A plan by the Beijing municipal government to install thousands more video cameras in hotels, department stores, schools, night clubs and government offices, sparked privacy concerns and a heated debate among experts and on the Internet.

The municipal government defends the move saying it would introduce regulations requiring businesses and institutions to keep the video images confidential.

Beijing already has 263,000 surveillance cameras around the city that not only monitor traffic flow on major road ways but also watch over back alleys, banks and markets, and even some campus and hospital corridors.

Only 15,000 cameras or 5.7 percent of the city's total, are installed by the government, said an official with the Beijing's legal affairs office.

The city's new regulations would require businesses and institutions to aim their cameras only within the boundaries of their property or work place. The general public will be prohibited from setting up their own surveillance cameras near roads and squares and other public places, according to the city.

Governments and police will only be allowed to view and copy the images when dealing with public emergencies or investigating criminal activity.

Individuals or organizations should arrange for long-term storage of collected video images and are prohibited from altering or disseminating the pictures captured by their surveillance cameras. Companies violating these regulations can be fined up to 30,000 yuan and individuals can face fines of up to 1,000 yuan.

Beijing's new regulations appear to be aimed at allaying public concerns over who would be able to access these images obtained by surveillance cameras. A survey conducted by the China Youth Daily and Sina.com showed 34.7 percent of the respondents worrying that cameras could be used to spy on people's private affairs.

There are several good examples people's privacy being invaded, or worse, stolen for profit.

In one case, a video camera in a hotel corridor caught a famous Chinese actress in the intimate embrace of her boyfriend. A security guard then sold the footage to a Hong Kong newspaper.

In another case, a high-school principal in Shanghai staged a public showing of a videotape of two students kissing in a classroom, humiliating them. The teenage couple was so incensed they launched a lawsuit for invasion of privacy. They lost their suit but garnered public sympathy.

Prof. Li Xiandong, a law expert with the China University of Political Science and Law, says it is not the shooting of the video images but the loose management and control of said images that is cause for concern.

Only Chongqing Municipality in southwest China already has similar regulations restricting the use of the video images. There is an absence of national laws governing such surveillance systems.

Wang Zongyu, a law professor at People's University in Beijing, is another expert calling for legislation governing the installation of video cameras and the use of the images they collect.

"Currently, anyone can freely install cameras and make a videotape and do whatever they want with it. How can you feel comfortable if you know that someone may be secretly watching you?" he queried.

Video monitoring, of course, is not unique to China. More than 4.2 million closed-circuit surveillance cameras have been installed in Britain -- the most of any Western country.

Shanghai plans to install an additional 200,000 surveillance cameras by 2010. Shenzhen, a thriving city in south China's Guangdong Province, has followed suit and is set to install 200,000 more cameras.

Even Zhengzhou, capital city of central China's Henan Province, has already set up 40,000 monitor cameras, with another 60,000 planned in the next five years.

(Xinhua News Agency December 19, 2006)