There is an interesting bit of dichotomous thinking going on with security cameras.

On one hand, we have known of, and see, security cameras throughout our lives since at least the 1980's. These have gone from bulky things with wires, to little wireless things, but the idea is the same: Security Is Watching.

Over the last decade, cameras have become web-enabled and ubiquitous. So now anyone can log in to tens of thousands - possibly millions - of unsecured cameras all over the world. Anybody could be watching.

So what is the practical difference between the "acceptable" type of Security Camera, where an overweight, $7/hr high-school dropout watches you on camera, versus, a random high schooler in Moldova seeing you buy a Snickers at a corner bodega in New Jersey?

People get all worked up about the second one, but not about the first one.

And yet, the second one is idle-scrolling, like flipping through channels on TV. But the first one is someone completely unskilled for the job, being paid to actively monitor and judge you and your actions.

This is a weird bit of thinking, to be sure.

Humans are fascinating, man...