John Podesta is the president and CEO of the Center for American Progress in Washington and former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton

William S. Sessions is the former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation

As technological advances turn the unimaginable into the everyday, ensuring the continued protection of civil liberties, privacy and security becomes ever more complicated.

A growing number of communities have installed – or are considering – public video surveillance systems. These efforts gained momentum after 9/11, both as anticrime and antiterrorism measures. Philadelphia is no exception. In a May 16 referendum, residents overwhelmingly approved the installation of a video surveillance system.

Many public surveillance systems employ the latest in high-technology features, creating powerful and intelligent networks of cameras. Residents generally welcome the perceived increase in their security, and often seem largely untroubled by any potential intrusion on their privacy rights or civil liberties. Most of us seem to accept the notion that individuals have no legitimate “expectation of privacy” once they leave their homes and step into the public streets. But even in public places, isn’t there a point where we would draw the line?

What if local governments used these systems to create “digital dossiers” on residents, tracking the time, date, and location of each individual’s movements? What if an individual were filmed each time he or she entered a psychiatrist’s office or an infertility clinic? Or an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting? Or the meeting of a controversial religious or political group?

Even if we were not breaking any laws, wouldn’t we be concerned if our every movement were recorded and stored in a digital database, readily searchable by the government? What if that information could be shared with anyone who asked for it?

We believe it is possible to establish useful surveillance systems that also protect residents’ privacy rights and civil liberties – but communities should incorporate such protections into their systems from the outset, and remain vigilant to ensure they are both effective and operating within legal limits. […]

http://www.centredaily.com/mld/centredaily/news/opinion/14803735.htm

You are mistaken.

Either the streets belong to the public or they belong to the state. If you allow state owned cameras to watch your every move when you are in public, then that space belongs to the state, and you are a prisoner.

We all would like to restore a pre-9/11 sense of security to our communities. But in our attempts to do so, we must be as smart as the new technology we seek to install. Like any law-enforcement tool or tactic, video surveillance systems should have clearly defined uses, employ specific procedures, and be subject to oversight. They should be adopted thoughtfully, evaluated continuously, and constrained by appropriate checks and balances.

We can be both safe and free.

My emphasis.

Aaahhhh. The Old America. The America of The Eagles and Bruce Springsteen. You all long for it now that you have rushed headlong into the fascist nightmare. You are beginning to understand at a gut level how wrong it has all gone.

Good.

Allow me to qoute:

DR. BRODSKY
Very soon now the drug will cause the subject to experience a death-like paralysis together with deep feelings of terror and helplessness. One of our earlier test subjects described it as being like death, a sense of stiflingand drowning, and it is during this period we have found the subject will make his most rewarding associations between his catastrophic experience and environment and the violence he sees.

Alex retching violently and strugglingagainst his strait jacket.

INT. ALEX’S ROOM – LUDOVICO – DAY

DR. BRANOM
Well, that was a very promising start. By my calculations, you should be starting to feel alright again. Yes? Dr. Brodsky’s pleased with you. Now tomorrow there’ll be two sessions, of course, morning and afternoon.

ALEX
You mean, I have to viddy two sessions in one day?

DR. BRANOM
I imagine you’ll be feeling a little bit limp by the end of the day. But we have to be hard on you. You have to be cured.

ALEX
But it was horrible.

DR. BRANOM
Well, of course, it was horrible. Violence is a very horrible thing. That’s what you’re learning now. Your body is learning it.

DR. BRANOM
You felt ill this afternoon because you’re getting better. You see, when we’re healthy we respond to the presence of the hateful with fear and nausea. You’re becoming healthy that’s all. By this time tomorrow you’ll be healthier still.

What america needs is a healthy dose of The Ludivico Treatment. Each and every one of them. Then they will NEVER have the stomach to allow their government to murder other people en masse. Their problems will have been permanently ended. No need for surveillance cameras to stop terrorists, because there will be no one who wants to kill americans in retaliation. American towns and cities will be like they were in ‘The Rockford Files’, ‘The Honeymooners’…you can fly anywhere with the same ease as jumping on a routemaster bus. You can go anywhere without being watched. A free country full of free people. And proud of it.
Thats what the real america was like. That’s the america they want to bring back.

If you ever get the chance, I strongly reccomend that you watch the episode of ‘The Outer Limits’ called ‘O.B.I.T.’; it dates from the ‘real america’ era. You won’t be sorry that you took the time to track it down watch it.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 13th, 2006 at 3:52 pm and is filed under Insanity, Privacy.