Big Brother Council cameras more than a little bit creepy

Do you ever get the feeling you’re being watched? You know, that creepy sensation that a surveillance camera is trained on you, recording your movement in a public place?

That’s because maybe you are being watched. If you live in Galway City, near a school, then the likelihood is you will be or have been watched by recording equipment owned by a private company, acting for Galway City Council.

All in the name of “Active Travel” and “Safe Routes to School”. Not that they will tell you, a member of the public or resident, in advance. Oh no.

No, what happens is the cameras will appear, on lampposts on public roads outside a school, without prior notice. They will remain for the weekend, and then disappear.

Some residents may not even notice that they have potentially been recorded on camera, coming and going to their home, or parking their cars, or locking their bikes, or doing whatever it is they do outside or in the front rooms of their homes.

The City Council has insisted it is all above board; that the data isn’t used to monitor individuals.

Maybe they are correct. Maybe it’s no big deal. Sure, who cares whether it’s caught on camera that you’ve had takeaway delivered to your front door three nights on the trot; or that you fell home ‘tired an emotional’ at all hours of Sunday morning?

Nobody cares. But what if the cameras can detect a pattern in your comings and goings that might be useful, say, to a burglar? Or what if you have a visitor to your house that might put you in a compromising position if knowledge of that visitor’s visit got into the wrong hands?

There are plenty of legitimate reasons why people don’t want to be subjected to surveillance, and don’t want CCTV pointed at or near their property. Especially when it is ‘covert’, and there is no advance warning about who owns the cameras and what they’re for.

This is not a made up example. Three cameras magically appeared outside a city school in June for a full weekend without prior knowledge of the public.

The Council hadn’t the courtesy to warn people. What the hell were they for?

“The cameras are in place for a traffic survey to inform the detailed design for (named school), as part of Safe Routes to School,” a spokesperson said.

These studies, the Council said, are “commonly used”, and have been used at Parkmore and Kirwan junctions. What’s more, “they are being undertaken on all Safe Routes to School projects to inform designs”.

“The surveys are undertaken by IDASO, a registered Data Controller, and have undertaken a Data Protection Impact Assessment as part of their appointment.

“IDASO provide anonymous aggregated data to clients (e.g. to Galway City Council) and surveys are not used to identify or monitor the activities of individuals,” the Council statement added.

Oh well, that’s okay then. What could possibly go wrong?

(Photo: one of the three cameras erected near a city school)

This is a shortened preview version of this article. For more Bradley Bytes, see the July 8 edition of the Galway City Tribune. You can buy a digital edition HERE.