Is new camcorder technology
serving as Big Brother’s eyes?
(A!’) It is 19B4-plus-7, and Big Brother isn't
watching you. Goorgo Holliday is
Before March 3, Holliday, a plumber, was (rest
known for urn logging drains But then he tested
his new cam< order on a Los Angeles street, and
instead of the usual mugging relatives "HI,
MOM!" he recorded two minutes of police offi
cers kicking, stomping and clubbing a defenseless
man.
The attack on Rodney Allen king did more
than turn a city on its ear and provide "dramatic
footage for the evening news
It underscored a development Oeorge Orwell
never envisioned the emergence of Little Brother
(or Sister), average folks who turn their video
cameras on cops, crooks and each other, often
with remarkable results
About 14 million Americans now own hand
held video cameras; they cost as little as SfiOO,
and some are so small they can Is- carried in a
coat pocket. They can he used for weddings and
baby's first steps; they can, and are, used to re
cord prenuptial agreements and wills
But they also serve as amateur arms of the
criminal Justice system;
• In Chattanooga. Tenn , a camera set up by a sie
pieious father caught baby sitter Donna
VVnlterhou.su slapping a ("'-month-old baby She
pleaded guilty and got the maximum of 11
months and 29 days "It destroyed her life," said
her lawyer, James Purple "We hove developed a
better understanding of the power of the atom
bomb than wo have of the Video camera "
• In San Jose, Calif., William Kiley videotaped his
own treating at the hands of a neighbor who pre
viously had harassed him with anti-gay taunts
The 45-minute tape showed Kiley being pum
moled by the fists and feet of Joshua Huff, 1H
Hull was convicted of assault and battery on Aug
13.
• In Port Worth, Texas, a woman videotaped a po
liceman striking a handcuffed man 2H times,
sometimes with two-handed blows. Officer L. J.
Parnell was charged in July with assault with a
deadly weapon. He said the car theft suspect
kicked out a rear window and tried to Jump out of
the squad cur.
A< livist gay groups videotape their own item
onMrations and the responses hv police, as do
anti abortion groups
" The camcorder is protecting us from Big
Brother This empowers the ordinary citizen in a
whole new way,” said Brenlh Bulterworth. senior
editor of Video magazine
But others worry th.it the gadgetrv's power
comes with the peril of invading privacy, of pry
ing too far For now. there are no legal restraints
on neighbors videotaping neighbors, according to
tiie American Civil Liberties Union
"Big Brother is now our neighbors.- our employ
ers, people we're dating, strangers on the street,
tiie ACLU's |anlori Coldman said " The danger
comes when you are being videotaped against
your Knowledge and the information is later used
in a manner harmful to you Do vve really want to
live in a society where a video i lmera is aimi d al
every movement?"
"It's the greatest oi all ironies, isn't ll ' We
could lose our privut y In spying on each othei.
said Ceorge Washington University law pro'. ■ .or
lonatlian Turley
"Video cam operators are not a drooling i lass
ol voyeurs They are ordinary people empowered
by new technology to become an army ol private
gumshoes," Turley said "The explosion of the
video camera has led to a society under siirveil
lanco."
A case in point: the Cordon Heights (.ornmuni
ty Watch on New York's Long Island, which is us
ing cameras in fight prostitution
The community group intends to make tapes ol
men pit king up hookers and send the visual evi
dent:e to their wives "We want to make our < (im
munity clean again,” said video vigilante Uarl
Owens, who tapes from behind hushes "11 they
don't stay out, lei's go to the videotape
A Tampa, Fla . couple has suffered a similar
embarrassment In July, a neighbor filming
through their condo blinds videotaped them hav
ing sex They were charged with lewd and last iv
lous conduct punishable by 1T> years in prison
Turn to VIDEO. Page 24
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