The weekend is here, the weather is looking to be beautiful, and cameras will be employed to monitor your every move in the city. What else could you ask for?

Well, for the more privacy-oriented among us, the recent announcement that the Metropolitan Police Department will be using an advanced network of video cameras city-wide to monitor this weekend’s protests against the World Bank and IMF could seem just a little more than Big Brotherish, considering that such protests just aren’t as large or rowdy as they once were (in 2000 they attracted over 35,000 people, these days they hardly surpass 5,000).

The cameras — 14 in total, located throughout the city, capable of 360-degree panning and 180-degree tilt, and each costing roughly $15,000 — were installed in 2000 to “support the management of major events in the District,” according to the MPD. They are linked to a $7 million Joint Operations Command Center (JOCC) in police headquarters, from which police can monitor the comings and goings of city life on 22 flat-screen TVs and 50 computer stations.

While there have been debates over the use and abuse of such close-circuit camera systems (also known as CCTV), DCist can offer only this by way of opinion: Try and look good this weekend, after all, someone is watching.

The image above is of one of the cameras, courtesy of the Electronic Privacy Information Center’s “Observing Surveillance” campaign.