Individuals v The Collective

Here is a good example of why individuals frequently act better when alone than in a group.

It makes me wonder if one of the reasons people are less likely to involve themselves when they see, say, teenagers causing disruption in a park, is because of increased surveillance? When you are fairly certain that everything is monitored by CCTV - ie: the authorities are watching- you may think that it's even less of your responsibility to deal with it. Perhaps visible surveillance in society magnifies the problem described in the link.

If so, this would seem an even more powerful case than 'mere' privacy and distrust of government to restrict surveillance.