"Smile! You're on CCTV" - naked

A Chinese journalist managed to get access to a stream of images delivered by a surveillance camera located on the roof of a building. Although the camera was supposed to be keeping an eye on a set of crossroads, the journalist noticed that during the night, the policeman in charge was lingering on the windows of a building across the street.

It was a hack from the Southern Metropolis Daily who unveiled the scandal (which was then passed on by blogger NorthEastSouthWest). He had been scanning the real time broadcast of the monitoring camera in the town of Yayuan (southeast) since April 26. He started to notice that, once night had fallen, the devise did not merely fix its attention on the crossroads below, but scanned the building across the road at length. It also stopped, with no apparent reason, on windows where the curtains were open. The reporter published an extract (below) illustrating this strange method of observation, as the camera spent 59 minutes and 41 seconds "surveying" the same window frame, which happened to expose a young woman naked in her bathroom. Local authorities reacted to the affair by promising serious punishment for the person responsible. They also suggested the camera was being operated by a "temporary" staff member.

The incident serves as a reminder that security cameras operating inner-city - and not only those in China - are a serious cause for concern in terms of respect for private life.

A poster promoting the use of closed-circuit television (CCTV) on transport services in London.

"In France it’s prohibited to film a private place"

Jean-Marc Manach is one of the organizers of the Big Brother Awards, which honour government agencies, private companies and individuals who have "excelled in the violation of our privacy".

This problem is not restricted to China. For example, the UK is known as the country where there are the most surveillance cameras per person [one camera per 12 people]. In France too, local authorities and private businesses have the right to install this kind of equipment. The current minster of interior has already said that he wants to triple the number of cameras in the next few years.

Putting people under surveillance obviously poses ethical problems. In France at least it is prohibited to film a private place. Software that automatically blurs an image if it rests on the view of an apartment window is already in place. So what happened in China is unlikely to happen in this country."

"There are 300,000 cameras in the capital [Beijing] alone"

Sharon Hom is the Director of the NGO Human Rights in China, (HRIC). She works in particular on surveillance systems in Beijing.

We have never heard of this particular misuse of surveillance cameras by the police (to "get an eyeful" of other people). We already know that China is using a very sophisticated video surveillance system; according to official sources, there are 300,000 cameras alone in the capital. These cameras have been placed everywhere - in the subway, the squares, and of course, at the Olympic venues. The most disquieting fact is that these cameras are digital and that they have been devised in such a way as to incorporate biometric technology (starting with facial-recognition software). For example, if a political dissident in Beijing travels to Chengdu, the police could probably track his/her arrival at the station thanks to the camera system and the biometric software."

An extract of the images, which were published by the Southern Metropolis Daily.

The security camera in question.