When our sneakers are checking into Foursquare for us, we know that we’ve officially become our own Big Brother and the end is nigh. Stalk-a-rrefic! Beware! Unless you’re boring. Then no one cares you’re at the Bean anyway.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation obtained documents detailing how various federal agencies are using popular social networking sites to gather information for their investigations. Read more »
Criminals in Chicago have easily figured out how to out maneuver the city’s surveillance cameras, but officials have crafted a new strategy to outsmart them: more surveillance cameras. Of course these new ones will be more covert and reportedly have a wider range, so now the majority of law-abiding citizens can rest easy knowing they too will be watched all the more closely. |Chicago Tribune|
While the British are busy speaking that fancy version of English, their government is royally fucking them with “requests for surveillance” and continues to plunge the country into an Orwellian nightmare that would even frighten Eric Arthur Blair. In addition to having a camera up the arse (and nostrils) of virtually every citizen, “officials seek access to phone and email data 1,381 times a day,” reports the Guardian. Liberal Democrat Chris Huhne blames the British people themselves, saying “We have sleepwalked into a surveillance state” and describes how a certain author’s book is becoming a little too real:
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In their never ending quest to infuriate freedom-loving straphangers, the MTA will test a new surveillance system on subway trains. The plan is to outfit cars on one of the “letter” lines with digital cameras that can continuously record, but won’t be watched live according to the Post. Basically, they’ll do little to prevent crime, but have the potential to provide excellent snuff footage in the event that a crime does take place. |NYP|
Photo by plemeljr
Maryland’s Transit Agency Scraps Evil Surveillance Proposal
The Constitution lives! The Maryland Transit Administration was considering a proposal to bug all its buses and trains in Baltimore and parts of D.C., but they’ve decided to back off due to privacy concerns—although the sheer illegality of it probably played a role too. The original proposal outlined the installation of microphones that could record all conversations by both passengers and employees, thoroughly driving this country into an Orwellian brick wall within earshot of the nation’s capital. |Baltimore Sun|
US Weekly obtained “exclusive” behind-the-scenes footage of Michael Jackson’s infamous Pepsi commercial from 1984 that went very wrong. Badly timed pyrotechnics ended up setting the King of Pop’s hair on fire. This is also supposedly the gateway incident responsible for Jackson’s later drug problems. Watch how many crew members it takes to extinguish a head blaze after the jump.
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Police Commissioner Ray Kelly wants $21 million in federal money to cover Midtown, from 34th to 59th Streets between the Hudson and East Rivers, with “license plate readers, heavily armed officers and a web of private and public surveillance cameras.” The plan is similar to Lower Manhattan’s surveillance network, the “Ring of Steel,” including the lack of information on privacy protections. |NY Times|
While surveillance cameras are rarely a successful tool in preventing crime, they do come in handy after the fact, when it comes to identifying criminals and cops now too. The New York Times reports how, increasingly, cameras are playing a role in gathering “evidence against police officers accused of misconduct.” Officer Patrick Pogan was eventually fired after video proved he was a liar, but his case was just one of many against law enforcement, like Detective Debra Eager. She was “indicted on three felony perjury charges after her testimony before a grand jury about a 2007 drug arrest “starkly contradicted” video surveillance of the event.” |NYT|
The NYPD continues their paramilitary people watching experiment, this time introducing the mostly good people of Ridgewood, Queens to SkyWatch, a mobile surveillance platform. It’s located on Cypress Avevenue between Putnam and Myrtle, a stone’s throw from Bushwick. Like it’s sister unit in Williamsburg, it’s been deployed for a little over a month now and although NYPD brass might hail this as an effective tool for intimidation law enforcement, the actual police manning them aren’t so hot on the two-story tower. For one, it kind of prevents them from doing their jobs. “We’re not allowed to leave it, unless a cop is in trouble,” explained one of the officers guarding the base of the moveable tower, “but then what are we supposed to do then? Run to the scene?” Each SkyWatch requires a two man team: one to sit up in the tower, the other standing guarding below, effectively leaving two officers in fixed positions without any transportation besides a three wheeled scooter. “We could do a better job in a car any day,” added the other cop as he climbed in the cab and began his ascent. More photos of the elevated lookout below.
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