Part of it is that webcams are nearly impossible to buy since the pandemic arose, but apart from that, webcam image quality is terrible - even expensive webcams in the price range of ~100's of Euro.
A recent iPhone will wipe the floor with any webcam I've come across, short of an SLR or mirrorless camera.
Every car has an odometer... one could think of a relatively convenient scheme where you can get your car inspected once a year at any refueling station, and tampering with the odometer is a crime. Won't stop everyone, but does it matter?
How do you distribute the money to places where people drive but don't live? Gas tax handles this to an extent, but milage tax wouldn't; not without border checkpoints or mass surveillance.
To give an example - in my hometown in a few places there are small wires on the road surface that measure the number of cars that drive over it. Private by default!
I was being slightly facetious in referencing tyre size, although people regularly have to adjust speedo/odometers by 10% or more when fitting large tyres on off-roaders.
Odometers can have their values changed at will, at least in ICE vehicles, often for valid reasons.
New Zealand collects road tax on diesel vehicles using odometer readings. It generally works for heavy commercial vehicles where the owners have more to lose risking fraud but I know private vehicle owners who would wind back or disconnect their odometer to avoid the tax.
Similarly, in Ireland where we run 230VAC single phase, three phase 400VAC allows up to 22kW to be delivered, which is about to become extremely useful as we migrate to electric transportation.
Also, on safety, I don't know the statistics, but subjectively, electricity feels much more dangerous in the US because of the plug and socket design.
Not saying that surveillance is right, but I've lived in London for a year and a half and never felt this way, I don't think I've ever talked to someone who felt this way there, you must be a very paranoid individual.
I will say this though: having lived in both Beijing and London, I've always felt ultra safe (and I lived in London during some terrorist attacks). On the other hand, I lived in SF for the same time and I never felt safe there, avoiding walks at night, avoiding public transport for the most part, avoiding some streets, etc. I also lived in Chicago and I felt much worse there (at least in SF I could still take walks).
On the other hand, although I find driving in SF much more stressful and confusing than London(despite being a native RHT driver), I never managed to get a ticket in SF. Every time I visit London I keep getting letters with some bullshit traffic violation captured by a camera for months after I am back.
Also having lived in London for 7 years, I can't say I felt safe walking at night other than in the very central places. Try visiting Elephant and Castle or Seven Sisters alone during the night.
> although I find driving in SF much more stressful and confusing than London(despite being a native RHT driver), I never managed to get a ticket in SF.
Why is baby’s response flagged and dead ?!?!?? He literally just gave his perspective as a person living in that city. The people that flagged them should be banned from this site.
I assume they took offence with the "you must be very paranoid" just because someone feels odd about surveillance. It certainly seems pretty rude to me.
I think non-CCTV plastered European cities is probably a more apt comparison than Chicago and San Francisco, two cities that have a reputation for being unsafe in the US (which has major problems with violent crime across the board).
Not to discount your feelings completely, but I’m always a little skeptical when someone says a place “feels” safe or unsafe. Do you have reason to believe you actually were less safe in San Francisco compared to London?
My first two weeks in SF I took the bus twice, the first time a group of kids started slapping random people, I was prepared to fight and protect my SO but they didn't get to me; the second time some guy just ran and took a girl's phone, she grabbed to it for what seemed like a full minute, screaming and shit, then finally let go... I was paralyzed, especially after the event of the previous week, after that I vouched not to ever take the bus again in SF.
After that some homeless people screamed at me, some tried to punch me slowly (easy to avoid), I got used to it with time but it's still not a nice feeling to take walks. I wouldn't let my SO walk alone at 3AM through the streets for example (while I would have no problems with that in London or Beijing).
> This is not obvious to me. London subjectively feels like an oppressively surveilled and policed city to me any time I spend time there, and avoid it for that reason.
Spend some time in a real autocracy, then see if you feel the same way.
The GDPR does not allow the processing of personal data at all without out a legal basis, and the prevention of unlawful data processing does not require that you submit any identifying details at all!
A company may verify the identify of a person making a deletion request for data processed under a valid legal basis, which seems unlikely to be the case here.
A recent iPhone will wipe the floor with any webcam I've come across, short of an SLR or mirrorless camera.