We're the Arizona Surveillance Camera Players (AZSCP), a group formed in Tempe in February in 2001. We are proud to be connected to the original group (The New York Surveillance Camera Players, a group that began their protests in 1996). We protest against the use of surveillance cameras and web cams in public spaces because the camera violates our constitutionally protected right to privacy. We manifest our opposition by performing specially adapted plays directly in front of these cameras. We use our visibility -- our public appearances, our interviews with the media, and our website -- to explode the cynical myth that only those who are "guilty of something" are opposed to being monitered by unknown eyes.

We have come here today because this area is filled with unmarked surveillance cameras. If you, too, are worried about the destruction of your constitutional rights in the name of "fighting crime," we encourage you to form your own anti-surveillance camera group. You can even use the name "Surveillance Camera Players." Just let the message go out: Down with Big Brother!

More specifically the AZSCP protest Tempe government sponsored web site that broadcast the public's images without their knowledge. We want the government to inform the public. Wouldn't that be cool having a zone saying "Broadcast Zone"? Would you still walk in that area, or would you go around? We want to make people aware of the numerous hidden surveillance cameras on Mill Ave. (They look like streetlights). The traffic cameras are also a violation of your rights -- don't pay the ticket unless its hand delivered. They can't prove it ever gets to you if they send it by regular mail, which they do (It's a scam).

Let's not forget the public web cams inside eating establishments and bars that broadcast the public and many of the workers' images without their knowledge. Stalkers can sit home and wait for their favorite server or bartender to come into work. Its not that funny anymore when its you.

One more thing. www.tempe.gov sponsors the web camera on top of the Urban Outfitters building, as well as the one on the building next door. They also put a "cookie" on your hard drive so they know who and where you are after you leave their site. Sounds like a violation of the 4th amendment to me. Please voice your complaints via e-mail to their site.

We're watching them watch us.

Contact the Surveillance Camera Players

By e-mail SCP

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