Law and Order in Singapore

 

The growing use of and subsequent pushback against Flock cameras is something I'm following with great interest. As technology improves in quality and pervasity, you'll likely see even more invasive and prevalent use for purposes of public safety, so this debate will only increase in intensity.

Hopefully it is readily apparent that there are pros and cons to Flock and other technologies that efficiently and seamlessly capture information out in the public. On the one hand, such devices can greatly aid public safety through deterrence on the front end and investigation on the back end. On the other hand, over-surveillance by the state comes with it the specter of government overreach, inequitable deployment, and loss of privacy.

Although I was only in Singapore for less than two weeks, it was pretty clear that their public sector is even more invested in this sort of approach to keeping everyone safe: cameras everywhere, a prominent police presence, swift enforcement of all laws in the public space. And, at least among those people I spoke to, including my own daughter who spent six months navigating a brand-new big city on her own as a single woman, the trade-off between intrusion on privacy and greater sense of safety was, at least in its current form, more than acceptable. (Off topic, one cab driver even reminded me that physical punishment is still a thing in Singapore, and that as a father of young daughters he wholeheartedly approves of it as a stark deterrent against violent crimes).

My own knee-jerk reaction to amazing new technology is neither to want to give it free rein nor to immediately pronounce it as something evil that must be stuffed back into a sack. My preference is to push towards progress, but with an eye to what controls can be put in place to avoid abuses. Perhaps that is naive. If it is impossible to keep a dangerous thing from getting into the wrong hands and being used for ill, then we should not try to reason with ourselves that we can. But nor do I like intentionally under-using or discarding new technological functions, or dismissing or vilifying those who will benefit from their use. This is a topic worth keeping an eye on for so many reasons.