Game to destroy CCTV cameras: vandalism or valid protest?

[mwooldri]

23. I am so mixed when it comes to CCTVs.

I can see the arguments for and against, and both sides have valid points. The pros - catching evidence that would otherwise not be there and not just of traditional criminals but also of law enforcement abuse.. the cons - giving up a certain amount of liberty, the feeling of being watched doing nothing wrong at all.

Maybe a better way to "protest" would be some mechanism to put a fake picture in front of the CCTV camera? Or put on some makeshift lens cap? There's probably some crime in doing this though but IMO better than destroying the camera.

Then again I guess I'm too used to being in a CCTV society. Where speeding cameras are very much normal. A downside to multiple public CCTV cameras is that there is too much video to watch, so computers are doing a lot of it, sometimes by facial recognition of previously convicted people, or even suspects where law enforcement have a positive picture of that person.

Either way, I am mixed up. But one thing I am definitely not mixed up on is the right to record video in public by individuals on their own equipment (e.g. camcorders, cell phones). When something egregious is going on, it should be caught on camera and offered to law enforcement, or attorneys, as is needed. And these states that have rules or laws that prohibit private individuals recording the activities of law enforcement officers in public areas... that's just plain stupid IMO. Public video recording should be a right, as long as the video is for personal use and not to be distributed by any means.

Public release of the videos though is a whole different matter, and it's a case of permission or greater public good. Public protests, suspects caught on camera committing a crime, that's fair game. Bystanders, or people in the background of a video shoot ... need obfuscation unless they really cannot be easily identified or if they intentionally crash the video shoot.

So getting back to the title - destroying CCTV camera - definitely vandalism, even though this is done in protest. Best to protest in a way that disrupts normal camera operation without causing any damage.