For or Against CCTV

United Kingdom is one of the countries, where the street cameras or also known as CCTV (Closed-circuit television) are broadly used to control what is going on. This method of surveillance has its both advantages and disadvantages.

On one hand, it saves time and money. If there is a crime, the police officers need to check the recordings from a particular camera and see what have happened without the need to look for any evidence or witnesses. In this way it prevents from any human error and somebody being caught my mistake. 

It also makes people think what they are doing and responsible for their actions. When you know that somebody is watching you, you usually think before you do something especially if it is something illegal.

CCTV makes us feel safer. However, to gain security and safety we lose a bit of our privacy. There are people who don’t want to be recorded and watched.

 In order to be efficient the CCTV cameras should be watched by authorised people. Since there are so many cameras across the country it is impossible to track all of them. Also there have been several cases of people stocking other people without their knowing using CCTV cameras. ( BBC report)

 

Moreover, everything is computer-based technology and there is a possibility of information loss if there is a computer failure or crash.

As everything else, CCTV has its strengths and its weakness. Its efficiency depends on the way it is used and people who use it.

Should we pay to use operating systems ?

Usually when we buy a personal computer or a Mac , we pay for the software that it uses. We are unaware of the fact that the price of the software itself is included in the price of the technology we want. This is a profitable business for Windows' or Mac OS' makers. According to Forbes Magazine Bill Gates (Microsoft's owner) is the second richest man in the world and first in United States ( Forbes Magazine)

In terms of copyright, the money we pay to use a operating systems are justified because someone has spent time and put effort to create a certain product and s/he expects to get a reward for work done. Big companies such as Microsoft have professionals who do their best to create a complete product that deserves the money one pay for it.

Even though , there are people who think that operating systems should be free. This is why a free operating system called Linux was released and people who cannot afford to buy a Windows or Mac OS, can use it.

 

Many countries have adopted the free software such as Linux.

Brazil , which is a developing country, launched in 2005 a campaign for a open-source society and started using Linux in stead of Microsoft. In that way they save 120 million dollars each year. ( Brazil's new policy)

France also adopted the politics of open source  software in order to reduce the money spent on IT software. The government decided that it would be better if they change their Windows XP with Ubundu, which is a free operating system, than with Windows Vista. Not only did they save money, but also reduced the time which the users need to get used to the new software. ( France's new policy)

Whether to use Windows  or a free operating systems, depends on how much one could afford to spend on such software because the price of something is the leading factor when we choose between similar products. Usually when something is more expensive, it offers a better quality. But when two products have almost the same qualities is just a matter of choice would you pay for it or use the free version.