Nikos Konstadaras looks at the power of the camera

The proliferation of cameras could be the foundation of a culture of surveillance, akin to Orwell's 1984. However, Greek editor Nikos Konstandaras writes that on the contrary, "Big Brother's little agents are being uncovered and paraded before the world's contemptuous gaze because of their ill treatment of prisoners. We saw this at Abu Ghraib in Baghdad; we saw it at the Omonia police station in Athens, where officers filmed themselves mistreating two prisoners. ... That's why we should be grateful for a technology that has put a digital camera in almost every pocket. ... We have seen cameras uncover brutality which, as revealed by later investigations, was routine but unreported. ... We should take down the surveillance cameras that have been installed on street corners and in public squares and set them up in every police station, coast guard station and prison - until such time that we feel that criminals, rather than officers of the law, are the greatest danger to our society and our civilization."

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