Big brother is watching us.
In addition to tracking by cell phone towers, we may be tracked by use of fare instruments such as electronic transit fare cards (ie NYC "MetroCard", or highway toll cards (ie EZPASS). They can track usage of credit cards and ATM cards.
The cost of closed circuit TV recording systems has dropped tremendously and they are in a great many places recording our every move. Many cameras are outdoors, operated by building owners or the government.
Recently, a Florida man was convicted and sentenced to death for killing a girl. A camera captured his original assault on the girl.
So on the good side this electronic surveillance is helping to catch criminals after a crime as we are seeing on the news these days. It appears that vicious man in Florida certainly deserved his death sentence for what he did to the poor girl.
However: Does this surveillance deter crime? Are we safer because of the surveillance?
Are there any drawbacks to all this surveillance? What happens if someone steals my cellphone and while holding it, he/she goes out and commits a crime. (I don't use my phone very much so I wouldn't know it's missing for some time). Will I get blamed for it? Some of the video images of stores are quite grainy. Is it possible to have mistaken identity? Recently a photo of a wanted holdup man was shown on TV; he looked very much like a friend of mine. My friend got numerous phone calls about it.