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Crowdsourcing Big Brother In Lancaster, PA
sehlat writes "From the Los Angeles Times comes word that in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, 165 public surveillance cameras are being set up to be monitored by a 'non profit coalition' of volunteers. The usual suspects, including 'the innocent have nothing to fear' are being trotted out to justify this, and the following quote at the end of the article deserves mention: 'But Jack Bauer, owner of the city's largest beer and soft drink distributor, calls the network "a great thing." His store hasn't been robbed, he said, since four cameras went up nearby. "There's nothing wrong with instilling fear," he said.'"
> you should have a seat belt cutter in your car in case the seat belt suddenly becomes an irremovable hazard
Is this another reason to not buy American?
Adventure, Romance, MAD SCIENCE!
Do you like having locks on your doors? They impede your freedom of movement (ever get locked out accidentally?) in order to improve your personal security.
Tic-Tac-Toe, Global Thermonuclear War, and relationships all have the same winning move.
1. Because tickets are sent to the wrong people?
2. Because tickets are assessed to the owner (not the driver) of the car?
3. Because you have no accuser to confront in court?
These three are irrelevant, because a picture of the driver is included with the ticket in the mail. If you don't look like the picture, then it's pretty easy to contest it.
4. Because rear-end collisions increase at intersections with red-light cameras?
Citation needed.
5. Because yellow lights may be shorter in duration to increase revenue?
Good point.
6. Because government and for-profit private companies collude and share the income from what is normally law enforcement (government-only) fines?
Good point.
As far as I can tell only two of your concerns are valid. These can be remedied by not allowing the camera company to define the yellow light duration, and by agreeing only to a fixed fee for camera maintenance rather than a percentage of the income.
You don't throw away a good idea just because it doesn't work perfectly the first time, you figure out what you're doing wrong and fix it.
It may well be that having installed cameras, less people jump the lights, and therefore a shorter yellow light time becomes acceptable. The original longer yellow light only existing because of jackasses.