Okay let me be blunt, I think this is a great idea.
I used to work in casino security for a very long period of time, one of the things I did was "Monitor Room" which basically meant sitting there watching cameras. Despite what you might think from video games, being caught on a Camera does not mean instant notification. In a big building you could have monitors panning through hundreds of differant cameras and unless the guy working them just happens to see you, chances are the only real danger is going to be once a crime is "discovered" that someone will go through the video logs to see if a camera got you. A goodly portion of what I did actually amounted to pulling and watching tapes retroactively, and/or sending them to the authorities.
All this program does is get people to watch cameras for free to increase the chances that they will catch someone actually doing something (when there may or may not be any evidence to have had anyone think to check a tape retroactively). I mean if your doing something illegal you should be nailed, and all this is doing is making video surveillance more plausible and less based off of dumb luck or the criminal messing up bad enough or leaving enough evidence for you to check the tape.
As far as people talking about the "Stasi" or even going back earlier, the big differance was things like secrecy, and defendants not having the right to face their accusor or see the evidence arrayed against them. This is why the extent of collusion was not known, it was all secret/hush-hush. It meant that for all practical purposes a person could be arrested, told they did something, and have no practical method of defending themselves.
When it comes to video suerveillance in the US, in general you have to produce a report (documentation), and then there is of course the tape itself which will go to court. Plus the prosecution is going to bring you (the guy who saw this) out as a witness and the guy your accusing gets to see who is bringing the charges.
Unless they make the process totally anonymous in the actual legal phase, there is no comparison at all. Being caught by some dude surfing the internet, is no worse than being caught by a security officer.
A few years ago I'd be saying it was bad, but mainly because it could put me (a professional) out of a job if it works down the road. But now I'm retired on disabillity, so I don't much care on a personal level, and see the benefits.
One of the things that sort of galls me about the US is that a lot of people seem to ultimatly equate freedom with "the right to commit crimes and get away with it". As I said, all this is doing is making the video systems already in place more effective. "This area is under video suerveillance" simply becomes that much more of a a deterrant.
Besides which anything truely under the table (certain kinds of covert suerviellance is illegal, even on private property) isn't going to fly. It just doesn't worry me as a concept as long as other laws in the US don't change in connection to it. We just don't have the legal infrastructure in place to create something like "Stasi" or "Secret Police". Heck, it's a giant charlie foxtrot to go after terrorists and national security threats nowadays without demands for massive amounts of public disclosure.
Also let me put it to you this way, let's say some dude walks up and decides to rob and sodomize you in a bank parking lot while wearing a clown mask. Right now the ATM camera might catch it, but won't be seen until hours later when your getting DNA evidence removed from your colon. At least under this system there is a chance someone sitting on the Internets might catch the guy and call the police on the spot. Granted the odds aren't great, but they DO exist. Of course while this might sort of save you/catch the guy, you also have to worry about your misadventure becoming "internet entertainment clip of the week". I mean an enterprising citizen could wait until he's done for a full capture, call the police, collect his thousand dollars, and then make some extra money selling the clip to porn sites.
