Comment by AlBugdy
7 hours ago
Non-US citizens - what's the situation with cameras in public spaces where you live? In my town every 2nd hour or building entrance has a private camera pointed at the street. It's very depressing because the cops don't care - I've asked 2 in a patrol car when there was a mild case of vandalism I witnessed. Technically it's illegal, but nothing happens. The public cameras are on intersection and some bus stops. Too much, if you ask me, but the private cameras are everywhere.
In London cameras are everywhere, mostly private and they have been for years. Don't think I've seen anything like it in any European city I've visited.
Private cameras pointing to street can be lawful under GDPR, but in that case they are GDPR controller. That then requires them fulfill bunch of obligations which they probably aren't, e.g. giving proper Article 13 notice.
I don't know if it's criminal in any EU country, but it would be something that you could complain to DPA about. Or initiate civil lawsuit against the controller.
Worth noting is that in some cases the camera vendor might also be (joint) controller as they can determine means & purposes of the processing. If they are simply storing the video then it's unlikely, but if they for example use it for AI training that would likely bring them controller territory.
Japan is exporting it's AI-enhanced crime prediction platform across LatAm after successfully deploying it in Tokyo [0]. Japan is doing similar work to analyze financial transactions [1]. South Korea has also deployed a similar surveillance platform called Dejaview [2]. Even Finland has been deploying surveillance camera fusion centers [3]
The brutal reality is everyone is doing this and there's nothing you can do about it. National Security trumps all other concerns (even the GDPR exempts governments who argue their data collection is done for National Security reasons), especially in a world as unstable as today.
[0] - https://www.japan.go.jp/kizuna/2024/06/japans_ai-based_crime...
[1] - https://www.tc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/ai1ec_event/10769/
[2] - https://m.blog.naver.com/mtnews_net/223775186368
[3] - https://poliisi.fi/en/camera-surveillance-system
> The brutal reality is everyone is doing this and there's nothing you can do about it.
Maybe not me personally, but society can.
Depending on the society.
Societies that are strongly collectivist in nature tend to align closer with expanded state powers and don't view it as an affront.
The techno-individualist subculture that is common on HN and Reddit is that - a subculture.
Techno-individualism cannot coexist with collectivist culture where the primacy of the state is held as sacrosanct and supreme.
And now that countries like Russia [0], Iran [1], and China [2] have been expanding hybrid warfare capabilities across the West - especially now that Europe is now expeiencing the largest conventional war since WW2 - we need to recognize that we are no long in a state of peace.
[0] - https://www.ft.com/content/2084e87d-d491-4852-8449-f90b73d47...
[1] - https://www.ft.com/content/adc3e954-5928-471b-b7f2-e4385bbca...
[2] - https://www.ft.com/content/63720831-8805-497d-8145-1713e450a...
> world as unstable as today
The world is the most stable and peaceful it's been in decades if not longer. What is your evidence that the world is unstable?