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Surveillance Cameras Are Not All That
Townhall.com ^ | May 5, 2013 | Steve Chapman

Posted on 05/05/2013 8:49:16 AM PDT by Kaslin

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1 posted on 05/05/2013 8:49:16 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin
"If video feeds are so great, why not add audio? If you can stand being watched whenever you leave home, surely you won't mind if every word is heard as well. And how about a tiny drone hovering over your front door, round the clock -- for the rest of your life? "

The world shown in the TV show Person of Interest coming to your world soon.

2 posted on 05/05/2013 8:53:16 AM PDT by Paladin2
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To: Kaslin
LOL, wait until Bloomberg and Rahm it start usin’ the cameras for revenue, then see how popular they are.
3 posted on 05/05/2013 9:00:11 AM PDT by Navy Patriot (Join the Democrats, it's not Fascism when WE do it, and the Constitution and law mean what WE say.)
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To: Paladin2

“78% of Americans welcome video cameras”
Says CBS/NYT Poll

Well fine. Lets fit those 78% volunteers with permanent video cameras and then the thought police will only have to worry about us 22%


4 posted on 05/05/2013 9:03:41 AM PDT by jcon40
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To: jcon40

“And I for one, welcome our new Fascist overlords.”


5 posted on 05/05/2013 9:04:29 AM PDT by dfwgator
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To: Kaslin

It doesn’t seem to be working in Chicago.


6 posted on 05/05/2013 9:23:01 AM PDT by freekitty (Give me back my conservative vote; then find me a real conservative to vote for)
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To: Kaslin
I'm kind of surprised the author didn't point out one big issue with video cameras in public places. Even if the protection of privacy was not an issue, there's a huge distinction between video recording and video surveillance. In the case of the Boston Marathon bombings, there really wasn't any surveillance in place at all. If there had been, then steps might have been taken to prevent the attack.

Instead, what we saw in Boston was video monitoring, in which video cameras are put in public places mainly to record what is going on -- without necessarily having anyone watch what the cameras are seeing. The perpetrators were identified after the police and the general public combed through hours of recorded videos and still images.

7 posted on 05/05/2013 9:29:36 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("I am the master of my fate ... I am the captain of my soul.")
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To: Kaslin

8 posted on 05/05/2013 9:33:58 AM PDT by UCANSEE2 (The monsters are due on Maple Street)
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To: Alberta's Child
there really wasn't any surveillance in place at all.

Let's just say that there isn't any 'surveillance' footage that the public has seen.

9 posted on 05/05/2013 9:36:41 AM PDT by UCANSEE2 (The monsters are due on Maple Street)
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To: Kaslin

One thing I like to do on Youtube sometimes is watch reality police shows from the UK, shows like Traffic Cops and Motorway Cops. On those shows, the literally millions of CCTV cameras that blanket the UK are always touted as a wonderful thing. Bar districts are blanketed by dozens or even hundreds of cameras and police operators do watch them. Everything is seen and recorded.

But they take it one step further. Since all car license plates in the UK are a common size, shape, and text font, they have what they call “ANPR”...automatic number plate recognition. A police car fitted with a video camera, or a fixed video camera, can see your car, scan it, read the license plate, get the registration, and instantly check if the car has insurance, has been taxed, has an MOT (safety inspection), has “markers” for drugs or illegal activity, whether the registered owner has a proper driver’s license for it...all without the officer lifting a finger. If a plate pings the ANPR system, the police can pull the car over and actually seize it if it’s being driven without insurance or if the owner has a suspended license or no license at all. They use them to issue the congestion tax for cars driving into central London...supposedly every street and highway into and out of London has ANPR cameras on it that scan every single car coming and going.

The geek side of me is impressed with the technology. The conservative side of me is concerned what would happen if something like this ever became more widespread on this side of the pond.

}:-)4


10 posted on 05/05/2013 9:40:58 AM PDT by Moose4 (SHALL. NOT. BE. INFRINGED.)
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To: Paladin2

“If video feeds are so great, why not add audio? If you can stand being watched whenever you leave home, surely you won’t mind if every word is heard as well. And how about a tiny drone hovering over your front door, round the clock — for the rest of your life? “ How about more more like the concept trailer for the Grey State.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy7FVXERKFE. If the drone is out side your door how long before it comes in. Look up The Securitate. The Romanian secret police, sort of a little brother of the Stasi. It was run by Nicolae CeauÈ™escu a meglomaniacal dictator. One of the last things they were tasked to do before the whole system collapsed was have every phone in Romania not only monitored while in use but be designed to selectively monitor conversations in the home when the phone sat idle. If you nothing to hide comrade why should you object? Fortunately collapse occurred and the Army sided with the people when they couldn’t take being starved and frozen to death anymore.


11 posted on 05/05/2013 9:44:37 AM PDT by Polynikes (Yo Homie. That my briefcase?)
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To: Moose4
"The conservative side of me is concerned what would happen if something like this ever became more widespread on this side of the pond."

Like for all of your guns now resting on the bottom of the lake?

12 posted on 05/05/2013 10:20:37 AM PDT by Paladin2
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To: Kaslin

We let these bomber into our country and some liberals think we should suffer for it? How about we simply keep out the Muslims and others that wish us harm?


13 posted on 05/05/2013 10:23:17 AM PDT by CodeToad (Liberals are bloodsucking ticks. We need to light the matchstick to burn them off. -786 +969)
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To: Kaslin

Thought comes to mind that when you’re watching everything, you’re watching nothing.


14 posted on 05/05/2013 10:26:06 AM PDT by Hardastarboard (Buck Off, Bronco Bama)
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To: Paladin2

Exactly.

}:-)4


15 posted on 05/05/2013 10:53:41 AM PDT by Moose4 (SHALL. NOT. BE. INFRINGED.)
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Camera’s are a toughie. They can be incredibly useful when for example some crazy thing happens like Boston, or a murder happens, or a store gets robbed, to quickly find the perp, or even keep an innocent person from being arrested. The problem is the government will always always take it too far, like the example of London, and use it as a income source, or worse. I think it can be good to have cameras if only they are used for investigative purposes. And I can see them for large events being used in live mode to look for muslims wandering around with backpacks...but there is a fine line that government always crosses.


16 posted on 05/05/2013 11:01:02 AM PDT by dsrtsage (One half of all people have below average IQ. In the US the number is 54%)
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To: Paladin2

Great show, though...


17 posted on 05/05/2013 11:30:39 AM PDT by moonhawk (Free Republic: Show prep for Rush Limbaugh.)
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To: Kaslin; All

Latching onto this thread to ask a question:

Does anyone know of a good, reliable pocket audio/video recorder?
I had a little pen camera that worked for a bit, but died.
I’d carry it running all the time whenever carrying my pistols CCW.
And advise would be appreciated.


18 posted on 05/05/2013 11:33:17 AM PDT by RandallFlagg
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To: Kaslin; All
Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago, which already has some 10,000 cameras, said the city would keep on adding cameras -- perhaps outdoing his predecessor, who dreamed of a camera on every corner.

Note that surveillance cameras did not prevent the Boston bombing. And I have to ask, who is monitoring these cameras without daydreaming or falling asleep? (Girl watching?) After all, despite its surveillance cameras, isn't Chicago known, at least informally, as the murder capital of the world? This is déjà vu of TSA's full-body scanners.

As a side note, anybody know if George Soros bought stock in the foreign companies who probably manufacture these cameras? Rumors had questioned if Soros, or thugs like Soros, bought stock in companies who made full-body scanners.

19 posted on 05/05/2013 12:00:39 PM PDT by Amendment10
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To: jcon40

Re: “The thought police will only have to worry about us 22%”

That would be “Profiling.”

Also against the law.

Perhaps we can call it “Catch 22%.”


20 posted on 05/05/2013 10:45:05 PM PDT by zeestephen
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