the city activated some 500 new surveillance cameras at its three busiest subway stations

WHO exactly is going to watch those 500 cameras and what are they going to do about it when they do spot something going down? If DHS is watching the cameras, will they call the NYPD if they see a purse being snatched or a mugging going down?

Methinks that this will only enhance most police operations: To set up the yellow tape and take notes after the fact.

San Francisco has installed a number of cameras in parts of town where there have been high incidents of crime and gang-related activity. Are we safer? It's also come out that while the cameras are, indeed, running, no one is watching them. The recordings simply go into some sort of storage where they can be retrieved if anyone is so inclined. Few are.

Aside from the plainly disturbing fact of knowing that one's activities are being recorded, we get the added thrill of knowing that it really doesn't fucking matter.

Many years ago, I worked for an Employer From Hell who installed a teller machine with a camera in front of the cafeteria at the job site.  Cameras on teller machines were a new concept at the time, and one day I needed to make a withdrawal before lunch.  I put a puppet on my hand, crawled up to the machine from behind, put the puppet in front of the camera eye, and stayed crouched down while I operated the keypad.  Several coworkers saw me do this, and fucking with the camera became a new pastime for my fellow slaves.  I wonder what the bank thought if they ever reviewed the recordings from this machine, and what my employer thought since they had an interlocking directorate with this bank.