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Downtown Baltimore To Get Massive Surveillance Network

Posted by michael on from the coming-to-a-city-near-you dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The Baltimore Sun has an article on the new 24-hour security cameras to be installed downtown and in the Inner Harbor. 'Under the Inner Harbor plan, the cameras would be able to transmit images to helicopters and, eventually, police cruisers....' How long until that ability is either abused or hijacked?"

11 of 547 comments (clear)

  1. How long..... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    How long until that ability is either abused or hijacked?

    Good point. If it can be abused or hijacked, we can't do it. Thank GOD the internet can only be used for good, otherwise we'd need to shut it down.

  2. Heh.... by schild · · Score: 5, Funny

    Living in Maryland, I can see the need for cameras everywhere in the downtown area of Baltimore (not so much the inner harbor.

    But what happens when most of the citizens in downtown baltimore have shiny new closed circuit video cameras in their house they liberated from poles on the street?

    --
    schild
    editor, f13.net
  3. Sounds boring, actually by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
    How long until that ability is either abused or hijacked?

    Cracker 1: Dude, I got a visual on the cam and GPS system for police cruiser 1!
    Cracker 2: Aces, where is it?
    Cracker 1: It's at... McPherson's Doughnut Palace. Right, here we got the video feed!
    Cracker 2: How about police cruisers 2 through 10?
    Cracker 1: According to this cam feed, parked in a straight line next to cruiser 1.
    Cracker 2: Unimaginable they do that kind of stuff with my tax money.
    Cracker 1: They don't, you gave the IRS fake data, remember?
    Cracker 2: Oh yeah... How do you know that, anyways?

  4. Yes. by Mz6 · · Score: 2, Funny
    "It's interesting that on Slashdot we criticize organizations like the RIAA for wanting to shut down technology like P2P because the RIAA fears that the technology will be abused, yet we are the ones who complain about the use of technologies such as video camera networks (and RFID, etc.) -- because we fear that they will be abused."

    You must be new here, huh?

    --
    Hmmm.
  5. "We're at war" by Moderation+abuser · · Score: 1, Funny

    Is that the war against Eastasia or the war against Euroasia?

    --
    Government of the people, by corporate executives, for corporate profits.
  6. Duh!! It's the WAR ON TERRAH!!!! by Wakko+Warner · · Score: 2, Funny

    We must surveil all tara-ists and evildoers! The President told me so! He also said my kids were gonna get blowed up good. So I'm'a vote for him come November! Hyuck!

    Oh well. Back to watching NASCAR, drinking Miller High Life, making fun of Mexicans, beating my wife, and letting the grass in front of my tailer grow long enough to cover the late-model Ford Mustang up on cinderblocks in my front yard.

    - A.P.

    --
    "Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
  7. Re:This will keep the ACLU folks busy by Old+Uncle+Bill · · Score: 2, Funny

    Just keep your distance from the telescreens. They are doubleplusungood.

    --
    Yes, I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.
  8. Re:This will keep the ACLU folks busy by SpaceLifeForm · · Score: 4, Funny
    I DO have a 'reasonable' expectation that every move I make and word I utter outside of my own damn bathroom is not going to be recorded and analyzed.

    Well, the words were distorted due to the noise. It would help if you cut back on the broccoli.

    --
    You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
  9. Re:This will keep the ACLU folks busy by trezor · · Score: 4, Funny
    • i submit that the current implementation constitutes abuse.

    You mean it's developed by Diebold?

    *w00t*

    --
    Not Buzzword 2.0 compliant. Please speak english.
  10. war? are you kidding? by supernova87a · · Score: 2, Funny

    We're putting in the cameras because "we are at war"? To be blunt, what the hell does war have to do with cameras on city streets?

    When was the last time a surveillance camera operated by a local government caught someone related to the ongoing war or terrorism?

    Let's stop swallowing the party line and be honest about what we're doing, or at least stop deceiving ourselves. The cameras may reduce crime, sure. That is the justification for cameras. But war? Does anyone think before speaking any more?

  11. Cameras own saws? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Cameras own saws?