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  • Writer's pictureBen Westwood

Auditing videos- I'm concerned, but why is nobody talking about it?




When I was growing up, I remember when those that I thought were the cool people didn't really want cameras in every corner of their homes and CCTV on every single street corner, and would be expressing their concerns about it all growing, as well as often quoting George Orwell's 1984. Not that video security and evidence doesn't have it's place in the world, but this article sheds a spotlight on how video media is now being used for the complete opposite of security.

Auditing videos- I'm concerned, but why is nobody talking about it?

Throughout my life veering in and out of various internet forums, alternative movements and somewhat edgy political groups I'd often noticed a theme that many would consider a persons privacy to be respected and valued.


But come 2023 it seems people have no problem these days with somebody filming them going about their lives for no real reason at all.

When I first discovered what is known as the 'auditing' movement at first I'd presumed it was just a few mentally unstable people filming police stations because they thought it was a bit edgy... but the more of these videos I discovered the more I began to wonder if something much more sinister was going on.


After watching what is now a whole movement of people filming much of the UK's critical infrastructure, it certainly makes me wonder what is motivating these people to film buildings in their entirety including gates, fire exits and security staff and how on earth has it become seen as normal and acceptable all under the misuse of freedom of speech and movement.


It seems that a whole collective of people on Youtube all gaining many thousands of views on their videos simply cannot understand why security staff in shopping centres are asking them not to film every single detail. I really do hope that this article does get the attention of some of the auditors because isn't it time some of us started demanding that our children and young people, as well as the rest of us should be able to go about our day-to-day business without having it being recorded. And what about those that are trying to stay under the radar for legitimate reasons or even their own personal safety such as domestic abuse victims? But naaah, why should you care, right? An attitude that's a shame to see and one that I hope I see fading.


But at almost every turn on social media whenever I've expressed my concerns about not only people's lack of privacy to go about their daily business but also the many people filming the building layouts of police stations, fire stations, post office depots, food centres and job centres among many other places, rarely has anybody expressed much mutual concern apart from a handful of people on Facebook recently which I'm personally finding quite baffling and hard to comprehend. Isn't it time to start to taking this seriously?


If there's one group of people that should be keeping their eyes on this it's those that fight most for their rights to be able to film in public places in what is currently a blatant misuse and abuse of those freedoms. Just like some other political issues that make a stand for progressions and rights they can all too often be completely hijacked and poisoned by dark forces which do nothing but cause chaos and division, and I'm really starting to wonder if this is the case here.


Only a quick Youtube search of 'Auditing in the UK' will lead you to a massive amount of videos which completely layout the nuts and bolts of some of the UK's infrastructure, often including the exact locations of security guards and entrance gates. If there'd been some type of specific scandal relating to those places then perhaps I'd simply be a party-pooper for being concerned, but what seems to be happening and currently severally underchallenged is that people are travelling to these sorts of places for no other reason than to film it and put it on Youtube. One could argue that the motivation is video revenue, but are there really that many people watching these videos? And if so, should we be concerned?


I simply don't understand why my concerns about this seem to be often falling on deaf ears, in which I just can't help but feel that this country is eating itself up from the inside out by allowing this sort of behaviour to be seen as normal, especially to the young and impressionable people spending so much time online. At least that's what I see when it appears that nobody bats an eyelid about it.


Perhaps it's time for some self-policing among the activism and civil rights movements before such a dangerous situation is used against us after standing by and doing nothing. How on earth both Youtube and UK security services haven't got involved in this already completely baffles me and I'm finding it all a bit strange.


Perhaps this article gives those getting involved in what feels like some sort of online cult a chance to think of the real implications of what could come from all of this further down the road, and that people really do deserve to have a right of privacy whilst at work or out shopping whether in a public service role or not. Just think for one moment, what if it was you and your family being filmed just going about your day and it had become so publicly acceptable that without being stitched up afterwards there wasn't much that you could do stop it.

With a sense of no real public debate about this currently, could this be a scenario much closer than we think?

This needs to be brought to the table, ASAP!!!!!







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