Stop Whining About Privacy, Michael Bloomberg Says

[MH1]

4. True story:

yesterday I was doing some environmental maintenance with a few other community members. Someone told a sad story of where (in another community) some trees and shrubs had been planted as part of a riparian buffer, but "neighbor kids" (allegedly - it is someone, right?) were coming and ripping the plants out.

My response: that's what cameras are for. Find out which kids, and fine the parents. A lot of money and effort went into those plantings, and they have an important purpose. If someone's coming along and destroying it, that's bullshit.

Cameras have their uses.

I don't really give a shit about whether cameras are watching me when I'm in public spaces. I work downtown and take transit. I was happy to see cameras going up in many of the subway trains (even surmising, as fast as they appeared, that most of the little boxes must be dummies, and only a few live - the crooks can't tell which are live). If someone attacks me, if there is a live surveillance camera, the cops are much more likely to catch the crook.

YMMV.


ETA: and I don't have $27B, just a working, commuting person who wants to be safe going about my business.