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EPIC Seeks DC Surveillance Camera Records

Posted by timothy on from the what-about-by-and-of-the-people dept.

Default.cfg writes: "In response to news reports that the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) had constructed an extensive surveillance camera network in Washington, D.C., EPIC has filed a series of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to learn more about the system. The system allows police to monitor surveillance cameras from around the city in a central office called the 'Synchronized Operations Command Center' (SOCC)." Read on below for more information, including some interesting links. " The system was assembled and activated with no public dialogue or debate. Since its activation, the camera network has been used to monitor individuals engaged in legitimate First Amendment activities, including the participants in the World Bank and International Monetary Fund protests in April 2000. Basic questions regarding the system -- such as the cost of the system and issues of access to data, data retention, and data sharing -- remain unknown.

EPIC's request seeks information about the cameras, the policies on their use, and future plans for expansion of the network. The request was directed to the MPD and federal agencies that have access to the SOCC for monitoring. The MPD has plans to link even more cameras to the system, including cameras from private stores in Washington's Georgetown neighborhood.

Rep. Connie Morella (R-MD) has expressed objections to the monitoring network as well. Rep. Morella chairs a House Government Reform subcommittee that has oversight on DC policy, and has called for hearings on the issue.

On February 26, the MPD announced that it had turned off twelve cameras that monitored buildings in and around the National Mall. The cameras were deactivated with the close of the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah and the end of the terror alert announced last month by Attorney General John Ashcroft; however, the cameras could be reactivated at any time.

EPIC Press Release on DC Surveillance Cameras: http://www.epic.org/open_gov/FOIA/dccameraspr.html

EPIC Face Recognition Page: http://www.epic.org/privacy/facerecognition/

Privacy International Video Surveillance Page: http://www.privacyinternational.org/issues/cctv/in dex.html"

11 comments

  1. DAMN by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    THAT sucks! i regrat the inconvenenice!

  2. It's time by Taco+Cowboy · · Score: 1



    Hooray for EPIC !

    It's time to STOP this "we serve you by watch your every move" thing.

    I hope ACLU, as well as other Civil Liberty organization will join in the suit !

    --
    Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
  3. That's nothing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wait until we can write the equation of the universe in closed form. Anyone will be able to compute a picture of (x,y,z,t) in the confort of their computer room. No privacy whatsoever.

  4. Same here by itwerx · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I live in Seattle and there is a small town called Everett just to the North of me. I drive around there from time to time on business and noticed one day all of a sudden that EVERY intersection on a main street (highway, actually) had sprouted a total of four cameras with an additional two at the midpoint between intersections. This pattern is repeated for several miles and covers every square inch of the street.
    I asked around and couldn't get an answer from anybody about them except that there had been no voting process, which is unusual for a town that votes on everything. It's also a little odd that a small town could even afford to put up that much surveillance. I'm no conspiracy theorist but I have to wonder if it isn't a test project.

    1. Re:Same here by swillden · · Score: 3, Interesting

      one day all of a sudden that EVERY intersection on a main street (highway, actually) had sprouted a total of four cameras with an additional two at the midpoint between intersections

      I'm not sure what's up with the cameras between intersections, but in a lot of places traffic control systems are beginning to use cameras in place of magnetic anomaly detectors or pressure plates to determine whether or not a car is waiting at the intersection. In most cases the signal from the camera never goes any further than the computer that controls the lights (and, of course, processes the imagery). The cameras are cheaper to install, easier to maintain (although more fragile) and, given appropriate image processing software can recognize when a vehicle is approaching the intersection rather than just when it has arrived. This means, for example, that an intersection that normally leaves the green light on constantly in the middle of the night can see a car coming the other way and change the red to green *before* it arrives, so it doesn't have to stop (as it would with the MAD approach).

      Everetty may indeed be under massive surveillance of its streets, but it's also entirely possible that they've just installed a new traffic control system to improve the flow of traffic.

      --
      Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
  5. Re:LONG LIVE... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is Duval from the Elite series? I recognise the name but can't recall from where.

  6. FOIA Request... by crc32 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I think that it is a toss-up whether or not a judge will grant the FOIA request, considering that teh camera network is in DC. The police could easily claim that the camera network must remain a state secret for national security concerns, and cite Sept.11th. If a judge will allow the CIA to keep invisible ink secret, then this camera FOIA request will surely be denied.

    --
    "In order to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe." -- Carl Sagan, Cosmos
  7. how long have the camera's been up? by Benjiman+McFree · · Score: 1

    It seems possible to get to the bottom of this condit thing, if we could have access to the street cams, eh?

    --pay attention spounge_bob!.. what things you should never do at a stop light...

  8. Not surveillance cameras, at least in Indiana by raygundan · · Score: 2

    I know a relatively high-ranking civil engineer in the Indiana DOT who frequently has dealings with traffic light systems. We have cameras at intersections springing up all over indy, and I was a bit curious. When I asked him about them, he said that they are there solely to replace the huge, expensive, and difficult-to-maintain buried detector coils they put in the road for traffic lights. They work on image comparison to determine if a car is there, and with the exception of a *very* short term buffer in memory, the systems store NO DATA.

    The most important bit of his answer was that they will NEVER store the data coming back from the cameras, simply because of the huge manpower and budget requirement this would put on the state. Not archiving and storing them, which although a large cost is nothing compared with the cost of answering every lawyer's request for tapes.

    Can you imagine the number of requests for multi-angle videotapes of intersections that would come from lawyers on both sides of traffic accident cases? It is simply impossible for the state to keep this data due to their legal liability.

    So, while I can't say for sure what is happening in Seattle, I imagine that despite the larger size of the city, they still cannot justify the gigantic expense of keeping that video.