If We Go This Route It Is Because We Are A Nation Of Peeping Toms, Not Crime Fighters

"The English have always had a slightly different attitude toward privacy," Saffo said. They've never had a strong a privacy culture as America has had. It is easier for the government to overstep notions of privacy than it would be here, because you have people invoking the Bill of Rights." But Saffo believes that given the right crisis, the United States would eventually accept the technology. "Do not underestimate the psychic shock of the London subway bombings," he said. "We bleat and cry about privacy, but we happily surrender our privacy for the cheapest of coin."

"This week in Washington, D.C., a bill pushed by the city's mayor calling for nearly $1 million in funding for citywide public cameras was voted down by the city council. "People sometimes talk about video surveillance systems as moving forward inexorably in the United States, but we've seen quite a few successful protests."

What is the need? That is the question. Just last week another study came out that says despite the millions of cameras and hundreds of millions in pounds, or euros, spent on such gizmos, crime is steady in Britain. The effort is a bust.

No impact. Get it? So then, what would the reason be to install all these cameras and monitoring equipment?

Voyeurism?