Privacy in the City

 Today I want to talk about something that I think gets misunderstood somewhat in a lot of discourse over urban density: the question of privacy. How much do you experience privacy in a big, dense city versus a smaller one or a town or rural area?

Well, that's gonna depend on how you define privacy. 

1. Big City Surveillance

Let's start with the obvious: if your interest is not appearing on CCTV, traffic cameras, or other forms of state or corporate surveillance, you'll probably be on camera more in a big city.

There are more traffic cameras, gun cameras (in the US at least), private and government CCTV, etc. in denser places, for obvious reasons. 

But at the same time: there may also be more places that don't have those things, as a percentage. If the only place I can shop for groceries is driving to Walmart, well, I know Walmart has me on CCTV. My local grocery may or may not; the corner store may or may not; the farmers market probably doesn't, depending on what city I'm in. But if those don't exist, I'm definitely, rather than possibly, being surveilled while I shop--even if I may be on camera fewer timers per day.

2. Big City Anonymity

But the flip side of that is that in a big city there are also a lot fewer reasons for someone to care about you, specifically, and what you are doing.

There may be CCTV nearby, but someone managed to tag this door an awful lot anyway.

I'm sure there are multiple CCTV in this picture (it's Camden in London after all) but who is watching them to see me in particular in this press of people?

There may not be anyone watching at this random intersection in Davenport, but if they are they're definitely looking at me. Because I'm the only one here, and I expect to be the only one here all day, basically.

Even more so here, where there isn't even a school or a business to drive foot traffic. Yes, it's less likely anyone is looking--but if there's a house with a camera, I'm on it and they'll be interested to see me, specifically, on their feed.

There's a reason the stereotype of a small town is that everyone knows everyone else's business: the other people are few enough that you know them all, and they're the entertainment. People watching is a bit different if you actually know the people! That doesn't mean that's a negative; for a lot of people, it's a big positive! But it's also a different kind of surveillance in its own way.

3. People vs Machines

In many ways, this comes down to the idea that in a big city a machine is more likely to watch you, and in a smaller area a person is more likely to do it.

I totally see why the former concerns some people more: my memory is less perfect than a computer's, and so being watched by me means you'll be forgotten, and no one can search their database for what you did or where you were! I also see how the fact that the former is usually corporate or government-controlled is also an issue. 

But if you're most concerned with being able to do things without anyone caring, rather than without anything seeing, you're probably better off in a big city.

It's a balance, and I don't blame anyone for falling on either side. But give me the anonymity of a million eyes over the scrutiny of ten any day.