Sao Paulo: Video Surveillance and Security

(Translation: Sorry! You are being filmed)

Video surveillance is seemingly everywhere in Sao Paulo - in every building lobby, elevator, transit station, restaurant, etc - and abundant (apologetic) signs remind you of it. In 1996, Wired magazine ran an article entitled The Transparent Society (http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.12/fftransparent.html) that explored two cities of the future (2016 - no longer so far away) that relied on such video technology for security: one in which small cameras nested everywhere were controlled by the police, the other in which the same network of small cameras was accessible to the public. Sao Paulo, is yet a third scenario - where video feeds are only available to the private security or management of each particular organization or institution. In the US we fear "Big Brother" and the idea of other people watching us, but we don't mind at all the video surveillance in stores, restaurants, highways, etc so long as it is not centralized. But the Wired article brings up a good point - as long as so much is being filmed, wouldn't we be better off if something in the public interest was being done with it? Many Americans shudder at the idea of being watched, tracked, etc by a central authority or by the stranger around the corner, but why aren't we bothered by the private digital eyes? As long as so much is being filmed, as it is in Sao Paulo, where surveillance seems inescapable, shouldn't we embrace it (with appropriate regulation on transparency, etc) as a means to improve public safety? smooth traffic flow? collect better data?