Surveillance in Public Places and the Role of the Media : Achieving an Optimal Balance

In Australia, lawmakers have traditionally taken the view that there is little privacy in public places and that surveillance activities require regulation only to the extent that they encroach into the 'private' realm. However, the increased proliferation of surveillance in public places (including the use of sophisticated CCTV cameras) has prompted the need to reconsider the logic of limiting privacy to the private realm. Modern surveillance technology poses new threats to privacy because it challenges assumptions about personal and social borders and decreases the randomness of the observation process. Possible regulatory reforms raise complex policy issues relating to the balancing of privacy and freedom of expression, especially in the context of media. This article provides a summary and analysis of the relevant legal and policy issues