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Washington Plans Unprecedented Camera Network
REUTERS ^ | February 13, 2002 08:10 AM ET | Reuters

Posted on 02/13/2002 6:15:46 AM PST by goldylight

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Washington police are building what will be the nation's biggest network of surveillance cameras to monitor shopping areas, streets, monuments and other public places in the U.S. capital, a move that worries civil liberties groups, The Wall Street Journal said on Wednesday.

The system would eventually include hundreds of cameras, linking existing devices in Metro mass transit stations, public schools and traffic intersections to new digital cameras mounted to watch over neighborhoods and shopping districts, the Journal said.

"In the context of Sept. 11, we have no choice but to accept greater use of this technology," Stephen Gaffigan, the head of the police department project, told the Journal.

He said city officials had studied the British surveillance system, which has more than 2 million cameras throughout the country, and were "intrigued by that model."

One of the first uses of police surveillance cameras in Washington was April 2000, when authorities set up a network to monitor protests during a meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, the newspaper said.

On Tuesday morning, in response to the latest terror alert issued by the Justice Department, police activated a $7 million command center that was first used on Sept. 11. The command center, which has dozens of video stations for monitoring cameras, will remain in use until federal officials end the alert, the Journal reported.

Cameras installed by the police have been programmed to scan public areas automatically, and officers can take over manual control if they want to examine something more closely.

The system currently does not permit an automated match between a face in the crowd and a computerized photo of a suspect, the Journal said. Gaffigan said officials were looking at the technology but had not decided whether to use it.

Eventually, images will be viewable on computers already installed in most of the city's 1,000 squad cars, the Journal said.

The Journal said the plans for Washington went far beyond what was in use in other U.S. cities, a development that worries civil liberties advocates.

Barry Steinhardt, associate director of the American Civil Liberties Union in New York, noted there were few legal restrictions of video surveillance of public streets. But he said that by setting up a "central point of surveillance," it becomes likely that "the cameras will be more frequently used and more frequently abused."

"You are building in a surveillance infrastructure, and how it's used now is not likely how it's going to be used two years from now or five years from now," he told the Journal.


TOPICS: Breaking News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: billofrights; biometrics; privacylist
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This is not good...
1 posted on 02/13/2002 6:15:46 AM PST by goldylight
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To: goldylight
The shape of things to come...
2 posted on 02/13/2002 6:18:03 AM PST by Atlas Sneezed
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To: Darth Sidious
All is lost.
3 posted on 02/13/2002 6:18:56 AM PST by Rebelbase
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Comment #4 Removed by Moderator

To: boston liberty
Ping!
5 posted on 02/13/2002 6:19:06 AM PST by Mixer
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To: goldylight
I had an idea for a web site. "Surveill the Surveillors."

Basically anyone could post to it. I envisoned an army of folks, armed with GPS receivers and note pads. The site would list the location of every surveillance camera, no matter what it is "for". If the purpose is known it would be posted too. Cameras in 7-11 stores. Cameras at busy intersections. "Red-Light" cameras. "Security" cameras. Freeway cams. All of them.

It could become sort of a craze, or so I fantasize.

I can't figure out a way to make money with such a site.

But I am certain that it would make Big Brother uncomfortable...perhaps uncomfortable enough to try to shut it down. I dunno.

Whaddya think?

--Boris

6 posted on 02/13/2002 6:20:33 AM PST by boris
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To: goldylight
Hey, hush up. Who are you to protest. If you aren't doing anything illegal then you have nothing to fear. Instead of complaining, why don't you, next time you are out, wave to one of those cameras and wish a good day to those heroes on the police force who are protecting you.
7 posted on 02/13/2002 6:20:37 AM PST by Loopy
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To: goldylight
War has been good to this government.
8 posted on 02/13/2002 6:21:10 AM PST by NC_Libertarian
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To: boris
I meant envisioned.
9 posted on 02/13/2002 6:21:19 AM PST by boris
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To: goldylight
Just dont do anything wrong, dont pay for anything in cash and dont make any quick movements and we will all be fine.
10 posted on 02/13/2002 6:21:32 AM PST by michaelje
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To: goldylight
How unfortunate that so many of civil liberties are being lost post-9/11. IMHO the Bush Administration is closing many open holes in our national security, but what price will we pay if we don't watch every action instituted in each state and district?
11 posted on 02/13/2002 6:21:58 AM PST by callisto
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To: Beelzebubba
You are obviously one of those people trying to scare the peace loving citizens of the USA with "phantoms of lost liberty". You are aiding the terrorists! John Ashcroft said so. In fact, you must BE a terrorist. I'll report you now.
12 posted on 02/13/2002 6:22:35 AM PST by Loopy
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To: goldylight
"2 million cameras throughout the country"

Unbelievable. Orson Wells was a prophet.

I'm glad there were no cameras available during our Revolutionary era or else the rebellion would have been crushed before it had even started.

13 posted on 02/13/2002 6:23:18 AM PST by Rebelbase
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To: goldylight
If the ACLU is fighting it, it causes me to wonder why.
What would the left be afraid of?
Aren't they the share everything, do what feels good no matter what wing?
Political correctness is "tolerant" of everything and every sin .
AMBLA, celebrity crime, anti-white, anti-men, pro-death.

I'm against the loss of freedoms to move around in private, but the lefts involvement makes me wonder.

14 posted on 02/13/2002 6:23:36 AM PST by concerned about politics
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To: goldylight
"It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could igve you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself, anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face, was itself a punishable offense. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: facecrime"

"1984" pg 54

15 posted on 02/13/2002 6:23:36 AM PST by freeeee
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To: goldylight
This world is going "Brazil" so quickly, it's astonishing.

Terry Gilliam is more powerful than Nostradamus.

16 posted on 02/13/2002 6:24:38 AM PST by dead
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To: boris
The Matrix has you.
17 posted on 02/13/2002 6:24:49 AM PST by Rebelbase
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To: goldylight
This is absolutely crazy!
18 posted on 02/13/2002 6:25:46 AM PST by grimalkin
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To: Loopy
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. --Ben Franklin
19 posted on 02/13/2002 6:25:54 AM PST by goldylight
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To: Loopy
If you aren't doing anything illegal then you have nothing to fear.
IMHO you are wrong on this account. Personally I have little fear concerning the Bush Administrations use of these new laws. My concern lies in the future use of these anti-terrorist tools by another administration who may not be so friendly to those who disagree with them.
20 posted on 02/13/2002 6:25:55 AM PST by callisto
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