Surveillance

@Marcah: Well, I suppose you can argue that if they were, there would be a basis for outlawing our private photography in public. Funny thing is, most people would probably object to having their photos taken by powerless people like you and I, and accept the government doing it, in spite of government abuses. What really makes me angry is when Big Brother, with cameras all over the place, tries to stomp on us photographers taking photos in public places.

@Observing: I doubt most people in this country are even aware of obvious ones like these. And some people probably think some of the things around traffic lights that look like cameras are cameras (but aren't --and are used to detect emergency vehicles and switch traffic lights in accordance).

Here, the the cameras don't yet shout orders. Have you seen the Scottish film "Red Road?" Not a pretty image of your surveillance system. However, I recently watched a number of videos on youtube of you Brits challenging the cops trying to suppress your public photo-taking. In every case the coppers gave up and just walked away when the person they challenged refused to be intimidated. If you challenged the cops like that here you'd be tasered at a minimum, perhaps beaten, arrested, and then falsely charged with assault on a police officer. So, while you seem to have more of a Nanny State, the authorities are still not as abusive there as they are here.

@Daryl: More likely that the cops while just watch you being mugged, or whatever.

@Calusarus: But surely not in the land of liberty, equality, and fraternity?

@gbe: While I can't say I like these surveillance cameras, I guess they don't bother me as much as they do some people because it's supposed to be legal for ALL OF US to take photos of anything we can see from a public place. What is disturbing is the developing trend where we're all monitored every moment of our lives, but when we try to take a photo ourselves, especially when we try to take photos of our masters, we're treated like criminals.