On 7 September [2001], a public organization that "plays with surveillance cameras" ("The Surveillance Camera Players") conducted a protest action against surveillance systems that are used by both private owners and government entities. The "International Day of Action Against Video Surveillance" was supported by 22 groups of activists in 7 countries of the world.

Those protesting, some of whom are called "the actors of propaganda and agitation section" [?], stood with posters in their hands for ten minutes in front of street web-cameras, which transmit images via the Internet, so that anyone who wanted to observe the 7 September protests could do so. Some groups selected to perform in front of "closed circuit" video surveillance cameras, and so their actions were only observed by those who watch the cameras.

The protest actions took place in America, Germany, England, Columbia, France and Lithuania. The "support group" also exists in Turkey, but it arranged no public actions.

Participants in the demonstrations -- among which were present activists from different privacy organizations, anarchists and "free artists" -- protested against the technologically sophisticated video surveillance of citizens, which, in the opinion of the protesters, violates basic rights: the right to live a free life.

Sophisticated video surveillance recently became even more widely used. [Face] recognition systems have been used on the streets, in entertainment centers and in stores.

English privacy organizations have claimed that surveillance cameras are the most widely used in Great Britain. In their estimation, it is in Britain that Big Brother has the most [video] eyes per capita.

[Written by Aleksey Rerikh and published on 10 September 2001 by Netoscope. Translated from the Russian by an Internet robot and checked by a hooman being.]

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