By Nick Heath, 31 July 2008 10:00
NEWS
Citizens are used to CCTV surveillance but a parliamentary group says that cameras are being turned on governments to keep them in line.
"Sous-veillance" will see video sharing sites such as YouTube used by citizens to shine a spotlight on things such as deadly hygiene lapses in hospital wards and uncollected rubbish, according to the European Information Society Group (Eurim).
The vision of the "public monitoring the state" and shaming them into action using cameraphones is one of several key ways that Eurim says technology can be used to transform government and empower the public.
Its report says: "New web applications such as YouTube or Patient Opinion enable people to monitor the state and to be heard. People can easily post videos of dirty hospital wards, of uncollected rubbish or of pot holes in the road, to a world-wide audience.
"Sous-veillance might transform political engagement due to its ease of use, by engaging even the time-poor majority and extending citizenship beyond the usual special interest groups."
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It points to the success of the Tidy Oldham project, where residents took photos of problems and "grot spots" on their mobiles to be posted on a dedicated website.
But it warns that the approach does risk airing vendettas against individual public workers, introducing greater budget pressures and distracting from wider public service reforms.
Increasing technology available to public workers can bring similar rewards, the report says, citing cleaner streets in the London borough of Lewisham after refuse collectors were given cameraphones to take pictures of graffiti, vandalism and rubbish.
Eurim warns that simply replacing face-to-face services with internet access risks isolating the services from the most vulnerable, citing examples of the elderly being cut off following bank and post office closures. It suggests that service delivery is streamlined so it is provided using the minimum of different systems necessary to address multiple groups' needs.
It also recommends that transformation of government through technology can be best achieved if external organisations are allowed to compete to deliver services.
What do you think? Join the debate by posting your comments on this story - click on the link below.
Comments
There are 8 comments. Join the discussion
1. Karen Challinor
well it's not the 24/7 cradle to grave surveillance the government has planned for us, but it's a start, not so much fun for the government when they are on the receiving end is it
I wonder how long it will be before this sort of activity is bundled into some form of anti terrorist legislation like RIPA and made illegal ?
2. Richard Sarson
Sousveillance gives the citizen, at last, another way for the citizen to answer back. In fact, thanks largely to the work of Tom Steinberg's Theyworkforyou.com and other websites calling MPs, Downing street and Councils to account, these tools have been there for some time.
It is up to citizens to use them, and not just moan in comments to silicon.com.
Incidentally, the Parliamentarians who sat in on the EURIM hearings were a roll call of the MPs and Peers who care about IT. Have a go at them, and stop saying that nobody in Parliament cares.
3. Don Tregartha
Maybe that's the context for the media attacks on YouTube of late?
4. George A. Smith
It works both ways. Naming & Shaming public & private sector industry into doing what they get paid to do, and using the technology to highlight "grot spots" or public nuisance areas. The technology only isolates the vulnerable if technology is used to replace face to face services instead of enhancing the service.
5. Go Leez
Reverse surveillance - what a great idea. It is time that the Govt servants, we the public have hired, are made accountable for their actions just like the private sector. More power to the people ...
6. Garry
It is good that people are now fighting back
7. bharatgoyal
I like the approach. I can target potholes in Gurgaon for sure to begin with. It is rainy reason here, i admit, but roads have gone really bad.
8. Chris Tolmie
What a great idea. Can we film security guards as they enter CCTV surveillance rooms on their way to monitor the people? It would be real revenge and intrusive into their privacy.