the camera is on, the camera is off, look this looks interesting !!!

walking through some streets, I get to see a nice bench, hookers (it was 3:45 in the afternoon)and this...

So, walking through the streets of Berlin I was looking for a social campaign but wasn’t able to find one. 

Suddenly I found one about drinking responsibly but someone else had already talked about that one. Curioulsy, a few days later, I find myself with this one and at first it did not seem like a social/political campaign.

Basically, it is a political statement and was the winner for a political campaign competition at respect.de.

Over the past few years there has been strong discussions about how much can the state control its people (official sources). This includes cameras in public spaces and first degree internet inspection. You might say, there is no problem with that, that will make the city more secure and will control the content for the young ones on the web. THIS IS NOT POSSIBLE ! the cameras on streets and parks, I would agree with that one, although it would demand a big investment and nobody needs privacy on public spaces. Now, the problem is with the web, they would be able to monitor that digital movements of a person, and if they are allowed to do it, who keeps people safe from hackers who would gain access to the private information of people and use for personal purposes. We already have those problems around the world and to allow this would be just making things simpler for digital terrorism (I get carried away).

Back to the ad, the men in the ad are wel attired, they have the basic german assistant government outfit (reinforced by a german source). The cameras being the head reinforces the idea of who they are working for and it is pretty simple about what their mission is. As for the background we can see the TV tower as symbol for Berlin where the parlament is seated.

The text says:

“with safety there is no freedom

the camera is watching every step”

Now, I went to one of my good friends business and asked him if he would agree with the cameras all over the city, he responded to me he would agree because it would perceive the idea that someone is watching and would prevent some minor crimes; on the other hand, his friend that was also with us, stated that he is not in favor of this; basically because he would feel followed and that it would prevent people from coming to the streets ( I know, awkward but honest answer).

What are the problems of allowing this type of government moves?, each time there will be a new way to keep an eye on the people, and the personal space will be shrinking a little bit every year and every new government. 

To allow something like this, means giving them more terrain to pick in our lives and configure an even stronger data base which at the end will end up being sold to the major companies and the audience will be targeted for marketing purposes and the initial reason to start all this which was security will just stand as an excuse to keep doing this type or atrocities.

Overall is interesting to see this type of dicussions within other countries to see that no matter the economic status of a country or society, there will be always someone to seek for absolute control.

Special thanks to my sources and may the best be…

As always the blogger of your hearts and souls,

Hugs and kisses,

Wally