The Aerodrom municipality has announced it is starting the process of setting up a video surveillance system on children's and sports playgrounds, as well as in parks. The proposal was adopted at a council session, and the goal, they say, is greater safety in the places where children and young people gather most.

At first glance the idea sounds reasonable - cameras where there is vandalism, theft or violence among the young. Children's playgrounds in Skopje have more than once ended up damaged, broken or destroyed, so the wish to protect them is understandable. When the equipment is paid for by all citizens, keeping it safe is a shared interest.

But video surveillance of public spaces always carries a second, deeper question - where is the line between safety and the constant filming of citizens. Playgrounds are places where children play and parents sit; the camera that protects them also records them. The questions are simple, and the answers are rarely given up front: who watches the footage, how long it is kept, who has access and what happens to that data.

For now the Aerodrom municipality is only opening the process - the concrete details of the system are yet to be published. This is exactly where it pays for citizens to be attentive and to ask. Video surveillance can be a useful safety tool, but only if it comes with clear rules on privacy. Otherwise it easily turns into something else - from protecting children into a habit of constant monitoring that nobody asked for, yet everybody got.