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The Long Lens of the Law
You are being watched. From street corners and roadsides, bank machines and satellites, video cameras record our every move. For police forces, photo radar, street surveillance, cruiser cams and tiny cameras have become efficient crime-fighting tools, gathering irrefutable proof of criminal activity and deterring would-be lawbreakers. For others, video surveillance is an uncomfortable erosion of civil liberties, the unblinking eyes of Big Brother.

	Birth of Big Brother		RCMP cameras crack crime ring, murder scheme		Escort agency bust worries BC attorney general
	From 19th century paparazzi to spies in space, the camera has defined our concept of privacy. (Radio; runs 5:19)		Police arrest 70 in a stolen goods sting, and take down the Canadian head of the Ku Klux Klan. (TV; runs 8:59)		A legal loophole allows peeping police to tape prostitution in a Victoria hotel room. (TV; runs 2:42)

	Don't smile: you're on photo radar		Electronic eyes on the streets		'COPS,' Canadian style
	A new technology allows police to nab speeders by mail. (Radio; runs 5:21)		Sherbrooke pedestrians are being watched. Do the cameras deter crime, or foster paranoia? (TV; runs 4:34)		Cruiser cams and roving microphones help convict Vancouver bad boys. (TV; runs 3:17)

	'Automated blackmail'		Cameras at trial		'If you know this suspect, touch here'
	Roadside robo-radar gets the cold shoulder in Ontario. (Radio; runs 3:28)		Pictures don't lie... do they? (Radio; runs 5:52)		Stanley Cup rioters are "fingered" through video snitch terminals. (TV; runs 2:14)

	Cameras, cameras everywhere		Universal surveillance
	Giving up privacy puts criminals behind bars, but at a cost. (TV; runs 2:39)		Since Sept. 11, 2001, citizens are on camera 24/7 in the name of stopping terrorism. (Radio; runs 6:40)

LINKS Topic from Les Archives de Radio-Canada on the same subject Vidéosurveillance et vie privée : une question d'équilibre? Related Topics from CBC's Archives Canada Says Hello: The First Century of the Telephone Computer Invasion: A History of Automation in Canada Launching the Digital Age: Canadian Satellites Marshall McLuhan, the Man and his Message The October Crisis: Civil Liberties Suspended CBC.ca CBC: Privacy - not an absolute right CBC News Online: Privacy watchdog sues RCMP over cameras on streets External sites The Right to Privacy, by Samuel Warren and Louis D. Brandeis, 1890 Big Brother in Britain: Does more surveillance work? NPR: The Video Surveillance Debate LabGuy's World: The History of Video Tape Recorders before Betamax and VHS The CBC assumes no responsibility for the content of external links.

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