Mal Fletcher comments on the Internet Eyes scheme

If government won't trust its people, one wonders how long it will be before people return the favour and stop trusting their public representatives and public servants. To a degree, this is probably already happening. In the end, a lack of trust breeds social insecurity and a desire to fight the system rather than co-operate with it.

In the mid 1990s, sociologists developed what they called the 'broken windows theory' which says that when public buildings are left rundown, with smashed windows and graffiti on the walls, their tenants or users are more prone to commit acts of vandalism.

Likewise, when public services constantly break down and there's no attempt to improve them, people feel that the system is letting them down. Petty crime rises as a result of this culture of mistrust and disappointment.

In a similar way, I think, the preponderance of security cameras in our streets leads people to ask, consciously or unconsciously, 'If the authorities don't trust us, why should we trust or engage with the authorities?'

Knowing that we are surrounded by instruments of intrusion breeds and perpetuates a culture of suspicion all round.

Most of us are willing to compromise some aspects of our privacy, knowing that we must if we're to live in a safe and lawful society. We're willing to pay a price to enjoy the benefits of a globalized, interconnected urban society.

While the technology behind Internet Eyes is amoral, the end user is always going to be a person, or group of persons, with all the frailties associated with being human. We need to take a step back at this point and ask whether or not we've already gone too far in promoting a surveillance society.