Have you ever made a "surveillance camera walk"? Have you ever been overcome by uneasiness at the sight of spy cameras in public places in the BRD (Bundes Republik Deutschland, German Federal Republic)? For you, is "Big Brother" more than just the name of a boring TV show?

11 September 2001 wasn't the first time that the discussion of the use of surveillance cameras became heated. Stuttgart, Mannheim, Heilbronn, Leipzig and Bremen have been the leading cities in this country. The Surveillance Camera Players (SCP) from New York have worked on these themes for several years now. Their legendary "surveillance camera walks" through New York combine a Sunday stroll with information about the locations and effects of the camera-surveillance of public places. The SCP's development of placard theatre for surveillance cameras and webcams is only one of their many action-campaigns. With the development of "face recognition software," the possibility that each person within the range of the cameras can be identified opens up a new chapter in this technology and its consequences. The SCP are in the middle of a tour of Germany and are offering a multi-media presentation on their unusual efforts and the far-reaching consequences of both government and private cameras.

(Writer unknown. Published in the April/May 2002 issue of Alpha Express: Die Schwaebish Haller Monatsblatt fur Sozialismus und Demokratie. Translated from the German by Bill Brown.)

Contact the NY Surveillance Camera Players

By e-mail SCP@notbored.org

By snail mail: SCP c/o NOT BORED! POB 1115, Stuyvesant Station, New York City 10009-9998