Monitoring is a double-edged sword

Recently, the need to install GPS video systems to monitor the safety of taxis has caused controversy. This type of video has been widely used in many cities, and taxis in Chongqing, Xi’an, Baotou, Nanchang, and Zaozhuang are also being installed. However, many people worry that cameras in public places will cause personal privacy to leak out.

Despite the fact that the dense camera can deter illegal attempts and increase security in the public domain, it also brings uncomfortable and insecure feelings to people under surveillance. For all people, there are bodies in public places. Borders and intangible psychological boundaries, and monitoring will cause some people to feel that their psychological boundaries have been violated. For example, you wanted to laugh, grimace, and affectionately affectionate people on no one's occasion, but when you found that a cold camera was relatively awkward, some actions stopped.

People's concerns about privacy leaks are not groundless. In early 2008, a passionate kiss video of a young couple at the subway station spread widely on the Internet. According to expert analysis, this video was taken by Shanghai subway monitoring facilities. The leakage of this video, at least, is not related to the omission of management personnel. In view of this, monitoring is inherently a double-edged sword. It is only one step away from “body-guarding bodyguards” to “peeping”.

Montesquieu said that anyone with power tends to abuse power until he encounters restrictions. Obviously, the person who controls the monitoring system is no exception. Without the supervision and restrictions on them, they may still be able to satisfy the voyeurism with the help of the monitoring system and even show off and use such unfettered power to more people.

The intention of a taxi-equipped GPS video system is to make us safer than to make us feel afraid. However, the right to supervise the public interests must abide by the principle of “minimum harm” to freedom, and do its utmost to protect citizens’ private rights from being affected. Monitoring is not terrible, and terrible is the lack of management monitoring. In fact, there has always been a tradition of despising individual rights in China. Some people often underscore the due respect for individual rights in the name of public interest. This is in contrast to the fact that modern countries attach great importance to individual rights. From the constitutional protection of human rights protection to the birth of the law of property rights, we are now moving in the direction of attaching greater importance to individual rights.

From this point of view, without proper management and full public opinion, the rush to attach a camera to a taxi is actually putting the personal rights of the overwhelming majority of people in a disadvantageous manner with a low probability of crime. To really achieve the maintenance of public safety, it is also necessary to strengthen the monitoring and improve the system design for protecting the privacy of citizens.