Now let’s look at figures. A report by the New York civil liberties Union, and titled whose watching, claims that there were a total of 2397 surveillance cameras in all of Manhattan 10 years ago. And that now there are that many cameras in just one area, Greenwich Village in Soho. Apparently the cameras have been a highly effective crime-fighting tool, reducing crime in the area by more than the third.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority now plans to spend up to $250 million on cameras for the city’s subway system. And the New York City Police Department has requested funding for about 400 digital video cameras to help combat robberies and burglaries. Additionally it has received $9.8 million from the federal Department of Homeland Security to help create a link system of cameras that can be operated from a control center.

Surveillance camera players and New York City-based anti-camera group is concerned by these developments. They’ve quoted camera growth rates of 300, 500 and even 1400 percent, depending on the neighborhood. Those are really substantial increases.