Angelo J. Pompano
No, this is not your father's Candid Camera. Privacy in the Age of Video Surveillance is a serious concern. With the proliferation of video surveillance equipment in every conceivable situation of our daily lives, concealed video cameras are not a source of amusement as on the old Candid Camera television show, but a real restriction on our right to privacy. Consider a hypothetical, but possibly typical day: you wake up and walk out to your mailbox. A neighbor's private security camera is trained on his driveway across the street and picks you up. Later, you drive to work and when you get to the light on the corner, a video camera is watching to see if you went through red. You stop off at an ATM and you are taped. You go into the 7 Eleven-taped; pump gas- taped; get on the interstate and the traffic control cameras are focused on you. You get to work and the camera in the parking lot follows you into the building. Then you finally get you your desk and once more you are monitored. Let's not even consider the possibility of hanging out at the water cooler or going into the bathroom. It's only 8:15 AM and you have already had more TV exposure than Regis Philbin. You begin to think that maybe you shouldn't have worn that plaid tie with the checkered shirt.
The purpose of this unit is have students consider how many times a day their privacy is compromised by unseen video cameras and to have them understand that neither the 4th Amendment of the Constitution nor any statutory provision really protect them. The unit is concerned with privacy as it relates to closed circuit television used in surveillance by both government agencies and private corporations. It is intended to be used with 8th grade social studies classes but may be adapted for use with other grade levels and subject areas. It is aligned with the Reading, Writing and Speaking Content Standards of the City of New Haven.
