First of all, we as pilots are very keen that the safety record of aviation exceeds that of the automobile industry - if we want anyone to fly then that has to be the case. Without embarrassment or awkwardness we openly want to have a 100% safety record around the world where the number of take-offs equal numbers of landings. That may never be achievable but it is a worthy goal, and in our efforts to achieve that we should have no sacred cows.
It is not so long ago that flight data monitoring was considered an attack on a pilot's professionalism, but now forms part of our daily lives. Certainly, in my own airline, the application of the data has been religiously applied in terms of the original agreement with the Union. This is where the problem applies with regard to the video issue, and it has to be addressed - particularly in the context of the USA where freedom of information is King. If we can have a Union agreement in place that the video information is only available to download in the event of an incident/accident and will not be used to observe and punish minor breaches of SOP then that would be fine. The problem is what happens in the event of a fatal accident involving massive loss of life, which, alas, does happen in aviation from time to time. The pressure to release 'the moment of impact' video to the voracious press and blood-sucking public would be just too immense, coupled with media-led court cases under the auspices of 'freedom of information' to obtain release of the video. Added to that you would have secretaries who have access to the video and would want to make a fast buck by selling it. It may be that somewhere in the bowels of the US military is a helmet-cam video showing the shots that killed Osama bin Laden, and to an extent I am surprised it has not appeared already in the public domain. The reason it has not is due to military desire to protect one of their own, backed by clear secrecy laws - protections not on offer to civilian pilots.
Unions are quite rightly protective of their members' rights to privacy. They know that in the final analysis those rights would be long forgotten 'for the greater good' if a video existed of the last minutes of a crash. They do not want their members' families being subjected to the horror of their loved ones' last moments being endlessly displayed to the waiting masses. Therefore we have two irreconcilable positions - the pilots' desire to avoid their last moments displayed to the world as opposed to a professional board of inquiry, and the public's appetite for the vile and unwholesome. Until some very clear legislation can be brought in to offer the same level of privacy the SEAL who shot Osama bin Laden gets to the pilots in an air crash, then there really is nowhere to go. Basically, a public agreement needs to be in place that says normal 'right to know' is subordinated to the need to keep pilot confidence and maintain the privacy of their last moments on Earth - tricky but achievable.