CCTV Social: Day II. various.
Cinematographer: Shaina Anand
Duration: 00:05:30; Aspect Ratio: 1.366:1; Hue: 225.780; Saturation: 0.028; Lightness: 0.183; Volume: 0.120; Cuts per Minute: 11.625; Words per Minute: 194.902
Summary: For CCTV Social, artist Shaina Anand collaborated with Manchester Metropolitan University and Arndale Shopping Centre to open working CCTV environments to a general audience. People normally 'enclosed' by these networks came into the control rooms to view, observe and monitor this condition, so endemic to the UK. About thirty people signed up for one-hour sessions in the MMU security center to engage with the CCTV operators and monitor surveillance procedures. These sessions became somewhat like a diagnostic clinic, where they discussed symptoms, anxieties and inoculations about their 'public health,' under surveillance. These therapy sessions seemed to work both ways, for the participants as well as the security officers.
This is footage of interactions between some of the participants and the surveillance control officers at the Manchester Metropolitan University. They talk about the "real" and imagined benefits of CCTV as a crime prevention measure. Hannah, a student of criminology feels good to know that "someone up there is always watching," Lowrie wonders about the omnipotence of the whole thing, finding it "a bit like God."
James: The thing with having either... Well, obviously there is no choice between either cameras or policemen. But less cameras and more policemen, because actually a person, a policeman there, would be more of a terror than a camera.
Hannah: I would say so.
Steve: Oh yeah. I mean, don't get me wrong. Obviously there is the visible presence and there is that old saying, some of the lads who've been here for years say, "Can't beat man on the ground," in a way. You know you stood there and you are in your uniform, you know you're noticed a lot more than a camera. Even though, say like for instance (reaches for a switch on the console and pans camera 19 to the left and zooms in and points to a camera mounted on a distant building) one of our cameras here is quite noticeable when you are walking past. It's on one of the poles there. But which would you notice first? That or somebody here in high V jackets. (points from camera to two men on the screen)
Rows of numbered screens line the walls of the CCTV control room of the Manchester Metropolitan University. The screens display live feed being transmitted by CCTV cameras located in the area. Hannah and James engage in conversation with Steve, the surveillance control officer at the control room. James opines that CCTV cameras can never substitute for the police, with any positive and substantial results in effective law enforcement; an increase in the number and quality of police officers "on the streets" and lesser reliance on CCTV cameras for crime prevention seems like a better option. Steve agrees but also points out that officers on patrol are often at risk because they are easily noticeable and recognisable.
Related Links:
CCTV
CCTV
cameras
control room
noticeable
person
policeman
privacy
security
substitute
surveillance
terror
watching
Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester
Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester
SA: What interested you guys, Hannah, to come in here?
Hannah: As part of my course I kind of studied, kind of CCTV and criminology. And so I was, kind of, quite interested just to see kind of the extent of it in Manchester. And what somebody knows and thinks about the use of it and stuff. So yes, that was kind of... I thought it sounded really interesting.
SA: What course is this?
Hannah: It's economics and social science, and I specialise in social policy, but within the idea of politics and criminology and sociology. So yeah, it kind of crops up in lots of different areas.
The camera pans from the quad split screen to Hannah.
Related Links:
The Politics of CCTV in Europe and Beyond
Intrusion on privacy by electronic surveillance.
Surveillance
CCTV
cameras
control room
criminology
economics
policy
politics
privacy
science
social
sociology
surveillance
watching
Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester
SA: So what's your take? Do you feel more secure?
Hannah: I think it's... I hadn't really realised the extent to it. I think it's quite incredible the range that it covers. Yeah, I guess it's good to know that somebody is always watching.
SA: Okay, your time is up. You got any more questions?
Hannah: It's really fascinating.
Steve: You changed your opinion on security, that's good. (laughter) People have a lot of preconceived ideas... Like they think, "Ah, they've got nothing better to do."
The camera pans from the quad split screen to Hannah, then pans left to a screen. Steve "watches" while a boy rides a bicycle and a man dressed in black walks on the pavement. The camera zooms out. Steve talks to Hannah.
Related Links:
Panopticon
Public response: Does CCTV make you feel safe?
CCTV: Privacy??
Scarecrow Policing: Talking CCTV cameras
CCTV
cameras
control room
extent
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person
policeman
prevalence
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Lowrie compares the "eyes in the sky" to an omniscient disciplinary God, watching the people all the time, probing for any minor indiscretion that he could chastise them for.
Related Links:
Surveillance , CCTV and Social Control.
Being Watched
Talking CCTV
Resurveying Eden
Talking CCTV: Blog entry
UK Home Secretary defends "talking CCTV" plans
CCTV fails to slash crime
Big Brother is shouting at you
Lowrie: The one up there (points to a screen on the wall), the bottom left one. The way it's so like high up in the sky, it kind of makes me feel... Well, I wonder if you feel, like, omnipotent, if that's the right word. You know like, dunno, like this idea of... It makes me feel funny, like, you know in the old days people used to say that God is a being looking down on them with a big finger going (points towards the ground with a finger), "STOP THAT!" Kind of makes me... That's what it reminds me of, like, looking down on the world seeing bad things.
Steve: No, it's just to give you the best view; that's all.
Lowrie: I know. I'm just saying that that's what it reminds me of.
Steve: Oh yeah, I know what you mean. I could be a...
Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester
CCTV
cameras
control room
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god
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policeman
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Lowrie and Amy are in conversation with Steve. When they talk about "not noticing" or being "aware" of the CCTV cameras before their visit to the CCTV control room, Steve responds with his version of the, "if you've got nothing to hide, you've got nothing to fear" argument. This visit to the CCTV control room seems to have made the visitors suddenly more aware of the panoptic "disciplinary gaze" which is always trained on them.
Related Links:
Surveillance Camera Players: completely distrustful of all governments.
Private lives: public spaces
Precious Liberty
I've got nothing to hide: Logical Fallacy
Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester
Steve: We'd love to have a big finger like that. (laughs) But it's just the best place for them really, it stops people vandalising them. But you probably would get some people...
Lowrie: Is this on top of the theatre building?
Steve: Yeah.
Lowrie: So weird, that I'd never think or know that someone is watching me.
Amy: No.
Lowire: I never think about it, I can't imagine being aware of that.
Amy: I can't either. That's what's so strange about being in here, is that you've got to think of it.
Steve: That's because you've got nothing to hide. It's only the ones that have got something to hide are conscious of being watched.
Lowrie: Yeah.
Boy: It's just being able to see it, because it's not very often that you get a chance to see... As I was just saying it, I was realising how many cameras that are around this place and stuff. It's just a bit surreal seeing a place that I know so well in such a distant way. And yeah, it's just a bit surreal.
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Boy: Is there...? Any of the cameras you've got in here have speakers on them and stuff? Cause I've been to car parks in town before...
Steve: Yeah, some of them have them.
Boy: Especially at night time and stuff, a lot of those places you've got speakers trying to stop people from like, pissing in the car park and stuff like that. I've been in some... I've heard of people talking to me, and friends walking past, and seeing the cameras move with us and stuff. When we wave and look, the camera waves back and stuff so obviously.
Steve: Somebody mentioned this before and said, "do you think we should have the speaking ones?" And I said, "yeah, we can go back to, like, the IRA bomb in Manchester. Then they didn't have the speaking ones."
Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester
The introduction of "talking" CCTV cameras in UK feels like another step in the direction of Orwellian dystopia; a society where the omniscient "eyes in the sky" have got a "voice" too, a voice that "scolds" you in public for bad behaviour.
Related Links:
Big Brother is shouting at you
Talking CCTV
CCTV
aware
big brother
cameras
control room
disciplinary
extent
gaze
hide
notice
omniscience
privacy
range
safety
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Amy: I think watching people from this view, I don't know, I suppose you get used to it; it's acceptable. But the thought of somebody actually speaking to you from... you know, I don't know where this.
Steve: Straight away you think, who's that? At the end of the day you listen to them.
Amy: Yeah, exactly. Because I'm not aware that I'm constantly being watched by CCTV cameras until I've come into this room and I've looked, as though I can't believe how much it is covered.
Lowrie: Yeah.
Amy: But then the thought of someone speaking, it's like you immediately are aware.
Despite the fact that UK is officially the most surveilled country in the world, many people are unaware of the extent to which electronic surveillance pervades their lives.
Related Links:
Scarecrow Policing
Big Brother is shouting at you.
"Talking" CCTV cameras that tell off people.
The Panopticon Singularity
Participatory Panopticon
Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester
CCTV
aware
big brother
cameras
control room
disciplinary
extent
gaze
hide
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omniscience
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talking
voice
watching
1984
CCTV
Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester
Related Links:
Privacy vs Security?
Films and CCTV
Surveillance in Cinema
1984
Surveillance and loss of privacy
Steve: So straight away you'd think, "Might be, it has a zoom on."
Amy: That's very 'Nineteen Eighty-Four', isn't it? (laughs)
Lowrie: Citizen Desist!
Lowrie: You never thought - you just walked out on that street, sort of rushing to get here, then you just really... You really aren't aware that you're being watched.
Amy: Maybe it's because for people who don't work in security, it's like when you see things on film; it's a film. You know what I mean, it's almost like fictionalising.
Amy: Except it's yourself and it's your own life.
Steve: Yeah, like when you see it on the Police Camera Action (TV show) thing. It's totally different.
(Amy laughs)
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