The Upsides of a Surveillance Society

theodp writes Citing the comeuppance of ESPN reporter Britt McHenry, who was suspended from her job after her filmed ad-hominem attack on a person McHenry deemed to be beneath her in terms of appearance, education, wealth, class, status went viral, The Atlantic's Megan Garber writes that one silver lining of the omnipresence of cameras it that the possibility of exposure can also encourage us to be a little kinder to each other. "Terrible behavior," Garber writes, "whether cruel or violent or something in between, has a greater possibility than it ever has before of being exposed. Just as Uber tracks ratings for both its drivers and its users, and just as Yelp can be a source of shaming for businesses and customers alike, technology at large has afforded a reciprocity between people who, in a previous era, would have occupied different places on the spectrum of power. Which can, again, be a bad thing — but which can also, in McHenry's case, be an extremely beneficial one. It's good that her behavior has been exposed. It's good that her story going viral might discourage similar behavior from other people. It's good that she has publicly promised 'to learn from this mistake.'"

Comments

I'm sure the attendant at the lot deserved it

[HBI]

Those people are fucking assholes. We all know it, at least anyone who had to deal with those rent-seeking losers. The attendant most likely deserved every iota of the abuse she got in that video.

Re:Surveillance is okay

[Frobnicator]

It is only a problem when somebody (state/corp) has the advantage.

Those with the recordings and with the ability to use them, have the power.

That can be a government with cctv, or a business with cameras on the doors, windows, tellers, and product aisles. Or it can be a cell phone camera capturing a police shooting, or even google glass capturing a crime on the street or an abusive patron.

When the 'little people' have and use recordings it can be leveraged for many things, including social changes for better or worse, such as social pressure after injustice is found, or social pressure to keep your head down and mouth shut.

Ubiquitous cameras can mean a police state, they can also mean when an individual has been abused by government or officers there are plenty of cameras to tell the story from many viewpoints. It can be used to identify triggers, and assign blame, and ensure justice, and to correct policies.

The tricky thing is those same two details: Who has the recordings? What are they able to do with them?