Free Republic

Major cities across the US are introducing smart streetlights with the promise they'll provide safer and more sustainable public spaces. But behind the scenes, the technology is being appropriated as an instrument of surveillance within a larger network of smart sensors. “This is not a surveillance system—nobody is watching it 24 hours a day,” said Erik Caldwell, director of economic development in San Diego, in an interview where he was asked if the wide deployment of “smart” streetlights had turned San Diego into a surveillance city. Innocuous at first glance, this statement demonstrates the pernicious impact of artificial intelligence on...

UPSTATE, S.C. (WSPA) – While driving around town you may have noticed an increase in street lights around the Upstate that are turning purple. 7 News’ Kristen Cheatam reached out to Duke Energy and they said this change in color is due to a manufacturer defect with their LED Lights. According to the statement, Duke Energy has been upgrading many of their older and less efficient lights with LED lighting over the past few years. Several hundreds of these white, street lights across the Upstate are now malfunctioning causing the lights to gradually turn deep purple. Other utility companies across...

The 20-something couple with a history of small-time scams had inadvertently hacked the world’s most powerful nation for a five-figure ransom at a time of high anxiety over national security on Inauguration Day. The Romanians had launched hundreds of thousands of emails embedded with ransomware in an attachment disguised as an invoice, authorities said. The list of email addresses they bought included, by chance, the Washington, D.C., police department. A recipient there apparently took the bait, opening the attachment that locked up the street-camera system. Only a payment could produce the key. Ms. Cismaru sent a message to the Journal...

The island of Juist off Germany’s North Sea coast is testing out a new idea for alternative energy: self-sufficient wind-powered street lamps, which could be a model even for developing countries. The blustery shores of Juist in the North Sea certainly have no shortage of wind, which has given the island reason to launch a new energy-saving pilot project. In the next two weeks, the island will be setting up the first wind-powered street light created by a designer based in Schleswig-Holstein, Peer Langemak, a spokesman from Juist told The Local on Monday. Langemak and his team “noordforce” spent a...

Detroit, whose 139 square miles contain 60 percent fewer residents than in 1950, will try to nudge them into a smaller living space by eliminating nearly half its streetlights. As it is, 40 percent of the 88,000 streetlights are broken and the city, whose finances are to be overseen by an appointed board, can't afford to fix them. Mayor Dave Bing's plan would create an authority to borrow $160 million to upgrade and reduce the number of streetlights to 46,000. Maintenance would be contracted out, saving the city $10 million a year. Other U.S. cities have gone partially dark to...

Just a precis: Drudge has a link to inforwars dot com's article on intellistreets, a hi tech surveillance system installed in streetlights. The assertion is that homeland security is paying to have these installed on city streets. There is also a link to the company website: http://www.intellistreets.com/Videos/English/IntelliStreetsEnglish.html

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — There is now a shocking new strategy to fight copper crime. Street lights are now staying on 24-hours a day in one Sacramento neighborhood and the city is banking on live wires to keep criminals away. The city now figures keeping them turned on will save money, by warding off copper thieves; keeping the lights on mean live wires, and the unlucky thief who doesn’t know better could be electrocuted. It’s quite a warning, from a city that’s been hit hard by the copper crime.

PORTLAND, Or - Blind people rallied in downtown Portland against a federal proposal that would make traffic crossing safer for them by adding beepers or other audible signals. The rally was conducted Tuesday outside the Hilton Portland during the nation's only scheduled public hearing on the issue. It highlighted a split between at least two national support groups for the blind. Inside the hotel, officials said the American Council of the Blind supports a proposed draft of federal guidelines requiring that crossings be outfitted with ``audible traffic signals'' and ``detectable warnings'' that a blind person could feel and hear. Meanwhile,...

For some 300 property owners north of Perris the darkest part of the energy crisis has just begun. At the end of March their streetlights will be clicked off and then ripped out because they voted against paying higher assessments back when the energy crunch was in full swing. And for thousands of others in Sun City, Wildomar, Valle Vista and southeast of Hemet, the lights will shut off at midnight each evening. Those areas have some money left in their district accounts to keep partial power, but they too could be left in the dark if they don't agree...