Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Like being watched ?

Exhibitionist? Preening fashion victim? Strutting your stuff along Columbus Avenue? For the person in you who likes to be the center of attention 24/7, I invite you to Dubai. Where your every move or false move is noted, recorded, and, yes, may be (probably will be) used against you.

It's not that 'they' are against us or looking for any one us in particular, but there are cameras everywhere---the cost and manpower of the infrastructure to monitor us 'just in case' must be mind boggling.

Examples: Security scans at sports and public events: cameras scan faces, eyes of the crowd looking for facial structures that match 'persons of interest' (criminal or not). Proposal to mount cameras on the dashboard of every vehicle in the UAE, ostensibly to record bad behavior of fellow motorists but let's face it, it will record your every move and destination while driving.

Wherever I go and whomever I am with, I assume that I am being watched and recorded. In a country where a person is jailed and deported for 'giving the finger' to another motorist on the road, people begin to conform to the spoken and unspoken rules of public behavior. And the tattle-tellers are the locals who, if offended by what you are doing or saying, can point you out to the police.

Of course, Dubai is far from the only place on earth that carefully and compulsively monitors its citzens. Ever heard of the NYC police department and Homeland Security? Yep. All in the interests of national security, we are quickly turning over our zone of privacy. Oh yeah, I forgot about Google, Facebook, and the world wide web.

If you like to be watched, noticed, scanned, plucked, and moisturized, come on over!! It's 115 degrees and everyone is indoors ! Better to see you with, Little Red Riding Hood..... !!

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