Privacy and Freedom. Is Big Brother filming you in Costa Rica?

Living in Costa Rica, do you want to know how many telephone cold calls I have received in the last ten years during the day or in the evening?

One!

Do you know how many junk mail letters I have received in the last ten years?

Less than 20!

You’ve probably heard me say that never in my life before have I felt as happy, free and content as I do living in Costa Rica and, in looking at the news each day, I count my lucky stars that Costa Rica is my home.

The place where I was born, the United Kingdom (UK) now has – believe it or not – 53% more CCTV cameras on the streets than China which has over one billion additional people… The City of London alone has 10,000 “crime-fighting” CCTV cameras which cost £200 million (US$307,000,000).

With 241,930 square kilometers and a population of 61,113,205 the United Kingdom has 4.2 million CCTC surveillance cameras compared to China with 9,596,961 square kilometers and a population of 1,338,612,968 billion which has 2.75 million.

And you thought China was a police state!

“The average UK adult is now registered on over 700 databases and is caught daily on one of the 4 million CCTV cameras located on nearly every street corner in the country.”

“A comparison of the number of cameras in each London borough with the proportion of crimes solved there found that police are no more likely to catch offenders in areas with hundreds of cameras than in those with hardly any.”

With the recently announced new speed cameras that will trap motorists from space Big Brother is going to a whole new absurd level in the UK.

These new speed cameras combine number plate reading technology with a global positioning satellite receiver and enable “number plate capture in all weather conditions, 24 hours a day.”

And are you not tired tired of hearing people say that: “If you’re doing nothing wrong, then you’ve got nothing to worry about?”

Whatever happened to our right to basic privacy?

“Privacy is a fundamental human right recognized in the UN Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and in many other international and regional treaties.”

Even the British “Calcutt Committee” defined it as: “The right of the individual to be protected against intrusion into his personal life or affairs, or those of his family, by direct physical means or by publication of information.”

There are dozens of dictionaries out there but the definition of the word privacy is about the same wherever you look: “the quality or state of being apart from company or observation”




In the Legal Dictionary we see that: “In Constitutional Law, the right of people to make personal decisions regarding intimate matters; under the Common Law, the right of people to lead their lives in a manner that is reasonably secluded from public scrutiny, whether such scrutiny comes from a neighbor’s prying eyes, an investigator’s eavesdropping ears, or a news photographer’s intrusive camera; and in statutory law, the right of people to be free from unwarranted drug testing and Electronic Surveillance.”

So as George Orwell so astutely envisioned when he wrote his 1984 novel (the book was written in 1947-48), there is actually no privacy whatsoever left in the UK unless you happen to live at the bottom of Loch Ness or on top of a snow covered mountain.

What you might find particularly amusing is that today, you will find 32 CCTV cameras positioned within 200 yards of the London apartment where George Orwell used to live.

Do we have surveillance cameras in Costa Rica?

At some high traffic locations and in a few upscale private businesses in San Jose, you will see CCTVs but I guarantee you there are less government cameras spying on people in the entire country of Costa Rica than there are outside George Orwell’s home in London…

Even when I’m doing “nothing wrong,” I personally choose not to sit in a restaurant that believes it’s OK to film me for “my protection” or theirs, and for the most part, it is extremely rare to see this and I like it that way.

But, if you’re doing nothing wrong, then you’ve got nothing to worry about, right?

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Written by Scott Oliver, author of 1. Costa Rica Real Estate Scams & How To Avoid Them, 2. How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate Without Losing Your Camisa, 3. Costa Rica’s Guide To Making Money Offshore and the Director/Producer of the Costa Rica Living & Retirement – Secrets To Happiness DVDs.

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.