“This is sensitive data that could do a lot of damage if it fell into the wrong hands”, said the people paying a for-profit company to collect the data

“You mean we have to let the public use the services they’re paying for? Wtf!”

That's how it is done.
If it is a public camera, it has to be a public record.
And if not, then anyone having access to the feed, has to have their whole life (both work and personal) be available as a public record.

If not, then you now have cases where most people can't afford to defend themselves from malicious cop allegations.
To prevent this, anyone arrested, pre-trial has to have access to all searches done by cops, related to the allegation and ability to pull-up 100% of their own footage anytime near the event in question.

If any part of the footage is deleted, due to "technical issues" like, "the footage was deleted" or "some of the cameras were not working", then the arrest is illegal and the police department is responsible for compensation.

My friend and I look for these occasionally. They’re often deployed with default passwords and never updated. Many seem to be set up to case businesses and houses and appear to be obscured from view. It’s super great /s

Something like 90% of houses in this area have some kind of camera on it. I hate being filmed by these shitheads 24/7.

TWO groups of conversation from this:

1. Public cameras
2. People having their own cameras on their own homes

Public cameras recording our private lives recorded MUST be fully regulated and accountable. Private cameras slightly more tricky. I take the view that self hosting options are the best option. We need more devices that just work for the lay person. RING (and similar) should be considered a shit-show for privacy rights.

I worry we give too much attention to one company over several that are problematic. Not that the attention is invalid, more that we need to keep every invasive technology in each other's awareness.

"Give me the man and I will find the crime."

NY city is the most camera surveillance place on earth. Didn't make it much safer.