Does Surveillance Invade Your Privacy or Preserve Our Public Safety?
In the 1990s deadly terrorist bombings prompted British officials to adopt the widespread use of closed-circuit television cameras throughout London and beyond. This extensive surveillance system helped solve the deadly bombings of 2005 but has also led to questions about whether these practices constitute a violation of personal privacy. This video examines the elaborate CCTV system in Islington, a borough of London, by tracking a man and identifying him with a single camera from several city blocks away. Is the powerful capability of these cameras comforting or unsettling? Read more about the new surveillance society in the February 2017 issue of National Geographic.