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originally posted by: ThePeaceMaker
I've spoke about this on other 'OMG they are watching us 24/7' threads. First thing is who are 'they' .. and if by they people mean the law enforcement authorities (FBI CIA etc etc call it what you want) then if they are watching you then you are obviously up to no good. Because I can guarantee every single camera is actively being watching 24/7 do you realise the man power and computer power it would take to record constant footage 24/7
I worked Ina large retail centre here in the UK, I was a loss prevention officer (posh word ford rent a cop) for at least 10 years. At my disposal I had up to 160 cameras that I could choose which ranged from static cameras to PTZ (pan tilt zoom) cameras. Now someone who would notice these cameras on the outside would look around and presume every single one is recording and there is someone watching every single camera. Sorry but that's complete BS
When I operated the cameras, just me no one else, I had to monitor 32 cameras at once. But wait I said I had at least 160 cameras right ? That's because due to computing power, size of DVRs we could only have 32 cameras permanently recording. So I could have cameras 1-32 recording ... but to get camera 33 to start recording I'd have to actively switch cameras and have it on a main viewing monitor.
So yes you might see 100s of cameras everywhere but 1) the owners might not be actively viewing the camera and 2) th camera may not be even recording until an operator selects the camera. In this day in age majority of CCTV now is recorded onto DVRs no more old school film tapes. Now image the size and amount of DVRs it would take to record everything and with that if you wanted to permanently store every single bit of footage think how big of a hard drive you would need. In my old work we could could only hold CCTV for a month before it was over written, unless we specifically saved certain footage after a month majority of the CCTV would be wiped.
Also there is man power, to watch EVERYONE actively you would need a huge amount of people. Look at this way, when I was a rent a cop and I was viewing a potential shop lifting that shoplifter would be say 1 out of 300 people in the building. When I'm focused on that 1 person I am not watching anyone else. So unless you were actively being watched you are NOT being watched 24/7 just because you see an ex amount of cameras. Which goes back to what I said at the start if you're being actively watched then it must be for a reason and therefore up to no good.