DHS doles out millions for street cameras - Big Brother has arrived!

[babylonsister]

US doles out millions for street cameras
Local efforts raise privacy alarms

By Charlie Savage, Globe Staff | August 12, 2007

WASHINGTON -- The Department of Homeland Security is funneling millions of dollars to local governments nationwide for purchasing high-tech video camera networks, accelerating the rise of a "surveillance society" in which the sense of freedom that stems from being anonymous in public will be lost, privacy rights advocates warn.

Since 2003, the department has handed out some $23 billion in federal grants to local governments for equipment and training to help combat terrorism. Most of the money paid for emergency drills and upgrades to basic items, from radios to fences. But the department also has doled out millions on surveillance cameras, transforming city streets and parks into places under constant observation.

The department will not say how much of its taxpayer-funded grants have gone to cameras. But a Globe search of local newspapers and congressional press releases shows that a large number of new surveillance systems, costing at least tens and probably hundreds of millions of dollars, are being simultaneously installed around the country as part of homeland security grants.

In the last month, cities that have moved forward on plans for surveillance networks financed by the Homeland Security Department include St. Paul, which got a $1.2 million grant for 60 cameras for downtown; Madison, Wis., which is buying a 32-camera network with a $388,000 grant; and Pittsburgh, which is adding 83 cameras to its downtown with a $2.58 million grant.

more...

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2007/08/12/us_doles_out_millions_for_street_cameras/

[rodeodance]

1. We have also contracted with Israel security business to do this.

[yardwork]

2. This is going to catch a lot of Republicans on the down-low.

They'll be sorry they voted for this! lol!

[lpbk2713]

3. The cameras will one day work in conjunction with the chip implants.

We won't be able to do a damn thing that Big Brother won't know about.

[rodeodance]

4. gawd. I have to read a foreign paper to find out my own city is getting these grants!

madison---------the most liberal city in the midwest----or so it was!

[Skink]

5. In San Antonio the Police have scanners on their cars that read License plates

[annabanana]

14. In my smallish city too. . These scanners really hoover up the numbers

from passing cars, cars going in the opposite direction,, cars parked on either side of the street. . And they set off a little beeper in the cop car when a plate number is "flagged". . I've seen it in operation. It's quite comprehensive.

[Ezlivin]

6. Blind 'em

I'm not suggesting that someone should shoot a laser at those cameras to burn out their elements because that would be destruction of property.

But if a proletariat had a problem with those cameras, he might try something crazy like that.

I'm just sayin'....

[Double T]

7. Is all of this surveillance really truly necessary?

I don't think so; perfect cover for building up a police state. ALL this wasted $$$$$$$$$$ could be spent fixing up things like bridges and other infrastructure.

[babylonsister]

12. Sure does make me wonder what their reasoning for all of it is.

Also, who has the manpower to monitor this stuff?

[onethatcares]

8. I feel much safer already, thank gaud they'll be able

to monitor us fighting them here.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

9. What does the law say about oh perhaps wearing a Groucho Marx

mask or a V mask or even a Nixon mask on the street? Sunglasses and a wig? Drooping sombrero? Scarf wrapped around one's face? Ski mask? Silk stocking? Elton John type glasses? Mime makeup? Ronald McDonald getup?? I mean, just because there is a camera, doesn't mean that it must ID you. Ya know, when you think about it, this is going to end up like so many other things that the powers that be have been involved with. The watchers will end up being the ones needing the most watching, bank on it.

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

10. Big Brother arrived a long time ago

George Orwell got it right, except for the fact that people would willingly carry around and brandish them. Who is the face of Big Brother?

[grasswire]

11. Orwell was an optimist

Just look at Britain today to see what's coming here.

[babylonsister]

13. Kick ~

[DemGa]

15. Another industry is born!

Like the bodily fluid testing industry and it's powerful lobby, the surveillance industry will decide the terms.

[Deja Q]

16. Not a bad idea.

The amount of crimes, ranging from muggings to jaywalking... it's sad we've got people out there who do such nasty things, but I don't see as much harm in this.

After all, go inside a department store. Plenty of cameras in there and in the car parks. Doesn't stop people from shopping.