How would it feel to live knowing you are under surveillance every second? Nowadays, China’s collection of a staggering amount of personal data from ordinary citizens is well advanced. Similarly, Saudi Arabia is building a smart city in the desert that will know its residents better than they know themselves.
42% say yes, and 58% say no, according to debeate.org in the security cameras and privacy discussion. Well, you might ask then why a surveillance city is being built. Mainly, because it provides better public safety. Retrieved data provides us to gather evidence and clues easier. Moreover, it speeds up the process of catching criminals. Since it will be challenging to commit a crime, the crime rate will be greatly reduced. In this way, peace and security can be ensured in society.
However, surveillance systems are easily abused. An example of how public cameras can be misused is that information collected by law enforcement agencies can be used as a form of blackmail. Another form of abuse is voyeurism. Spying on women with public surveillance cameras is quite common and a big issue. Overall, losing the slightest control of surveillance cameras can cause big problems. Furthermore, this kind of big city will be expensive. For these reasons, most people do not want their personal space invaded.
I think, when building such a city like this, very detailed planning is required so that people do not have doubts. As long as this is provided, this city will be conducive. Then I would like to stay in a surveillance city too where I can live safely.