The Volokh Conspiracy - The London Attacks and CCTV:

The horrendous terrorist attacks in London last weeek will have many long-term effects, and one of them with interesting implications for civil liberties in the United States is the role of closed-circuit TV cameras, or CCTV. As U.S. readers may recall from Jeffrey Rosen's October 2001 essay in the New York Times Sunday Magazine, Britain has invested heavily in a comprehensive CCTV network as an anti-terrorism strategy. Most of what I know about Britain's CCTV network I know from Rosen's piece, but my understanding is that one of the key purposes of the system is help the authorities identify terrorists and expose their network in the event of an attack.

I have conflicting views about the overall merits of this kind of approach. It's a very complicated question, and my sense is that the devil is in the details of how it is implemented. Nonetheless, it seems worth noting that the London CCTV network appears to have produced some helpful information about the London attacks, at least so far. The discovery of a CCTV picture of one of the terrorists, 18-year-old Hasib Hussain, is now the lead story at many news sites around the world. According to a story in This Is Local London, the authorities so far have used CCTV to identify Hussein and trace him from the time he entered the Luton train station at 7:20 am until his arrival at 8:26 at the Kings Cross station:

  The grainy image was captured by CCTV cameras at the station and discoverd by one of the hundreds of police officers scanning footage for clues.
  Hussain had previously travelled from West Yorkshire and police believe he arrived in London with three other men.
  Later he would board a No 30 bus bound for Hackney carrying a deadly rucksack containing a ten pound bomb.
  Police are still appealing for assistance in placing his movements between his 08.26am arrival at Kings Cross and the explosion on the bus at 09.47am, almost an hour after his accomplices detonated coordinated devices on Tube trains.

Needless to say, none of this settles the question of whether CCTV cameras are a good idea, either in Britain, the United States, or anywhere else. But it will be interesting to see how much or how little information the CCTV camera records will provide as the authorities continue to scan the footage for clues of the attack.

	[Orin Kerr, July 14, 2005 at 1:16pm] Trackbacks The London Attacks and CCTV: The horrendous terrorist attacks in London last weeek will have many long-term effects, and one of them with interesting implications for civil liberties in the United States is the role of closed-circuit TV cameras, or CCTV. As U.S. readers may recall from Jeffrey Rosen's October 2001 essay in the New York Times Sunday Magazine, Britain has invested heavily in a comprehensive CCTV network as an anti-terrorism strategy. Most of what I know about Britain's CCTV network I know from Rosen's piece, but my understanding is that one of the key purposes of the system is help the authorities identify terrorists and expose their network in the event of an attack. I have conflicting views about the overall merits of this kind of approach. It's a very complicated question, and my sense is that the devil is in the details of how it is implemented. Nonetheless, it seems worth noting that the London CCTV network appears to have produced some helpful information about the London attacks, at least so far. The discovery of a CCTV picture of one of the terrorists, 18-year-old Hasib Hussain, is now the lead story at many news sites around the world. According to a story in This Is Local London, the authorities so far have used CCTV to identify Hussein and trace him from the time he entered the Luton train station at 7:20 am until his arrival at 8:26 at the Kings Cross station: The grainy image was captured by CCTV cameras at the station and discoverd by one of the hundreds of police officers scanning footage for clues. Hussain had previously travelled from West Yorkshire and police believe he arrived in London with three other men. Later he would board a No 30 bus bound for Hackney carrying a deadly rucksack containing a ten pound bomb. Police are still appealing for assistance in placing his movements between his 08.26am arrival at Kings Cross and the explosion on the bus at 09.47am, almost an hour after his accomplices detonated coordinated devices on Tube trains. Needless to say, none of this settles the question of whether CCTV cameras are a good idea, either in Britain, the United States, or anywhere else. But it will be interesting to see how much or how little information the CCTV camera records will provide as the authorities continue to scan the footage for clues of the attack.