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Meeting the Risks of Generativity: Privacy 2.0 209
public at large, minimizing the need for understaffed police to make the initial
assessment about what is going on when a suspicious sound is heard. Interested
citizens can review camera feeds near a reported shot and press a button if they
see something strange happening on their computer monitors. Should a citizen
do so, other citizens can be asked for verification. If the answer is yes, the police
can be sent.
In November of 2006, the state of Texas spent $210,000 to set up eight webcams
along the Mexico border as part of a pilot program to solicit the public’s
help in reducing illegal immigration. 44 Webcam feeds were sent to a public
Web site, and people were invited to alert the police if they thought they saw
suspicious activity. During the month-long trial the Web site took in just under
twenty-eight million hits. No doubt many were from the curious rather than
the helpful, but those wanting to volunteer came forward, too. The site registered
over 220,000 users, and those users sent 13,000 e-mails to report suspicious
activity. At three o’clock in the morning one woman at her PC saw someone
signal a pickup truck on the webcam. She alerted police, who seized over
four hundred pounds of marijuana from the truck’s occupants after a highspeed
chase. In separate incidents, a stolen car was recovered, and twelve undocumented
immigrants were stopped. To some—especially state officials—
this was a success beyond any expectation; 45 to others it was a paltry result for
so much investment. 46
Beyond any first-order success of stopping crime, some observers welcome
involvement by members of the public as a check on law enforcement surveillance.
47 Science fiction author David Brin foresaw increased use of cameras
and other sensors by the government and adopted an if-you-can’t-beat-themjoin-them
approach to dealing with the privacy threat. He suggested allowing
ubiquitous surveillance so long as the watchers themselves were watched: live
cameras could be installed in police cars, station houses, and jails. According to
Brin, everyone watching everywhere would lessen the likelihood of unobserved
government abuse. What the Rodney King video did for a single incident 48 —
one that surely would have passed without major public notice but for the amateur
video capturing what looked like excessive force by arresting officers—
Brin’s proposal could do for nearly all state activities. Of course, Brin’s calculus
does not adequately account for the invasions of privacy that would take place
whenever random members of the public could watch—and perhaps record—
every interaction between citizens and authorities, especially since many of
those interactions take place at sensitive moments for the citizens. And ubiquitous
surveillance can lead to other problems. The Sheriff’s Office of Anderson