The Price(lessness) of Privacy
February 28, 2007
No-one who has an eye on the spate of reports that every day demonstrate the range and vigor of emerging technologies can doubt that privacy is as good as over – or, to put it another way, that the passive privacy we have taken so much for granted (no-one knows what you are doing as no-one can see you) is soon to be replaced by what could prove the most costly of all commodities: privacy at a price. Think all those movies about the NSA and its capacity to spy on your every move, and double it, triple it, and keep moving up the geometric progression of surveillance 2.0.
This report looks at the new generation of video surveillance; others have updated us on RFIDs. One way and another, those who want liberty and see privacy as essential to its flourishing will have to find a way to carve out a zone around us where intrusions driven by fear of crime, defense against terror, and relentless marketing are held at bay.
Surveillance cameras are common in many cities, monitoring tough street corners to deter crime, watching over sensitive government buildings and even catching speeders. Cameras are on public buses and in train stations, building lobbies, schools and stores. Most feed video to central control rooms, where they are monitored by security staff.
The innovations could mean fewer people would be needed to watch what they record, and make it easier to install more in public places and private homes.
“Law enforcement people in this country are realizing they can use video surveillance to be in a lot of places at one time,” said Roy Bordes, who runs an Orlando, Fla.-based security consulting company. He also is a council vice president with ASIS International, a Washington-based organization for security officials. The advancements have already been put to work. For example, cameras in Chicago and Washington can detect gunshots and alert police. Baltimore installed cameras that can play a recorded message and snap pictures of graffiti sprayers or illegal dumpers.
In the commercial market, the gaming industry uses camera systems that can detect facial features, according to Bordes. Casinos use their vast banks of security cameras to hunt cheating gamblers who have been flagged before.
