THERE are legitimate concerns about the technological, all-seeing age in which we live.

With CCTV cameras, mobile phones capable of taking pictures and video, and social media sharing information in an instant, it is becoming harder and harder to be sure of privacy.

But, while those concerns about personal freedom should never be underestimated, there is another side to Big Brother.

Take the disturbing incident on the Paris Metro this week as an example. A man was prevented from boarding a train by Chelsea football fans chanting racist slogans.

It was a sight which has sickened people around the world – but there is no hiding place for the thugs responsible.

The incident was filmed by an on-looker using a mobile phone and it has spread like wildfire. New organisations worldwide have shown it. Millions of people have passed it on via Facebook and Twitter. Newspapers, and their websites, have published still photographs of the faces of the men being hunted by the police.

And that rapid dissemination of information is as reassuring in these kind of circumstances as it can be worrying in others.

Last night, Chelsea announced that three people had been suspended from Stamford Bridge after a witness appeal resulted in "substantial information".

Sooner or later, those who chanted "We're racist, we're racist and that's the way we like it" as a man was repeatedly pushed from a train because of the colour of his skin will be tracked down and dealt with.

And we should take comfort in the knowledge that Big Brother was watching and played a big part in making sure they didn't get away with it.