The New York Times has an interesting article Cameras in Britain Record the Criminal and the Banal (free registration required) that discusses how Britons are monitored almost constantly by cameras.
The police did not identify the men, but Assistant Police Commissioner Andy Hayman said, "It is crucial that detectives are able to question them about yesterday's events."
How did the images appear so quickly?
"It's very easy," said a spokesman for the London transportation system, who spoke on the condition of anonymity under British civil service rules. "We have 6,000 cameras across the network," with 9,000 planned by 2010. About 1,800 are installed in London's train stations, and some on its buses as well.
They constitute a small portion of the estimated 4.2 million closed-circuit television cameras, or CCTV, across the country. It is commonly estimated that the average Briton crosses the line of sight of a security camera 300 times each day.
Benjamin Franklin once said, They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Given today's circumstances, I wonder what he would say now?
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