On July 7, Muslim extremists bombed London’s mass transportation system. Later that day Declan McCullagh pulled one of his typical bone-headed moves in wondering why there was no footage being aired yet from the thousands of security cameras deployed throughout London?
And with all
those CCTV cameras littered about London, where’s the footage of the
bombers? Is there none because the cameras weren’t pervasive/invasive
enough?
Now, of course, a week later, we know that the cameras were working and captured the terrorists. Because of the existence of the footage, police were able to quickly determine that the bombings were probably suicide attacks, and were able to identify the prepetrators and search their residences.
The impetus coming out of the bombing will, if anything, likely tilt toward upgrading and improving London’s CCTV system given how the existing network of cameras has been in the bombing investigation. In addition, U.S. law enforcement will surely use the success of the London CCTV system to push further for such systems in American cities.
Glib, premature comments by civil libertarians like McCullagh’s only reinforce the view that those concerned about such extensive surveillance are out of touch with real world concerns.