On Demand
Heightened Surveillance
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
New York law enforcement has a few initiatives in the works that would keep closer tabs on vehicles in the city. The New York Times Police Bureau Chief Al Baker gives the details.
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All this is revenue revenue revenue.
Gouge the citizenry as much as possible because the NYC government is corrupt and unable to manage.
Theoretical at best. In reality, there'll be an increase in the "sardine car" all clustered by the doors.
The key wil be to have the poles placed in the correct locations in the car, to encourage people to MOVE INTO THE CENTER of the car.
Wonderful, more violations of our civil rights. As if the "random" subway searches were not enough. Who wants to be frisked on the way to work?
Big Brother is watching us. Next they will read our diaries and monitor our thoughts.
Keep the rabble in line so that we don't get out of hand and want to make too much money or health insurance.
This is another excuse by the police to molest us and to search us without needing to fulfill People v. DeBour where they would need a reasonable suspicion or probable cause.
Oy!!
This is how they spend all of our tax money, toll money, etc., etc., etc. So instead of re building the infrastructure of our cities, all they want to do is spy on innocent people for the most part. Ridiculous!
Ray Kelly's a fascist and I despise the man and always have. Even Giuliani (yet another fascist) didn't like him. There's been nothing but trouble since he became Commissioner under this mayor. People like him should not be allowed to have any power in a democratic society but then this isn't that anymore it's a Bush society.
In Boston, license plate numbers of city officials are anonymous. That is, there is no database to match up a license number with a name. So city officials can violate traffic laws with impunity.
Is this the case in New York. If so, then a terrorist need only steal the license number of a city flunkie and bobs your uncle.
One thing is certain. Ray Kelly, Mikey Bloomberg, Christine Quinn and others will somehow be exempted.
Wasn't this exact item a Brian Lehrer Show April Fools story?! The city is paying attention!
Kelly is a jerk. Why is he allowed to right law, or decide how many rights private citizens have? Who the hell does he think he is? We have to vote that idiot off the islands.
How would the information gathered be useful--or even usable? It just seems like an awful lot of information not targeted at anything in particular....
I don't believe that this has anything to do with prevention, it is all about reviewing the images after an incident happens.
It isn't so much a case of civil liberties and privacy as it is a matter of trustworthy government. The last 8 years has been a time of severe abuses of power. It isn't that I am worried about what I am doing, but I am very concerned about what those who gather the information—not only current lawmakers, but future administrations as well—will do with the data and how well they will safeguard it.
What's to stop them from next requiring that everyone have a "rfi" chip implanted and automatically monitored by surveillance points which cover virtually any point?
Are people gonna stand for that, too?
Why not strip searches on entering or leaving any place?
There's now no line where the government must stop. No line.
#11, you make a good point. I think we know we cannot trust this government to be law abiding. Certain people think they are above the law in the US and they make their own laws as they go, current resident of the White House included.
If the gov't is collecting this info then the best safegaurd is to make it ALL publicly visible from the web. That includes Police, FBI, private, commercial, those in 'protected' status (battered wives, etc); EVERY IMAGE, no edits (this goes for DMV ticket cameras too). If its publicly viewable from city street then it should enjoy no privelege from visibility from the web. A free press will take over abuse issues from there...
Ridiculous.
We already have cameras in shops and all over the city. But the quality of the images is so bad that they are close to worthless. Witness the crappy images (close to useless) captured when the Times Square Military Recruiting Center was attacked a few months ago. Is there any place in the US that is covered by more cameras than Times Square?
Kelly is making New York City a police state! Why would anyone want to work there or visit there?
We have been monitored for years. There are many cameras everywhere. Everytime you go near and ATM, an intersection with cameras, private security cameras on private building, the police cameras. Cameras are everywere.
More reason to invade privacy and violate people's 4th amendment rights.
With respect to the caller (David) splitting hairs:
When an Arab or Muslim is found carrying a gun on the subway, will David automatically call him a terrorist?
He already lumped Arabs and Muslims together as terrorists. That's step one on the racist way.
Moreover, we already have instances of data collection by police agencies where the agency assured us that data was deleted and the claim was found to be FALSE.
Fruit of the poisonous tree? I wonder what case law that comes from?
It's not statutory. Mhhhhmmm........
Without those more educated than us to guide us on what is correct and proper, we don't know what is going on. I wish someone would explain the difference to me and help me to better understand, I sit in my ignorance not understanding.
Woah is me...
I think even if we throw out fruit of the poisonous tree, it will not make a difference.
we should all work from home and NEVER leave our apartments.
"Simply doing what has to be done"?
The cameras won't stop the "next big attack" since, as this measure is now known, it'll be defeated, circumvented.
The bomb-laden vehicle will only enter once---the occasion when it is set off.
Instead of making ourselves into an armed camp, why not make the world more just, so that "terrorists"---who are resisting (unlike Americans) injustice---are motivated & provoked to resort to violence?
You cannot forsee or prevent every potential menace, unless you arrest and confine everyone all the time. Before we come to that, we'd better think again.
Bicycle, bicycle, bicycle...
Graham: What are the "terrorists" resisting? Bin Laden facing injustice? Islamic domination and subjugation "injustice"? I assume that is Paris, France. Typical.
There is injustice, but this is not the reason many people turn to terrorism. It's the belief that they are doing something "divine" to bring their heavenly realm to Earth. And that is something all rational people should resist. (And I'll include the Religious Right & Bush).
Al Baker is a biased reporter. Note that his article in today's NYT did not quote one voice of opposition to this plan, only a throwaway line about "tracking many thousands of vehicles and people every day raises alarm with civil libertarians."
At the NYT, "civil libertarians" is equivalent to a four-letter word.
So much for journalistic objectivity...it's amusing to see the Murdoch-owned NY Post and Zuckerman's Daily News take a harder line towards the NYPD's increasingly corrupt and brutal officers than every liberal's favorite paper.
Guess we have to make a sacrifice for our freedoms - let's get those barcodes on our foreheads and get it over with!
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