Internet Eyes Under ICO Investigation

Well it was always going to happen but today The Register are running a story that the launch of Internet Eyes has been delayed whilst the Information Commissioner’s Office checks on the legality of the service after concerns were raised.

Assistant Information Commissioner Jonathan Bamford told The Register:   “CCTV operators should use appropriately trained staff to monitor images. If a CCTV system is established to help prevent and detect crime, it would be appropriate to disclose images to law enforcement agencies where a crime needs to be investigated.

“However, it is not appropriate to disclose images of identifiable individuals for entertainment purposes or to place them on the internet.

“If images are to be released for identification purposes, this should not generally be done by anyone other than the law enforcement agencies where necessary when investigating a crime.”

I for one am hoping that in this case the ICO really does step up and put a halt to Internet Eyes.

Internet Eyes on TV – Watch, Learn & be… Disgusted?

UPDATE: ITV have rescheduled the piece for 18th February.  Shame as I was hoping to hear what Internet Eyes had to say for themselves.

Internet Eyes the citizen snooping CCTV advocate, about whom I have posted before,  is to be  featured on ITV’s Tonight program on 11th February at 19.30 according to their facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Internet-Eyes/108455634071?ref=nf.

I’m personally still appalled at the idea of not only Joe Public having an eye into private CCTV footage for the purpose of reporting observed miscreants but also the notion of this snooping being in some way ranked into league tables of spotters with prizes/rewards on offer for reporting.

“Models, Privacy & Ownership” summary of my BEUC Privacy presentation

So finally after much work the beast that is my BEUC Forum of Privacy 2009  is complete (and busy sending right now).  It is a 173 slide monster but provisional timings stick that at around 14minutes.

As a teaser here’s the summary I’ve posted to the BEUC:

“Models, Privacy & Ownership”

When given people trust businesses those businesses perform better. But for people to truly trust businesses and organisations they must have confidence in their privacy being safe-guarded.

Barney Craggs examines the effect emerging payment mechanisms has had on the volume of personal information being traded and highlights how by abandoning old set notions of ownership any organisation can foster trust and thrive which ever business model they pursue.

Spotify Premium Now HALF-PRICE!

Only a couple of weeks ago I posed the question on Twitter “would Spotify double uptake if they halved the price?” To which, of course the answer was no, and it was pointed out quite clearly.

Last week we had confirmation from 3UK that they would be releasing the HTC Hero with Spotify Premium baked in next month and hey guess what I’ve just had in my inbox…

Now I am really really tempted.  Having bought 5 or 6 albums in the last month alone at £4.99 a month with offline cache the Spotify model is starting to look attractive.

UPDATE (17:50):  Having just dry run the offer it looks like it is a one-time-use discount code so it is entirely possible the offer is only being made to i) existing Spotify users and ii) even that group may be in some way limited.  Let me know if you had the offer.

Internet Eyes is the Worst Kind of Citizen Snooping

I’m angry and I don’t like being made angry – it clouds my thinking, renders me even more ranty, more random than usual.  The intellectual side of me says “step back, take a breath and wait for the dark cloud to move on before passing comment” but honestly this CAN NOT wait.

Everyone in the UK (and to some degree around the globe) knows that the UK is the most CCTV’d nation on the planet.  Something like 3.5 – 4 million cameras and the average UK citizen being captured 300 times A DAY!  Billions of pounds of public money, and countless amounts of private sector cash has gone into recording everyone’s every move.

Last year the Government, under the watchful eye of the woefully ill-informed Jacqui Smith, launched a number of “initiatives” calling on the public at large to snoop, spy and dob-in anyone they thought was acting suspicious.  The scheme was widely reported to be another move in the combat against terrorism but honestly I just can’t see how.

Then we had an even more bold move suggesting that another £400m should be spent on 24hr in-home surveillance of the 20,000 “problem” families around the country “to ensure that children attend school, go to bed and eat proper meals.”  No, seriously that is what the Children’s Secretary Ed Balls was/is thinking.

So it’s obvious that New Labour is really about control and that state sponsored snooping is deemed not only acceptable by the Government but also (and wrongly IMO) essential.

BUT…

In the Times today is reporting on a worrying move by a company called Internet Eyes to employ a citizen human-turk to scan the obscene volume of live CCTV feeds and report suspicious behaviour and crime.  What makes this even more troubling is that they are rewarding viewers with cash for reports AND opening making the whole surveillance into a game with leader boards.  WTF!

This is so very very wrong.

And yet I am so riled by this my thoughts are not yet clear enough to define exactly how it is so wrong.

Obviously allowing anyone on the internet to watch a private citizens movements over CCTV is a terrible invasion of privacy.  If I walk down a street I accept that other people in the locality can see me, I also accept (whilst dislike) that the CCTV operator can also see me.  But at least I had some form of redress should that video footage be misused, my privacy breached.

I had some degree of limited exposure, some sense of my self not being shown to all and sundry.

No longer will it be only a “trained” professional operator observing me 300 times a day but some idle blaggard at the other end of the country with nothing better do than fulfil a sad voyeuristic fetish in the hope of instant cash and props from the other game players.

Granted that Internet Eyes are not disclosing the location of the viewed camera feed but it seems that the ONLY privacy being afforded by the system is that of the viewer, the reporting, the snooper.

WHAT TO DO

I honestly don’t know. Yet.  Spread the word, tweet it, facebook it, tell your mates, anything.

Awareness of this vile scheme must be raised.  If negative public opinion is enough to scupper perfectly privacy compliant (and potentially very useful) schemes like the recent mobile directory then surely public pressure can show up Internet Eyes for what it is; a truly terrible step towards an Orwellian reality.