Wherever You Go, Cameras Are Watching You

The modern digital camera is small enough to fit on a phone, powerful enough to record in high definition, and popular enough to be almost everywhere. With the rise of camera technology have come two dueling trends: the popularity of sharing videos and pictures online, and the fear that we're losing privacy to security surveillance. Which force is more powerful: Big Brother or Big Social Sharing? And where is all this camera technology leading us in the years ahead? Our friends at Mezzmer Eyeglasses have created another compelling infographic to give you the details about digital recording in the 21st Century. Delve into the exclusive Singularity Hub image below. Wherever you go, cameras are watching you. It's about time to figure out what's going on behind those electronic eyes.

Instances of video surveillance have increased in recent years. Scotland Yard is using CCTV footage in their ongoing prosecutions after the London riots, Mayor Bloomberg of New York City has urged the use of more such cameras, and various government organizations are looking to increase their effectiveness. Can monitoring street corners really cut down crime, or are they just new ways of handing out traffic and parking tickets? Even outside of security surveillance, the growing presence of cameras among the general public is fraught with cautionary tales about privacy. Who can forget the tragic suicide of Tyler Clementi after being secretly recorded by his roommate? The possibilities for such misuse only grow as more fantastic and surreptitious kinds of cameras are developed for public use. Balanced against all these privacy concerns is the overwhelming popularity (and enjoyment) of recording and publishing videos to the social network. Some even want to share everything they see, 24/7. With all the data to sift through, and the weight of the issues, it's helpful to have this following infographic to help us make sense of things. Read it, enjoy it, and share it. It's a great way to get the conversation started.