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Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:
EFF's "Street-Level Surveillance" project shines light on the advanced surveillance technologies that law enforcement agencies routinely deploy in our communities. These resources are designed for members of the public, advocacy organizations, journalists, defense attorneys, and policymakers who often are not getting the straight story from police representatives or the vendors marketing this equipment.
Whether it's sophisticated location tracking, ubiquitous video recording, or the instant analysis of our biometric data, law enforcement agencies are following closely behind their counterparts in the military and intelligence services in acquiring privacy-invasive technologies. Just as analog surveillance historically has been used as a tool for oppression, policymakers and the public must understand the threat posed by emerging technologies to successfully defend civil liberties and civil rights in the digital age.
[...] The resources contained on this site brings together years of research, litigation, and advocacy by EFF staff and our allies, and will continue to grow as we obtain more information.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 01 2018, @01:46PM (5 children)
These technologies are a force multiplier which might permit the government to overwhelm the governed.
Are they necessary because the bad guys are using them to get away with things,
or are they a risky and unnecessary means which is allowing the cops to become lazy or worse?
Civil order partly works because folks assume that if they do something bad, there is a reasonable expectation they will get caught.
It also works partly because folks generally believe that thru accountability the govt is reasonable and they don't need to overwhelm it.
For a widespread deployment of these technologies to result in an improvement of civil order, we should first see an expectation gap and accountability.
I'm not sure there has been much of either to date.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by c0lo on Thursday March 01 2018, @02:09PM (1 child)
The civil order has improved even without the use of spying tech. How about we should see the need first, then that gap you mention.
'Cause... isn't it a bit suspicious they started to use it without telling us about?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @08:15AM
They have been putting up what appear to be high res IP Cameras everywhere, not just the Red Light Cameras, and attested to by the fact that many intersections with them are not receiving the related Red Light Camera signs that had previously been mandatory anywhere they placed them.
Combined with the nationwide private license plate scanning company/companies, I feel a grave amount of concern over my ability to travel withing the *CITY* never mind the county/state/interstate without my every movement being tracked and tallied by private contractors 'conveniently' omitted from 4th and 9th amendment violations.
The America of today is not the America any rational child of the post boomer generation signed on to. But all the boomers, even the supposedly 'hippie'/anti-establishment ones are now coming out in support of it, and far too many Gen X/Millennials are too oblivious/stupid to realize the full ramifications of what are going on (since they've only been getting angry about comparatively banal things for the past 20-40 years), leading to the situation we have today.
(Score: 2) by fyngyrz on Thursday March 01 2018, @03:01PM
FTFY
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 01 2018, @03:56PM
i actually thought it was not cool.
why do you think this is cool again? what do you look like anyway? can you post your pictures for us, AC?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 02 2018, @08:16PM
Stop voting for police levies when asked until they produce a detailed account of what they are spending the money on. How about increasing salaries by decreasing expenditures on this type of frivolous equipment.