An Imaginative Use For CCTVs 191
An anonymous reader writes "Everyone knows we're being watched by CCTVs everywhere — particularly in the UK — and virtually everyone (at least on Slashdot) complains about that fact. But have you ever stopped to consider the ways you can use all those CCTVs to your advantage? The Get Out Clause, an unsigned band from Manchester in the UK, did just that; they played in front of 80 different CCTVs around Manchester, and then asked for the video via Freedom of Information Act letters. (About 25% of the CCTV owners complied with the law and turned them over.) The result isn't too bad."
"Stars of CCTV" (Score:5, Informative)
And every move that I make
Gets recorded to tape
So somebody up there
Can keep me safe
We're the stars of CCTV
Making movies out on the street
Flashing blue lights, camera, action
Watching my life, main attraction
We're the stars of CCTV
Can't you see the camera loves me?
Music Video (Score:5, Informative)
Heads up (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Wait, CCTV owners? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Wait, CCTV owners? (Score:5, Informative)
Almost all of the CCTV cameras that are frequently cited as being part of a "surveillance state" in the UK are owned and operated by private individuals, not the government. Specifically, most are run by shops. The article refers to the band using one on a bus.
Which raises the question -- why did the band expect the freedom of information act to apply to these? It only applies to government-run organisations, so the owners of the cameras in question had no obligation to comply with the request.
Re:Is it just me... (Score:5, Informative)
My suspicion is that the band doesn't actually understand the FIA. From the article:
They set up their equipment, drum kit and all, in eighty locations around Manchester - including on a bus - and proceeded to play to the cameras.
Afterwards they wrote to the companies or organisations involved and asked for the footage under the Freedom of Information Act.
[...]
Only a quarter of the organisations contacted fulfilled their obligation to hand over the footage - perhaps predictably, bigger firms were reluctant, while smaller companies were more helpful - but that still provided enough for a video with 20 locations.
The bus and "bigger firms" are referring to cameras operated by private organisations which have no legal obligation to respond to such a request. "Smaller companies" were presumably more helpful due to the fact that they didn't have lawyers to inform them of this fact.
Re:Is it just me... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Wait, CCTV owners? (Score:5, Informative)
Dom Joly did a similar thing in his last series, IIRC.
Re:Wait, CCTV owners? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Is it just me... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Is it just me... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Wait, CCTV owners? (Score:3, Informative)
It is a provision of the DPA that an individual can request that a company discloses all of the information that it holds on that individual. This can include information stored on video tape, such as that gathered by a company's CCTV cameras.
Re:Data Protection? (Score:4, Informative)
DPA not FoI (Score:5, Informative)
It could get expensive though as they're allowed to charge a processing fee which by the way I think absolutely stinks. Why should you have to pay to see if they've fucked up your data? The burden should be entirely on the data holders and if they get lots of malicious requests designed to cost them money in man hours then maybe they should reconsider the need to store data on you in the first place. At very worst the costs should be capped at something trivial like £0.50.
Re:Is it just me... (Score:2, Informative)
The story is about a month old (Score:5, Informative)
Stratospheric (Score:3, Informative)
On MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/londonkiosk [myspace.com]
On YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BBCMYO2PHQ [youtube.com]
Free MP3 download: http://www.contactmusic.com/new/home.nsf/webpages/kioskx25x09x03 [contactmusic.com]
No connection to the band. In fact I think the music sucks... Still, they simply don't have as good of a PR guy working for them.
Re:nothing to "comply with" (Score:4, Informative)
Video was a P.R. stunt.. (Score:4, Informative)
Regardless, it was a pretty good one all the same!
Re:Wait, CCTV owners? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:The story is about a month old (Score:5, Informative)
Exactly, I was about to suggest that it was fake.
I work as a part-time CCTV operator (while I'm at University), and the footage just doesn't look remotely real to me. Specifically the frame-rate is FAR too high, most CCTV systems have the frame-rate turned down quite low (say 3-5 FPS) to save space.
Second, not every CCTV camera is necessarily recording at the same time. While every camera probably CAN record, usually only key cameras will be set to record, maybe half or less, to save space on the system. The idea is that if anything happens the CCTV operator will record that camera, not that everything records all the time.
If a band asked me to look up their footage because of something like this, the footage they'd get back wouldn't look that good. This is a publicity stunt.
(and, as has already been pointed out, the Data Protection Act, not the Freedom of Information Act)
Re:Wait, CCTV owners? (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Wait, CCTV owners? (Score:5, Informative)
The ones outside the stores are their own. The one's inside places like stadiums, Malls are owned by the people who run these places.
Re:Wait, CCTV owners? (Score:4, Informative)
Kudos to these guys for pulling this off though. How they managed to set up a drum kit on one of the Metrolink trams and on the travelator in Sainsbury's supermarket in Fallowfield (which is at a 45 degree angle!) is crazy.
Re:"Stars of CCTV" (Score:3, Informative)
There are traffic congestion and speed cameras in the UK, but AFAIK none are used to check for style of driving.