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Comment by anonymousDan | Hacker News Reader

I don't have any citations to back this up, but I had an interesting discussion with someone from one of the defense research labs in the UK regarding the accessibility of private CCTV cameras to the security services (I collaborate with them as part of my work). He said that what people don't realise is that in fact a very significant proportion of the private CCTV cameras in the UK have their management outsourced to a few large private sector companies. Gaining access to their systems is obviously a much easier proposition than having to negotiate with the actual owners of the properties. Whether this happens already I don't know, but I think it's a relatively plausible way for a government to build up a worrying monitoring capability.

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You can rest assured that the cameras are being used by the government. All over the West, they're clearly showing us they don't want us to have any privacy.

As for the article, it is, of course, some sort of propaganda. I guess they're just acclimating us to being aware that we're monitored all the time, everywhere.

That way we're easier to lead down the slippery slope all the way to where ever we're headed. But it's not good.

People need to wake up and start seeing that governments are obviously not working towards our interests. It's amazing how the masses still don't see it.

Do we want surveillance? No. Are we going to be surveilled anyway? Yes, of course. It's not about what we want - it's about what our rulers want.

Yes, the propaganda is quite thick on this topic.

They don't want us to have privacy because (duh) knowledge is power, and they want even more power. Maligning opting out is covered safely by the "if you aren't doing anything wrong, you have nothing to hide" cliche (which is never challenged in the public channels) and allegations of surveillance are still shut down by the "conspiracy theory" smear.

They're ready for widespread rebellion and attacks on government installations. Many of the people-tracking systems that they have in place were tested against guerrilla IED networks in Iraq, and they've armed every government agency to the teeth-- even the US Department of Education has a SWAT team [0].

[0]: http://www.heritage.org/research/commentary/2011/06/beware-t...

It's quite possible that a significant portion of the large scale CCTV installations are up for grabs, but they make up a relatively small portion of private CCTV overall. Most CCTV in the UK are non-networked installation in the local corner shop and the like.

That said, it is excessive in the UK.

and these large "private sector" companies, are they actually private sector or are they really just a front to make them look like they're private sector companies, when in reality are owned wholly or in part by entities specifically for the purpose of dragnet surveillance by intelligence services whilst selling their services "as a convenience" to other companies?

Given how we've been sold devices for convenience that it turns out are being used against us for many years, I would say that it's just as likely that this is happening on all levels.

With what we're gradually finding out since the Snowden Revelations, one can naturally assume: Any mass market product which appears to make life easier for a large enough percentage of the market whilst potentially compromising privacy/security is almost certain to be used in such a manner - that goes for consumer products as well as commercial.

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