http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/12/nyregion/12plates.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
3 comments from slashdot discussion:
I don't want to be leaving records of where I've been for years...
Why? Isn't there a statute of limitations? :-)
Seriously, the right to conduct oneself privately is the foundation of all civil liberties. This is is why the 4th amendment to the US Constitution specifically prohibits unreasonable search and seizure.
"Unreasonable" has become the elastic operative through which the courts and executive have made impotent, the entire function of that amendment.
The role of the ubiquitous camera in conjunction with the compulsory license plate is just an abstraction of "Show me your papers, please" internal checkpointing - beloved of Inspector Jabert and Heinrich Himmler.
So, yes. The cameras themselves are indeed bad - the fact that you fail to perceive them as such? Just a sign of how irredeemable the loss of basic rights has become in your country.
Already happening, already too late, complete and utter surprise? Not so much.
A surveillance society takes an exceedingly short period of time to decide that the initial justifications for these things has so many other handy uses. Governments are completely interested in monitoring and recording everything so that eventually when they need something against you, they have it on file. Even the governments who pretend to be protecting "freedom" and the like.
There's a reason why all of this stuff has been rich fodder for sci-fi for decades ... because you can see it coming, and pretty much anticipate the results.
Terrorism was the stated reason, but they're not going to miss out on using a treasure trove of such information. Give it time, and there won't be a single free society on the planet ... least of all, the Western democracies who still pretend to be.
I may sound like my tin-foil hat is cutting off the blood supply, but it's hard not to see all of the dystopian stuff unfolding before us. Stuff that has happened in my life time was a work of fiction 50 years ago.
Reply to This Parent
Re:Records retention? (Score:5, Interesting)
by Jason Earl (1894) on Monday April 11, @02:38PM (#35784272) Homepage Journal
Personally, I think that the dangers to "freedom" are somewhat overblown. What is legal and what is not has not changed. The difference is that our society has become a great deal better at actually monitoring individuals.
In some ways, however, it is really only a step backward in time. I grew up in a small town, and I became used to the idea that everyone around me knew who I was (and who to contact if I should step out of line). You worry about the government watching you, but from personal experience I think that you would be much better off to worry about your immediate neighbors. They are the ones that actually care about what you are up to, and it is your reputation with them that is actually most likely to effect your behavior. Yes, it is possible that the government might compile evidence of impropriety, but the worst they will realistically be able to do is tell your neighbors.
Unless, of course, you are talking about actual illegal activity, in which case you *should* be arrested. That's why we have laws.
For most of human existence it has been very difficult to hide improper behavior from your neighbors. Historically, we have lived in relatively small, very tight-knit communities, and your business was your neighbors business. The idea that you could go out in public and be anonymous is a relatively new idea. Apparently it is likely to be a short-lived idea as well.
If your definition of "freedom" includes being able to hide improper behavior from your neighbors, then yes, your freedom is in jeopardy. On the other hand, you only have to log on to facebook for a minute to realize that most people are more than happy to share the details of their life with whoever happens to be on the Internet. Most people seem to be willing to share details about their personal lives than even folks like me, that grew up knowing our neighbors' business, find uncomfortable. You can't blame government for that though.
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/11/04/11/1723229/NYPD-Anti-Terrorism-Cameras-Used-For-Much-More
I have come to realize that men are not born to be free. Liberty is a need felt by a small class of people whom nature has endowed with nobler minds than the mass of men. -Napoleon
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