Everything Visible

Excerpt

Unless you spend all of your time in a cave, you’ve probably been photographed without your knowledge.

The presence of surveillance cameras is becoming a growing norm in public spaces. For example, currently in the United Kingdom, there are an estimated 4.2 million cameras —some even with facial-recognition capability— that passively capture photos of nearly the entire nation, every moment of the day.

At the same time, back in the States, we’re seeing the rise of self-surveillance — otherwise known as sousveillance — and whether you like it or not, people are photographing you (accidentally or otherwise) with cheaper and cheaper portable cameras, and ever-smarter phones.

Cameras are becoming ubiquitous — as cameras like GoPro’s HERO gain consumer interest, and with the debut of wearable, automatic lifelogging cameras — and as it happens a new shift is coming that will change how we think about public space, and how we manage our public personas.

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