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|
There’s a debate brewing in Vancouver over the temporary surveillance cameras that were installed in preparation for the Winter Olympics. The police want them to stay while others would rather see them go.
Ya gotta hand it to the MTA for being able to squander straphanger’s cash, reduce civil liberties, and pretend like they’re making the subways safer all in one shot. The perpetually mismanaged agency announced the installation of surveillance cameras on the E trains as part of a pilot program or what the Post calls an “aggressive anti-terror and crime initiative that the MTA could expand to every line in the subway system.” Oh, they’re doing it to fight terrorism? Then it has to be good, right? Ask London. Read more »
Following in the footsteps of their English countrymen, authorities in Scotland will start using the cocaine torch to inspect the noses of partygoers for contraband. |BBC|
So it’s pretty well established that the UK is the most terrifying Orwellian stronghold in the Northern Hemisphere, and it’s about to get even scarier once the British military gets its Skynet-style surveillance system online. The high flying drones will specifically target “illegal immigrants” and “drug smugglers” but you know soccer fans are next! |Daily Mail|
According to a military official, the new generation of drones will offer all sorts of surveillance amenities that include the “option to arrest the individual, talk to the individuals or . . . wait till those people have gone down a lonely stretch of road and take them out with a Hellfire missile.” |LAT|
As part of a controversial new program, the FBI is using facial-recognition technology and searching driver’s license photos in DMV databases to try and find wanted fugitives. So far its been a big success: “The project in North Carolina has already helped nab at least one suspect.” |AP|
This new poster in the Meatpacking District offers visitors an unsettling reminder of the city’s ever-expanding surveillance networks.
Photo by F.Trainer
The ever watchful and constitutionally-devoid NYPD has instituted a new policy that has some concerned and could be illegal: “A recent internal memo says that when cops make an arrest, they should remove the suspect’s cell phone battery to avoid leakage – then jot down the International Mobile Equipment Identity number.” |NYDN|
The ACLU isn’t happy about the Sacramento City Council’s decision to install 32 surveillance cameras around the city and say it will do more harm than good. |KRCA|
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