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Snitchtown
(Originally published in
Forbes,
June 2007.)
The 12-story Hotel Torni was the tallest building in central
Helsinki during the Soviet occupation of Finland, making it a
natural choice to serve as KGB headquarters. Today, it bears
a plaque testifying to its checkered past, and also noting the
curious fact that the Finns pulled 40 kilometers of wiretap cable
out of the walls after the KGB left. The wire was solid evidence of
each operative’s mistrustful surveillance of his fellow agents.
The East German Stasi also engaged in rampant surveillance,
using a network of snitches to assemble secret files on every resi-
dent of East Berlin. They knew who was telling subversive jokes—
but missed the fact that the Wall was about to come down.
When you watch everyone, you watch no one.
This seems to have escaped the operators of the digital surveil-
lance technologies that are taking over our cities. In the brave new
world of doorbell cams, Wi-Fi sniffers, RFID passes, bag searches
at the subway, and photo lookups at office security desks, univer-
sal surveillance is seen as the universal solution to all urban ills.
But the truth is that ubiquitous cameras only serve to violate the
social contract that makes cities work.
The key to living in a city and peacefully co-existing as a social
animal in tight quarters is to set a delicate balance of seeing and
not seeing. You take care not to step on the heels of the woman
in front of you on the way out of the subway, and you might take
passing note of her most excellent handbag. But you don’t make
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