Coming To An Area Near You "NEW YORK - Along a gritty stretch of street in Brooklyn, police this month quietly launched an ambitious plan to combat street crime and terrorism. But instead of cops on the beat, wireless video cameras peer down from lamp posts about 30 feet above the sidewalk.
They were the first installment of a program to place 500 cameras throughout the city at a cost of $9 million. Hundreds of additional cameras could follow if the city receives $81.5 million in federal grants it has requested to safeguard Lower Manhattan and parts of midtown with a surveillance "ring of steel" modeled after security measures in London's financial district.
Officials of the New York Police Department _ which considers itself at the forefront of counterterrorism since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks _ claim the money would be well-spent, especially since the revelations that al-Qaida members once cased the New York Stock Exchange and other financial institutions.
'We have every reason to believe New York remains in the cross-hairs, so we have to do what it takes to protect the city,' Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said last week at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government."
Yeah, constant surveillance of of innocent civilians worked for London, didn't it? Remember, it prevented those subway bombings... (more
Why You Should Be Worried "We are told that surveillance cameras are never abused by their operators, each of whom can supposedly be trusted not to use the awesome technology at their disposal to engage in despicable or outright illegal behavior. But this information is false: camera-operators are not angels; they are subject to the same prejudices, temptations and corruptions that we all struggle with; camera-operators get bored or arrogant and abuse their cameras on a regular basis. To confirm this, one only has to keep up with the news being reported from around the world, which is precisely what we plan to do here, on this page, in chronological order..." (more)
If you oppose public surveillance, you're probably committing crimes. These technologies don't interfere with our lives. They keep us safe. Then again, you're probably a white middle class male, and you know you will never be picked up based on any camera system. You have some bizarre ideals for this world. The problem is not everyone shares your ideals. I'm not going to give you the old "they hate our freedom" lie. They just hate us. Why? Our support of Israel. If someone were constantly trying to knife you in the gut, wouldn't you kill them? Wouldn't you try to stop them? Or would you coddle them and let them suck off your bloody tit?
I refuse to live in yr world of terrified rats. Giving up my privacy so you can feel "safe" isn't an option.