Badpuppy Gay Today

Tuesday, 15 April 1997

Amsterdam, believed by many to lead the world in the celebration of free personal expression, may also lead the world in electronic surveillance. This surveillance doesn't interfere with sexual exploits (prostitution, for example is legal in The Netherlands) but Dutch prostitutes and others are up in arms about Big Brother's kindly eye, nevertheless. Dutch television crews, drawn to downtown streets by the debate, now record the presence of the electronic peepsters under discussion.

As johns stroll through the city's flesh markets, looking lustfully at women in scanty attire, many don't realize they too are being watched. The owners of bars, adult theaters, and brothels keep track of their customers who pop into one establishment or another.

Amsterdam is a sea port, and is often, therefore, an unwitting host to drug dealing and thievery. Video cameras are now ensconced in almost every section of the city, including train stations, supermarkets, gyms, hospitals, stadiums, and swimming pools. Surveillance equipment proliferates as the technology becomes cheaper. Its growth accompanies concerns about crime and violence, and, until now, only a few have questioned what some are beginning to critique as an unwarranted intrusion into their privacy.

A variety of security technologies are now available, and these include infrared cameras able to take pictures in the dark. Police, say critics, may now be able to match digital images of faces with computer stored records, providing quick identification. Amsterdam police, asked to comment on this observation, refuse to say whether they are presently making such matches.

The fact that many Dutch citizens own video cameras has made them comfortable around such equipment, an Amsterdam lawyer explains. "Perhaps people aren't bothered about the surveillance cameras because all of the electronic gear looks so familiar to them," she said.

Strangely, the Dutch have rejected other forms of surveillance with vehemence. Even a national census has remained impossible because of the required home-site intrusions that Dutch citizens abhor.

Changing rooms in women's stores are one area from which cameras have been removed. In other locales, such as factories, employees have also rejected the presence of the electronic eye. A popular Amsterdam discotheque rose up in arms when police installed cameras in its bathrooms, hoping to catch hard drug dealers.

In one red light locale, a cooperative of brothel owners have put cameras outside their establishments with screens monitored by brothel employees. If difficulties arise with unruly customers, alarm buttons are pressed to summon bouncers. Once-common knife fights have ceased, according to pimps who control flesh-pot neighborhoods.