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Data-Fed Monitoring System Will Put New Yorkers Under Police Surveillance
Nerval's Lobster writes that New York City isn't just gathering data on citizens with cameras and other data sources for sifting through later to seek evidence in the event of violent acts; it's using some of that data in real-time in an attempt to reveal potential criminal activity. They've even picked a name for their system that echoes DARPA's Total Information Awareness, which I guess is more diplomatic than just calling it Precrime:
"The Domain Awareness System will draw data from 911 calls, previous crime reports, license-plate readers, law-enforcement databases, environmental sensors, and roughly 3,000 closed-circuit cameras. It will rely on the New York City Wireless Network (NYCWiN), a high-speed wireless broadband infrastructure that allows city agencies to rapidly transmit data, and used for everything from emergency response to reading meters. Mayor Bloomberg argued that the system isn't an example of Big Brother overstepping the line. 'What you're seeing is what the private sector has used for a long time,' he told Gothamist. 'If you walk around with a cell phone, the cell phone company knows where you are. We're not your mom and pop's police department anymore.'"
Remarkably on-topic.
Once everyone has their every waking moment recorded, let's see how many offhand comments, politically-incorrect statements, and slip-of-the-tongue mistakes you make. I bet it'll be more than 28 in four years.
You do not have a moral or legal right to do absolutely anything you want.
I believe you can "opt-out" by moving to another country.
Or in this case, another city.
If I went out and sold all my stuff ... I'd have plenty of money to move to another state, maybe even a different country. Even if I didn't sell all my stuff, looking at U-haul rates right now ... ~200 miles is about $300-$400 which is enough to get you out of pretty much any state. If you can't save a couple hundred bucks... you have bigger issues than big brother.
Every time I start to have faith in humanity, I ruin it by driving to work between 7 and 8 am.