← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · londo
Thread ID: 14978 | Posts: 1 | Started: 2004-09-13
2004-09-13 03:05 | User Profile
Fri Sep 10, 6:14 AM ET Add Top Stories - USATODAY.com to My Yahoo!
By Debbie Howlett, USA TODAY
A surveillance system that uses 2,000 remote-control cameras and motion-sensing software to spot crimes or terrorist acts as they happen is being planned for the city.
If that sounds a little like Big Brother is watching, he might be.
"Cameras are the equivalent of hundreds of sets of eyes," Mayor Richard Daley said Thursday. "They are the next best thing to having police officers stationed at every potential trouble spot."
The system would exceed existing projects in how it would tie cameras to emergency operations, said Ron Huberman, executive director of the city's Office of Emergency Management.
Neither the courts nor the American Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites) have objected to cameras in public places, saying there is no expectation of privacy on a city street.
"We live in a video world," said Ed Yohnka of the ACLU of Illinois.
The high-definition, motorized cameras can rotate 360 degrees and include night-vision capability. They will be mounted on buildings and utility poles across the city.
[url=http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=676&ncid=676&e=2&u=/usatoday/20040910/ts_usatoday/chicagoplansadvancedsurveillance] Read the rest here [/url]