On October 6, the UK’s TimesOnline broke the story, “Crimespotting, the new way to make money on the internet.”
According to the article, Britain is the world’s most tightly monitored society with 20 percent of the world’s CCTV cameras, or one camera per fourteen people. It is estimated that of the over 4 million security cameras, only one per thousand is monitored regularly. With Britain being the most snooped upon nation on the planet, they are “about to become a nation of snoopers.” The new scheme, Internet Eyes, is advertising for citizens with internet access to monitor several CCTV security cameras. The cameras’ owners will pay a fee for “crimewatching” citizens to monitor the cameras via the internet with a potential of £1,000 for actually catching a real crime on one of their cameras.
Charles Farrier, the director of the pressure group, No CCTV, said: “It is an appalling idea for a game and will create a snoopers’ paradise.
“It is something which should be nipped in the bud. It will not only encourage a dangerous spying mentality, but also could lead to dangerous civil rights abuses.
“What if a group of racists decides to send alerts every time a black person is seen on screen, and what’s stopping criminals using the cameras to scope out where to commit crimes?”