“If you’re not doing anything wrong, what do you have to worry about”

[Clara T]

Cameras for Houston homes, streets sought

February 16, 2006
"I know a lot of people are concerned about Big Brother, but my response to that is, if you are not doing anything wrong, why should you worry about it?" he said Wednesday.
Houston is facing a police shortage because of retirements and too few recruits, and the city has absorbed 150,000 hurricane evacuees who are filling apartment complexes in crime-ridden neighborhoods. The City Council is considering a public-safety tax to pay for more officers.
Building permits should require malls and large apartment complexes to install surveillance cameras, Hurtt said. And if a homeowner needs repeated police response, it's reasonable to require surveillance of the property, he said.

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060216/NEWS07/602160602/1009

"The safer we make the city, the better it is for everyone," says Chicago Alderman Ray Suarez, who first proposed mandatory cameras in some businesses. "If you're not doing anything wrong, what do you have to worry about?"

<snip>

Chicago is installing those sophisticated camera systems more aggressively than any other U.S. city, says Rajiv Shah, an assistant professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago who studies the policy implications of surveillance technology. Recording what people do in public "is just getting easier and cheaper to do," he says. "Think of your camera cellphone."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-02-14-chicago-cameras_x.htm

“There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever they wanted to. You had to live—did live, from habit that became instinct—in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized.”
- George Orwell

[bluestateguy]

1. "If you're not doing anything wrong, what do you have to worry about?"

Anytime a politician says that your red alarm should go off.

And anyone who says that should be disqualified from holding public office.

[yourout]

5. Do you suppose the British said something similar to the Colonies?

Or maybe the Germans in the 1930's.

[bluerum]

2. I am not doing anything wrong. And I don't want you watching me.

How hard is that to understand?

[philosophie_en_rose]

3. I'm not worried about me; I'm worried about them.

Can you imagine what our fundy government will do with the information? Suddenly, these surveillance devices (which will not be ever be hacked :eyes:) will allow track who goes into the abortion clinic, who's "sleeping over" at someone's house, or even who's picking their nose.

The real problem there is lack of funding for law enforcement. Tape recording is a lazy solution.

[pocket]

4. Hurtt is a Dem, too :(

fucking asshat

[Clara T]

7. Is that the same Ray Suarez

who use to do Talk of the Nation on NPR? I bet it is as he was from Chicago and moved back there after his stint at NPR. He claims to be a liberal. Is surveillance a liberal concept? I think not.

[leeroysphitz]

6. The Bush Administration? n/t

[dysfunctional press]

8. I'm getting really sick of hearing that phrase-

i live in chicago, and when i read that Suarez quote earlier, it made me sick.

his office will be hearing from me tomorrow.

[Clara T]

9. Maybe you could answer my question

I posted it above. Is that the same Ray Suarez who used to host NPR's "Talk of the Nation"?

[dysfunctional press]

10. i have no idea...

he's not my alderman, and i don't listen to npr.

[darkmaestro019]

11. Yeah. My problem with this is Their definition of wrong...

which seems to include my religion, recreational substances of choice, home decor, and "choice" of soulmate. Oh yeah--and my reading habits and employment in adult entertainment.

MY definition of wrong--harming others--I don't violate. If that were all you bitches were looking for I wouldn't be quite so furious. (sarcasm) However, anything X-rated that we get up to will cost you six-ninety-nine a minute. No free shows.


(sigh) If anyone has a starship leaving this rock in the near future, drop me a line. I'm good at gardening, cooking, janitorial work, and if we can go as a pair we'll put on floor shows. Please oh please.

[FreedomAngel82]

16. Or even just other books you read

You could check out a Howard Zinn book or something and have the police coming to your door! Or you might be doing a report on the Holocaust and all that and have someone come up to your door. I was earlier tonight watching an A&E documentary on the "SkinHeads" and while I think they're all rascists assholes they had FBI and things like that try to quiet them. And don't forget how Quaker groups are being treated and other peace groups.

[Spiffarino]

12. "...is a phrase used by fools and tyrants."

Fools because they don't know any better.
Tyrants because they do.

[bobbieinok]

13. in the former East Berlin in summer 1991, guides pointed out the dismantle

dismantled cameras on buildings, especially on buildings on street corners.

They pointed out the only cameras still working were on the US consulate building (exactly what US govt building it was I'm not sure). Granted, that was a period in which there had been attacks on US buildings around the world and some surveillance was probably necessary. But still, the only working surveillance cameras in a former communist city were US cameras????

[shance]

14. It's not of course what we're doing wrong, its what THEY are doing wrong.

And illegally.

[FreedomAngel82]

15. Well gee there are numerous things wrong with that statement

First of all privacy. Just because I have a journal and don't write anything super important in it doesn't mean I want my brother or anybody else to read my private thoughts! Second of all there could be an event that happens and they think you're doing something wrong but you're not. Know what I mean? Plus I'm already paranoid as it is! Goodness!

[f-bush]

17. This is the same sop Hitler said to his people...

then a million little laws went into effect that cause everybody to trip up...and by that time it was too late to save your rights!

[NMMNG]

18. The problem is that what is "wrong" keeps changing and growing daily

So what was legal yesterday becomes illegal overnight. Dumbya and his Right-wingnuts are working on making everything but breathing "wrong" to do.

And even if all I'm doing is sleeping, I don't want anybody watching (or listening) because it's none of their business!

[Raine]

19. You have more to worry about when

you haven't done anything wrong, innocent people get caught up in crap all the time! :mad:

[anitar1]

20. I read this earlier today and was reminded of Britain.

They have cameras almost EVERYWHERE now and are going to install them on all of the highways in Britain.These cameras are so powerful that they can read license plates. They say it is to prevent crime. But they will then to able to monitor everyone in the U.K. They are coming to your town soon.Oh, yes, it will be soooo much safer.There has been a little talk already about having them in our small city, under the guise of saving money on the police force. If we cannot afford police, who is going to chase these criminals? The city council in Springfield , Oregon, just across the river from Eugene, has discussed charging citizens hefty fees for calling in a fire or emergency of any kind.I thought taxes were for this purpose. Why support these services if one is charged fees for this protection? I am talking proposed fees of up to 300 dollars. Looks like this will not fly at present, but it will be back. Greed knows no boundries.