Problem: Male Operators Use Surveillance Cameras For Ogling Women; Mayor's Solution: Employ Only Female Operators
from the missing-the-point dept
Lo Barnechea is a commune of Chile located in Santiago Province, with a population of about 75,000. Its Mayor, Felipe Guevara, has decided what Lo Barnechea really needs is a massive surveillance system installed in aerostats tethered over the area, as explained by a post on the Derechos Digitales site (original in Spanish.) It's not clear from the article why he chose this unusual approach; perhaps it's because most of his district is mountainous, and that poses problems for conventional surveillance systems. Whatever the reasons, Guevara is smart enough to recognize that powerful mass surveillance systems of the kind he wants to install, which involves cameras able to pick out people from a distance of more than a kilometer away, have a serious problem:
The mayor explains that in a surveillance system implemented in Argentina, the operators started to use the cameras to follow women in the streets.
That might have alerted him to the larger issue here: the fact that there will always be a temptation to abuse such powerful systems. But no, Guevara is undeterred, because he believes he has come up with a way to avoid this issue:
The mayor's unusual solution: to employ women, because "they are less voyeuristic, more discreet" than men."
Or maybe they are so discreet, they just get away with it...
Follow me @glynmoody on Twitter or identi.ca, and +glynmoody on Google+
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: chile, felipe guevara, lo barnechea, men, santiago province, surveillance, women
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
A job opportunity for you has just presented itself. It's everything you want! Surveillance! Control! No pesky US Constitution to interfere!
Don't miss this chance!
[ link to this | view in thread ]
/s
[ link to this | view in thread ]
I'm OK with this
What's the last time you heard of a female getting busted for drilling a hole in a bathroom wall in order to snoop?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: I'm OK with this
Why this apparent sexism?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
But frankly, the main problem with encompassing surveillance are in my opinion not the oglers but rather those connecting dots for their own purposes.
And if you take a look at people interested in backoffice talk and intrigue, that's more the female half of the populace.
Collecting data causes abuse, period. The kind of abuse may differ depending on the characteristics of the surveillers, but you don't escape any consequences.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: I'm OK with this
Some things people don't talk about, but it doesn't mean they don't happen.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
it's not about sexism, it's about surveillance
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Next weeks news
"Problem: Lesbian Operators Use Surveillance Cameras For Ogling Women; Mayor's Solution: Employ Only Male Operators"
How about, ohhhhh, i dont know......get rid of the bloody system that enables it......or replace the damn thing or method
Too expensive? Not to expensive to waste money on bad decisions though is it..........how about human rights forsight as an educational curiculum..........thats a point, why DONT we have this kind of thing on our education systems, STRONGLY, at that......is it because outside interests have a vested interested in not teaching a thing that would harm their interests perhaps
[ link to this | view in thread ]
The mayor's a sexist pig.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
Have a bunch of men use this handy new surveillance system to determine the sexuality of a bunch of women (I'm sure you can fond some men to volunteer) and then only hire the heterosexual women to then do the future monitoring.
Game, set, match.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
Judging from the recent numbers of active real users of Ashley Madison, there are about 7000 men who'd enjoy an inconsequential rump with a semi-random woman to every woman who'd reciprocate. Even stipulating that AM had overspecialized on fleecing men, it's pretty clear that there is a different degree of selectivity at work.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Yep, sounds like a sensible approach. Why not scale the surveillance/polluting sources down to a manageable level?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Underlying Problem Is Everywhere!
The real question is: where can I get a few of the mall cop's "Best of Miniskirt", "Best of Cleavage" or "Best of Short shorts" tapes (knowing full well that "tapes" is an anachronistic phrase these days)?
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: The mayor's a sexist pig.
Maybe it's a speedos thing...
[ link to this | view in thread ]
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Underlying Problem Is Everywhere!
I assume you haven't actually tried to find them. :-)
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: The mayor's a sexist pig.
They still sell speedos? Perhaps those women are as shocked to see one as I am to hear they're still worn.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
The solution many places apparently have is banning individual men and all-male groups from entering the purikura area at all. Only groups that had at least one female member could use them.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re:
From my western eyes, it appears Japan's still in the process of getting over the less desirable parts of Samurai culture, and that of being "parented" by the US' military (MacArthur) post-WWII. Japanese culture, in many ways, is beautiful but the authorities haven't yet learned to deal with its "peasants" as free individuals yet.
It may take a while. I think they'll do very well once they hit their stride. It may take a while though. The Germans, already being western and sort of already initiated, have picked up anti-authoritarianism much quicker (and better). The Italians just went back to being Italian. Patience.
[ link to this | view in thread ]
Re: Re: Re: The mayor's a sexist pig.
[ link to this | view in thread ]