Brits Get More TV Time Than News Anchors.

Big Brother is Watching - And so is little brother and little sister, and probably all your relatives and people you never ever will know.

What the heck am I talking about? Closed Caption TV (CCTV). You know, video cameras that sit in a corner against the ceiling unconsciously watching your every move about a store. Of course if you live in Great Britain, then those CCTV's are not only in the corner convenience store; they're everywhere to the tune of more than four million cameras watching every move.

Maxine Frith, the Social Affairs Correspondent for The Independent, reports:

The number of closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras has quadrupled in the past three years, and there is now one for every 14 people in the UK. The increase is happening at twice the predicted rate, and it is believed that Britain accounts for one-fifth of all CCTV cameras worldwide. Estimates suggest that residents of a city such as London can each expect to be captured on CCTV cameras up to 300 times a day, and much of the filming breaches existing data guidelines.

I wonder, does this mean the citizens of Great Britain can join the actors' guilds?

They certainly are getting more air time than most actors in Hollywood.

One of the problems civil liberties groups are encountering is that people are turning in video to the news media of other people without their knowledge. Also, it would seem that crime isn't necessarily being reduced, it's just moving to more private environs.

But this isn't keeping ghosts from appearing on CCTV.

;-)