美国公共视频监控中的隐私权保护——司法、行政与立法之困局

Monitoring the Hot Potato：Why No Branch of Government is Touching Video Surveillance Regulation

美国司法、行政、立法机关对于公共视频监控系统建设和运行过程中可能产生的对公民隐私权侵犯的不同回应,体现出三权分立的宪政结构下美国各部门对公共监控缺乏严格管理,隐私权保护已陷入困局。困局产生的原因主要是司法机关寄望立法机关立法解决问题,但公众讨论缺乏、行业利益坐大及公共安全考虑等障碍导致立法程序停滞不前,因而作为具体操作部门的行政机关只能依照先天不足的内部规范进行自我管控。对公共视频监控制度在隐私权保障方面局限性的探索,能够在一定程度上反映美国式权力分立制度的固有弱点,进一步对比性分析可能喻示立法、行政、司法的其中之一将成为公共视频监控领域隐私权保障的突破性环节。

The thesis focuses on the responses from three branches of the United States on the issue of protecting privacy when implementing and operating the public video surveillance system. It finds that there is a deadlock among branches without any meaningful regulations on the system. Because the judicial branch counts on the proper solution from the legislative branch, but the legislation makes no progress due to some obstacles, such as lack of public debate, industry interest and public safety consideration. Thus, the only regulation on the system is the self-restraint guidelines by the executive branch, which is inherently insufficient. This research could provide a basis for further study on the limits of the separation of power or the weak point of the deadlock for the privacy advocator to break through.