Here’s how security cameras would look if you could use all their footage

Cities across the country have struggled with the idea of placing more cameras in public areas in case of disasters and emergencies, but one project by artist Julian Oliver wants to put the footage from existing cameras in the hands of the people. Public Patch is an experiment that positions the copyright terms Creative Commons, Attribution, Share-alike, Non-Commercial License at the bottom of camera in a public space so that all the footage collected is technically owned by the people. Oliver writes on his website that the idea is to prevent the videos from being sold or modified without public consent. It’s unlikely that the added disclaimer is legally binding, but the project does raise the question of how much surveillance footage should belong to the public.