An Imaginative Use For CCTVs

Nissa 06-02-2008

Unable to afford a proper camera crew and equipment, The Get Out Clause, an unsigned band from the city, decided to make use of the cameras seen all over British streets.

With an estimated 13 million CCTV cameras in Britain, suitable locations were not hard to come by.

They set up their equipment, drum kit and all, in eighty locations around Manchester – including on a bus – and proceeded to play to the cameras.

Afterwards they wrote to the companies or organisations involved and asked for the footage under the Freedom of Information Act.

"We wanted to produce something that looked good and that wasn't too expensive to do," guitarist Tony Churnside told Sky News.

"We hit upon the idea of going into Manchester and setting up in front of cameras we knew would be filming and then requesting that footage under the Freedom Of Information act."

Only a quarter of the organisations contacted fulfilled their obligation to hand over the footage – perhaps predictably, bigger firms were reluctant, while smaller companies were more helpful – but that still provided enough for a video with 20 locations.

"We had a number of different excuses as to why we weren't given the footage, like they didn't have the footage. They delete after a certain amount of time, so if they procrastinate for long enough, they can claim it's been deleted," Mr Churnside said.

Raven

Tha's actually pretty damn smart. Qaulity isn't all that great though, would of had better qqaulity with most $100 digital cams in my opinion.

hugo281

Whoa!! yeah I agree with you Raven

Hsoolien

Genius idea, I wonder how plausible it would be to duplicate in the US or Canada (as we have different laws)

hugo281

hmm well I guess we have to get congress and state representatives to make a law and send it out to the next president cause Bush will Veto it or maybe not but he's Veto'd alot of laws latetly from what CNN has been saying.

Hsoolien

Bush vetoes laws that prevent him form being a terrorist dictator, anything that prevents torture, guarantees the constitutional rights of Americans, he pretty much says fuck it, I'll do what I want. Al law allowing easy access to CC feeds is right up his alley (since he's a big fan of illegal wire taps)

Raven

I don't think it would work in the US. Too many dummy cams here, and also if you not a cop the likely hood of getting the tapes isn't going to work.

hugo281

true that Hsool, and yeah Raven I agree but if they did start doing that here, it be sort of like that movie Enemy of the State, always being recorded while you're in your own house that would suck

Hsoolien

As the laws stand now yes, as I said they'd need to be changed in the US and Canada. dummy cams are sure popular lately, kind of ruins the deterrent effectiveness of real cams, but I guess real cams mean you're likely to get caught so why take the chances?

orange

i remember reading this somewhere else the other day... sounds like there's actually been a few people who've done this now :\

and hsoolien.. as Nixon once said "if the president can do it, it can't be illegal." and you know bush is taking that to the extreme!!

hugo281

yeah no kidding, I betcha if he was also crazy he would put cameras in his own home to catch his daughters having sex or something lol, but yeah I wouldn't be surprised if this comes to pass anytime before he is out of the white house.

Hsoolien

Nixon was also impeached, which goes to show how good his logic was

It's unlikely that the US would ever pass a law allowing public access to CC feeds with Americans obsession with their own perceived privacy. It could happen in Canada though as it's much more liberal up here.