It's hard to say with 100% certainty whether or not you are being monitored when walking through public places. With the massive production of new security cameras, it is easy to find them installed in many places.

Traffic and accident control

You will hardly drive on a road from one city to another without being monitored by at least one security camera. Nowadays it is very common to find them installed on poles along great highways and even on streets and avenues of small and large cities.

Security camera systems have become essential tools for traffic and accident control in a variety of locations around the world. From a surveillance center, it is possible to view images from all the cameras.

CCTV for businesses

Factories, banks and many other types of companies use security cameras to monitor manufacturing processes and products, some even use security cameras to control activities performed by employees, with the intention of keeping a record of what is happening during working hours.

Shops and small businesses also use CCTV systems to prevent theft and possible legal issues involving clients are also aided by CCTV footage.

It is common to have recorded evidence of employees misbehavior to be used in lawsuits. Sometimes the footage can also benefit the employee, it all depends on the situation recorded by the security cameras.

The first CCTV system

The first CCTV system was installed by Siemens in 1942 in Germany to monitor rockets launching during the war.

The first commercial version of the CCTV system appeared in 1949 in the USA.

1973 - Yoichi Robert Okamoto - Photographer (Nara record: 2987665)

At first, it was not possible to record the images, but only to monitor live what was happening close to the cameras, years later, in the 1970s, analog tape recorders began to become popular and could be used in systems.