Is Big Brother Really Watching You? YES
Valerie's post brings home the reality: there are cameras EVERYWHERE today. Sometimes, it's a good thing, as in Boston, and sometimes its just a surprise. We all need to be aware of the potential for cameras to catch us unaware.
When I took Buyers around to see homes I often reminded them that there could be a nanny cam or baby monitor on that would transmit what we were discussing. There were some homes where I was sure this was happening. Maybe it was my spidey senses on alert. Yesterday, I was reminded that cameras are not just in homes and some retail shops.
I am a mystery shopper. There. Now I am outed. I have been doing my mystery shopping for a few years and have been in contact via email with the coordinator. I submit my reports regularily and have only once before , when I first started, actually talked to the coordinator. Well, she called me yesterday. She asked if, when I went to pay the bill, did I use my company points card. I said that I had not as I was ineligible to get points when using the gift coupon (the required method of payment on this mystery shop). She said she was looking at the video at the time of my receipt and was I the woman with the little girl. SAY WHAT!!!!!!
Video???? In all the years of going to this place, I had never seen a camera. Video???? Well, as I had nothing to hide, I said that I was not that woman. Then she asked if I had been with my husband and was he a tall man with a beard. This made me think of George Orwell and my Georges. I got the creeps.
I wonder if the staff know there are cameras trained on them. I certainly am never going to do anything weird at the checkout (not that I have and not that I would but......).
Look around you. Are there cameras on street corners for speeders? Are you aware of the cameras in retail and commercial enterprises. What about security cameras in buildings and on telephone poles in yards. Do you have a camera trained on your front door? Have you seen the Google Street view vehicles driving down your street? George Orwell was warning us about Big Brother (government) but he could never have imagined the watching that we all do with our cameras on our phones, in our hands and trained on us wherever we go. Well this isn't 1984 it 2013, almost thirty years later and we all have the potential of being watched. This isn't paranoia - just saying it is what it is. My tip for today.....
Dress up when you leave the house.
Photo credit: Google Street View Car in Bristol
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