Billboard Cameras

Image from NY Times

I read this article in the NY Times today, and was alarmed to read that cameras are now on the streets, recording what you and I are looking at. I have no problem with cameras being in private establishments where owners record the movements of the people entering their private space. I have no problem with law enforcement recording the movements of people in public spaces. My problem with this, is that a private company is being permitted to watch, and possibly record, data about people in public space. I am not a fear mongering Big Brother believer, there's just something frightening about a camera being set up to watch everyone. Especially when that camera is not regulated by the strict parameters of the members of law enforcement. Right now, it's just used to record the number and types of people who look at billboards, and that seems inocuous enough. What happens when someone was shot in front of that billboard? Do we call the police? But what happens when a mother grabs her daughter's ear in front of that camera? Do we call Child Services?

I don't know, I'm just not easy knowing that If I walk by a billboard, someone's camera is spying me out saying "I see you." If I ever see one of these billboards, I'm putting a sticker over the camera.