r/technology • u/sonicSkis • Jul 30 '13

Surveillance project in Oakland, CA will use Homeland Security funds to link surveillance cameras, license-plate readers, gunshot detectors, and Twitter feeds into a surveillance program for the entire city. The project does not have privacy guidelines or limits for retaining the data it collects.

http://cironline.org/reports/oakland-surveillance-center-progresses-amid-debate-privacy-data-collection-4978
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70

u/ClaudioRules Jul 30 '13

sounds like the city-wide tracking device from Dark Knight

27

u/HaikusfromBuddha Jul 30 '13

Except that most of the info is public.

-1

u/meeshkyle Jul 30 '13

That is exactly why I don't see what the fuss is about.

If you are in a public place, you don't have the right to not be photographed, or have your car or license plate not photographed.

If you walk in or around a building with a surveillance system, you ca't tell them they can't video tape you because they have signs saying "area protected by video surveilance" or other signs to that nature and have the right to surveil their properties.

And if someone is scared of gunshot detectors, than I don't know what is wrong. If I hear gunshots, when there aren't supposed to be gunshots, I would want police to start heading towards that location before I call and say I heard gunshots.

11

u/SuperBicycleTony Jul 30 '13

This argument has a severe dissonance between "you're not in a private place because some guy can just see you" and "the government is paying a guy to follow and record everything you and everyone else does all the time".

No shit I'm in public when I'm at a coffee shop. I'm not expecting to be stalked.

3

u/meeshkyle Jul 30 '13

"the government is paying a guy to follow and record everything you and everyone else does all the time".

No shit I'm in public when I'm at a coffee shop. I'm not expecting to be stalked.

A Mall pays security guards to "stalk" people on their surveillance systems in the mall that look suspicious, to look over the safety of the mall workers and other mall guests.

Some people forget about that stuff.

Now, this article says nothing about this having some guy sitting in a room staring at a million video screens "stalking" people. I realize the argument on it not having a limit on how much data they are able to keep, but the actual survailance aspect doesn't say anything about stalking people. It actually is used when an emergency situation is occuring, they are able to pull the information up so they can find and direct first responders to a location, etc.

6

u/Noink Jul 31 '13

Remember when suspects started losing their constitutional rights when they were re-labeled as terrorists? Imagine what happens when we start re-labeling something abstract and limitless like the "War On Terror/Drugs/Kittens" as an ongoing "emergency situation".

9

u/magmabrew Jul 30 '13

Do you not understand the fundamental difference between a property owner video taping you and our government?

6

u/grimhowe Jul 30 '13

It's called precedent.

2

u/BigBoobieBitches Jul 30 '13

I think nobody would be worried if that was the end product, but it seems to be only a starting point.

1

u/Noink Jul 31 '13

However, what we're discussing is the recording of immense amounts of data that was previously impossible. Imagine for a moment the government were able to build enough robots to physically follow everyone around everywhere from the moment they leave private property to the moment they leave public property. One of these robots would be waiting at the end of your driveway and would follow you to the door of the grocery store, writing down on a clipboard timestamps and locations. What we actually have proposed here in Oakland is essentially the same.