Surveillance cameras monitor entire town....in the US

Danny Tse

London UK is well-known for its police surveillance cameras. I just saw a news report on a local town here in California where crime rate has dropped despite a downsized police force....perhaps because of the town's all-encompassing surveillance system.

http://www.ktvu.com/news/25767578/detail.html

cokewithvanilla

only in california.

F1nut

That is so wrong.

dorokusai

Get used to it, as it's not going to change. Washington DC has hundreds.

brettw22

So does Chicago.....they usually have blue strobes goin off over them......

I see both sides personally.....I don't mind them for the minimizing crime aspect (or at least being able to put a face to those 'faceless' break in type of situations), but if I'm going to get a speeding ticket, I want one in person, not by mail.......

engtaz

Very wrong. No freedom in that town.

brettw22

engtaz wrote: »

Very wrong. No freedom in that town.

I don't follow that logic......you're still free to kick in the windows of all the businesses you want......you're just more likely of being caught.

HOw are you less free to do what you are already doing?

AudioGenics

or maybe the smaller police force is just not reporting the incidences....

less people (officers) less reports

productivity measurements can be adjusted easily to justify the layoff of good police officers.

tonyb

dorokusai wrote: »

Get used to it, as it's not going to change. Washington DC has hundreds.

Sorry Mark, not on this one we don't. It can change if the right people are in office. They watch every move in public,track you on the internet, track what you watch on TV, track you by your cell phone, Track your driving habits, healthcare records, finances, the new smart grid will track what you keep your house temp. at. Get used to it ? Maybe you can/will, but I for one, can't seem to get used to the idea of no privacy.

I don't relish the idea of my life becomeing more and more like the Truman Show.

bobman1235

brettw22 wrote: »

I don't follow that logic......you're still free to kick in the windows of all the businesses you want......you're just more likely of being caught.

HOw are you less free to do what you are already doing?

The thing I'd be afraid of most are piddly offenses, and especially in California, there are BOATLOADS. IMaging if you got a ticket in the mail every time you Jaywalked (biggest bulls*** ticket out there), smoked in public (even if you're not a smoker, c'mon), or even worse, you were walking through a neighborhood after a crime was committed and were "acting suspicious" despite having nothing to do with the crime? The latter is probably a little paranoid but it's not like it's never happened before.

tonyb

Yep, those that would give up their liberty for alittle security deserve neither. Where have I heard that before ?

Face

tonyb wrote: »

Sorry Mark, not on this one we don't. It can change if the right people are in office. They watch every move in public,track you on the internet, track what you watch on TV, track you by your cell phone, Track your driving habits, healthcare records, finances, the new smart grid will track what you keep your house temp. at. Get used to it ? Maybe you can/will, but I for one, can't seem to get used to the idea of no privacy.

Once those items are already in place, good luck getting them removed.

bikezappa

tonyb wrote: »

Sorry Mark, not on this one we don't. It can change if the right people are in office. They watch every move in public,track you on the internet, track what you watch on TV, track you by your cell phone, Track your driving habits, healthcare records, finances, the new smart grid will track what you keep your house temp. at. Get used to it ? Maybe you can/will, but I for one, can't seem to get used to the idea of no privacy.

I don't relish the idea of my life becomeing more and more like the Truman Show.

Got that right. All the technical details to make 1984 come true.

What is next required to is to elect a totalitarian government. And we will never look back once they are in control.

Big Dawg

tonyb wrote: »

Sorry Mark, not on this one we don't. It can change if the right people are in office. They watch every move in public,track you on the internet, track what you watch on TV, track you by your cell phone, Track your driving habits, healthcare records, finances, the new smart grid will track what you keep your house temp. at. Get used to it ? Maybe you can/will, but I for one, can't seem to get used to the idea of no privacy.

I don't relish the idea of my life becomeing more and more like the Truman Show.

Can anyone say Big Brother?

The only thing left that keeps us free once surveillance is nearly omnipresent is merely the vast quantities of data that are too great to sift through. As AI get's better at finding and tracking individuals, that too will disappear. Freedom comes at a price, and personal security is part of it. Personally I'd rather take my chances with crime and terrorists and keep my liberty.

bobman1235

bikezappa wrote: »

Got that right. All the technical details to make 1984 come true.

What is next required to is to elect a totalitarian government. And we will never look back once they are in control.

I'm amused that this is from someone who moved from NH to MA.

And people always look back from totalitarian governments. It's one of the top reasons I give to people who actually defend stricter government control - every time in history that a government has grown as big as ours, people have eventually had to fight back to reign it in.

nadams

I would imagine if you lived in this town and someone jacked your car, you'd be singing a different tune about the cameras. You're in public... you shouldn't be doing anything that you wouldn't want the world to see, anyway. I'm well aware of people's paranoia with surveillance, and I've installed several camera systems in the past at different businesses, where the employees have been outraged that they're being recorded. Hey, you're at work, don't do anything stupid, and you'll be fine.

bikezappa

bobman1235 wrote: »

I'm amused that this is from someone who moved from NH to MA. .

NH is an interesting state that I miss living in.
A simple method to stop these tracking devices is to stop giving the government the $ to buy them.
In NH in order for the governer to get elected they must take the VOW.
VOW= No sales tax, No income tax.

bikezappa

nadams wrote: »

I would imagine if you lived in this town and someone jacked your car, you'd be singing a different tune about the cameras. You're in public... you shouldn't be doing anything that you wouldn't want the world to see, anyway. I'm well aware of people's paranoia with surveillance, and I've installed several camera systems in the past at different businesses, where the employees have been outraged that they're being recorded. Hey, you're at work, don't do anything stupid, and you'll be fine.

I agree but if these camaras are controlled by the wrong government they could be used for any purpose.

bobman1235

nadams wrote: »

I would imagine if you lived in this town and someone jacked your car, you'd be singing a different tune about the cameras. You're in public... you shouldn't be doing anything that you wouldn't want the world to see, anyway. I'm well aware of people's paranoia with surveillance, and I've installed several camera systems in the past at different businesses, where the employees have been outraged that they're being recorded. Hey, you're at work, don't do anything stupid, and you'll be fine.

Well at least you're unbiased.

And what kind of lazy argument is "if you personally benefited from one of these, you'd be happy about it!"

I'm sure for nearly everything you're politically / ideologically opposed to, it could be twisted to "well waht if you personally benefited?" It's a lazy and invalid argument.

cokewithvanilla

If my car was stolen, I have insurance and wouldn't cry about it. I'd rather the police not have the ability to scrutinize my every move. If you follow anyone around with a video camera for their entire life, they are bound to do something not politically correct enough for society.

You're no safer in life with cameras around. How come it is that we always see videos of criminals robbing a store on the news? Oh, because they don't care... and generally wear masks. This might stop petty crime that is done by high school students out to have fun, but it's not gonna stop the real stuff.

obieone

I think the Bay area has worse problems than cameras:rolleyes:

thsmith

Yeah, see where it got Brent Farve:biggrin:

Ron-P

Just wanted to get IBTL!

cfrizz

The cameras are outside monitoring public businesses & places, They are looking for ILLEGAL activity in order to stop it or at least catch the perpetrators of the crimes. If you aren't breaking the law, you have nothing to worry about.

Unless another countrys govt. takes over the USA, how can the wrong govt. be in charge?

Your rights aren't being violated, and the cameras are NOT in your homes. When they start talking about putting them in your private homes, THEN you will have something to complain about.

carvcom

Putting them in public places IS the first step, they get you used to them being around. Ask the people in that school district who were filmed by their childrens laptops at HOME, I'm sure they have something to say.
This stupid argument "if you aren't doing anything wrong, don't worry about it"
Ask anyone who lived through some of the more oppresive regims throughout history, they always started taking freedoms in small increments. Then one day they woke up & they had nothing!!

dorokusai

tonyb wrote: »

Sorry Mark, not on this one we don't. It can change if the right people are in office. They watch every move in public,track you on the internet, track what you watch on TV, track you by your cell phone, Track your driving habits, healthcare records, finances, the new smart grid will track what you keep your house temp. at. Get used to it ? Maybe you can/will, but I for one, can't seem to get used to the idea of no privacy.

I don't relish the idea of my life becomeing more and more like the Truman Show.

By the time anyone gets behind you Tony, they'll already be in place. When I see the same thing happening in Chicago, I'll post the headline.

sucks2beme

Watching with a camera or looking out the police car window?
Who cares. I bet a pizza will still get to my house before the cops do.
I think unless something really bad catches their eye, they would get
buried in the sheer bulk of the input. I think it's more useful after the
fact for finding the bad guys. Real time watching? Not likely to be very useful.

cokewithvanilla

sucks2beme wrote: »

Who cares. I bet a pizza will still get to my house before the cops do.

Cops are not there to protect you, they are there to clean up the mess and do the paperwork. Fact of life. If you want protection, protect yourself.

messiah

cokewithvanilla wrote: »

Cops are not there to protect you, they are there to clean up the mess and do the paperwork. Fact of life. If you want protection, protect yourself.

Pretty much, not because they don't want to, but rather are not capable. They cant be everywhere. But if the govt had their way we'd have no means to protect ourselves either.

cokewithvanilla

messiah wrote: »

Pretty much, not because they don't want to, but rather are not capable. They cant be everywhere. But if the govt had their way we'd have no means to protect ourselves either.

Justices ruled, a few years back, that police have no duty to protect someone. Whether some of them want to or not is, i guess, up to the individual. And surely, you are correct, they can't be everywhere and response time cannot be quicker than the crazy guy trying to break into your house.

And you're right... our current government would like nothing more than to take all forms of protection away from individuals... and leave it in the hands of criminals.

sucks2beme

Are we a bit jaded, perhaps? They do drive trhough my neighborhood
and others and will stop to check up on anything that looks odd.
They also cruise through parking lots and around businesses.
Not protect anyone? I doubt that's the case. Of course,
I'm not in the big city, but a suburb. AS far as them playing dirty
Harry, not going to happen.