The City Manager's Got his Eye On You.

"If you’re not doing anything wrong, you shouldn’t have a problem with it." So says Johnstown City Manager Curt Davis regarding the security camera in Central Park, and his office's live feed.

If you caught an official peering into your bedroom window while wearing a pair of night vision goggles, would you buy that argument? How about if cameras were installed in bathroom stalls in City Hall? Hey, if you're not doing anything wrong in there, why should you care, right?

Davis' argument displays a oft-mistaken assumption about privacy. Quoting Daniel Solove's paper, "'I've Got Nothing to Hide' and Other Misunderstandings of Privacy", recently published in the San Diego Law Review, this argument is based on an incorrect premise "that privacy is about hiding bad things." Privacy is not a matter of hiding anything -- privacy is a universal expectation that your life is free from unwarranted intrusion by others into your typical, peaceful, law-abiding affairs. For instance, an expectation that a city manager isn't watching you from his desk on closed-circuit television while you're relaxing in Central Park.

I wonder, does the city have a policy covering the appropriate use of that camera? Does anyone periodically review the camera's records to see just what Mr. Davis or others are looking at with that camera? Is the duty to monitor the camera occasionally listed in Mr. Davis's job description, or is he just using the city's technology "periodically" to get in touch with his inner voyeur?