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Seattle To Remove Controversial City Spying Network After Public Backlash (seattletimes.com)
schwit1 shares a report from Activist Post: Following years of resistance from citizens, the city of Seattle has decided to completely remove controversial surveillance equipment -- at a cost of $150,000. In November 2013, Seattle residents pushed back against the installation of several mesh network nodes attached to utility poles around the downtown area. The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington and privacy advocates were immediately concerned about the ability of the nodes to gather user information via the Wi-Fi connection. The Seattle Times reports on the latest developments: "Seattle's wireless mesh network, a node of controversy about police surveillance and the role of federal funding in city policing, is coming down. Megan Erb, spokeswoman for Seattle Information Technology, said the city has budgeted $150,000 for contractor Prime Electric and city employees to remove dozens of surveillance cameras and 158 'wireless access points' -- little, off-white boxes with antennae mounted on utility poles around the city."
The nodes were purchased by the Seattle Police Department via a $3.6 million grant from the Department of Homeland Security. The Seattle Police Department argued the network would be helpful for protecting the port and for first-responder communication during emergencies. As the Times notes, "the mesh network, according to the ACLU, news reports and anti-surveillance activists from Seattle Privacy Coalition, had the potential to track and log every wireless device that moved through its system: people attending protests, people getting cups of coffee, people going to a hotel in the middle of the workday." However, by November 2013, SPD spokesman Sean Whitcomb announced, "The wireless mesh network will be deactivated until city council approves a draft (privacy) policy and until there's an opportunity for vigorous public debate." The privacy policy for the network was never developed and, instead, the city has now opted to remove the devices at a cost of $150,000. The Times notes that, "crews are tearing its hardware down and repurposing the usable parts for other city agencies, including Seattle Department of Transportation traffic cameras."
The nodes were purchased by the Seattle Police Department via a $3.6 million grant from the Department of Homeland Security. The Seattle Police Department argued the network would be helpful for protecting the port and for first-responder communication during emergencies. As the Times notes, "the mesh network, according to the ACLU, news reports and anti-surveillance activists from Seattle Privacy Coalition, had the potential to track and log every wireless device that moved through its system: people attending protests, people getting cups of coffee, people going to a hotel in the middle of the workday." However, by November 2013, SPD spokesman Sean Whitcomb announced, "The wireless mesh network will be deactivated until city council approves a draft (privacy) policy and until there's an opportunity for vigorous public debate." The privacy policy for the network was never developed and, instead, the city has now opted to remove the devices at a cost of $150,000. The Times notes that, "crews are tearing its hardware down and repurposing the usable parts for other city agencies, including Seattle Department of Transportation traffic cameras."
Die, big brother. Keep that shit in the UK.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_City_Council
8 democrats and 1 socialist.
Go on though, explain to us how it's Trump's fault. Or maybe Russia's.
liberals are better at the blame game.
I'm not liberal, but about all I ever see Trump do is blame others.
Mike @ The Geek Pub. Let's Make Stuff!
It sounds like the police installed this with no oversight, guidelines or privacy protections. The public backlash caused the network to be shut down until such policies were made and, instead of making the policies and protections, the police decided they didn't want it anymore. Whether this is because they didn't want the restrictions or because they didn't find it useful, there's no information here.
"Be particularly skeptical when presented with evidence confirming what you already believe." -
I, too, am absolutely astonished by the cost. Not for being high, but actually for being unusually low for Seattle... the city that spent north of $60,000 per bike rack installation. $150k for an entire project!? Fuck, that's cheap!
Oh. So if the police department purchased it using "free WiFi" funds, that would be cool then?
Marketing really IS everything ...
$150k is only for the removal of those cameras. The original cost was $3.6 million (paid by a grant from the DHS). However, the article doesn't say if the contractors removing the cameras get to keep them. If they were to keep them, I would expect some companies would be ready to offer to do that removal work for free.
A police officer can't follow everyone all the time, to say there's no difference between an officer on the corner and a network that individually identifies everyone and creates a permanent database of their whereabouts or that the latter isn't a privacy violation is disturbing Orwellian authoritarianism. These weren't dumb cameras. And eventually, facial recognition will be so good even those won't be ok.
If they could now, start removing and dismantling all the plate readers, traffic intersection cameras, etc....that would be nice.
I'm not speaking only specifically for Seattle, but in general across the US.
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........