[256] in Privacy_Forum
[ PRIVACY Forum ] NYC's New Law Enforcement Dream: Cameras as Fetish,
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (privacy@vortex.com)
Mon Jul 9 00:07:35 2007
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Date: Sun, 08 Jul 2007 20:14:41 -0700
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NYC's New Law Enforcement Dream: Cameras as Fetish, and Fear for Profit
http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000260.html
Greetings.
As I noted back in ( http://lauren.vortex.com/archive/000244.html )
it's not "Google Street View" photos we have to worry about.
Indeed, this "New York Times" article:
( http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/09/nyregion/09ring.html )
discusses New York City law enforcement's dream of a "Lower
Manhattan Security Initiative" that would have given Stalin and his
ilk a power boost comparable to that of today's popular little
diamond-shaped blue pill.
Cameras everywhere. Automatic roadblocks. License plates and
movements on record -- for how long? Who has access? Hey, who
cares? Go around the block three times looking for a parking place?
BUZZZ! Sound the alarm. Face recognition software false positives
as usual? BUZZZ! Send out the riot squad. Leave your lunch
on the park bench? BUZZZ! Evacuate! Evacuate! Fear Pays.
Security cameras are more powerful all the time. See that nice
looking girl in the very, very short, tight dress? Zoom in.
Farther. Farther! Don't laugh, this sort of abuse of law
enforcement cameras has already been documented.
Divorce lawyers showing up with court orders for camera and tracking
data -- to find out if Joe Blow has been naughty again? Sure, hand
the data over -- if we've got the data, courts can order it used for
whatever they damned well please. Data Expiration? We don't need no
stinking data expiration! Disk drives are cheap! Retain is the
name of the game.
And remember kiddies (here it comes, let's all say it together!):
"You have no expectation of privacy once you walk out your front
door!" (Many law enforcement spokesmen apparently have the "No
expectation of privacy in public places" talking point tattooed on
their forearms for easy reference.) Of course, that means that the
government can track everywhere you go, everyone you meet, everyone
you visit, every place you shop. Naturally, if they had creepy
little guys in raincoats following you around individually, people
might get upset. But the cameras aren't as disheveled and much more
acceptable in polite society. If you don't like them? Tough.
And hey, just because these systems have proven essentially worthless
in stopping terrorist attacks before they happen, that doesn't mean
that we should penalize the manufacturers of these devices and their
fat contracts. Something has to keep the economy grinding along and
the Economics of Fear is about as good as it gets.
So sign up now for the New York City Security Ring of Steel.
Get in on the ground floor and you too can make big bucks
by leveraging the War on Terror for fun and profit.
This is, my friends, how it begins. Even if they never set off
another bomb and never kill another person, the terrorists
have -- it seems more likely every day -- already won.
Bend over, and smile for those cameras. Be seeing you.
--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@vortex.com or lauren@pfir.org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
- People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, IOIC
- International Open Internet Coalition - http://www.ioic.net
Founder, CIFIP
- California Initiative For Internet Privacy - http://www.cifip.org
Founder, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
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