New York Plans Surveillance Veil For Downtown

News.com is reporting that a security system modeled after London's "Ring of Steel" is coming to New York City. The plan, to include license plate readers and over 3,000 public and private security cameras, aims to aid officials in tracking and catching criminals. "But critics question the plan's efficacy and cost, as well as the implications of having such heavy surveillance over such a broad swath of the city. [...] The license plate readers would check the plates' numbers and send out alerts if suspect vehicles were detected. The city is already seeking state approval to charge drivers a fee to enter Manhattan below 86th Street, which would require the use of license plate readers. If the plan is approved, the police will most likely collect information from those readers too, Kelly said."

Comments

I realize that you're making a joke, but...

[ivan256]

...it seems to be lost on many people that the surveillance network in London isn't what stopped the recent terrorist plot, it's merely what helped them track down the people responsible. If some random jerk hadn't gotten into a knife fight near the car-bomb, the plot might have succeeded even with the cameras.

These things don't add any safety. They just make vengeance through the criminal justice system easier.

Re:I realize that you're making a joke, but...

[Gr8Apes]

2 things to add:

a) cameras don't stop terrorists.
b) cameras won't even help after the fact, if they're a cell of suicide bombers. There's no one to track down.

Look at 9-11. They tracked down all 19 terrorists relatively quickly without invading other's privacy. In no way would 9-11 have been stopped with the surveillance system in place.

Camera footage does make for great fodder for the news though: "LOOK! Here they are, about to commit egregious violence on innocents" and then blast it 24/7 across the airwaves.

Such a system is a great way of spending great amounts of money and time and accomplishing little to nothing except terrorize your own populace and maybe throw a few innocents in jail to boot based on bad "evidence".

Re:Checks and balances

[mcelrath]

All technology will be used, and all technology will be abused. The government has far more power to do harm with technology than individuals do. Therefore its use of any technology must be very, very carefully weighted in a cost/benefit analysis. When in doubt, do not give more power to governments. They will use it against you, eventually.

Furthermore this issue is fundamentally different than just technology. A watched society is not a free society. It does not matter who the watchers are, or whether they do good or ill with what the see. People behave differently when they know they're being watched.

People do not exercise their freedom of expression as often. They do not take unpopular views, or will not discuss them in public. They conform. They are not free. People need to escape from watchful eyes, for their own health and sanity. This starts in teenagers, when fundamental biological urges drive young people to get away from the tribe with their honey, for reproductive purposes. But it is a fundamental part of the human psyche.

We would be naive to believe that we could live a watched life, and still be the same person we are today.