Data-Fed Monitoring System Will Put New Yorkers Under Police Surveillance

Nerval's Lobster writes that New York City isn't just gathering data on citizens with cameras and other data sources for sifting through later to seek evidence in the event of violent acts; it's using some of that data in real-time in an attempt to reveal potential criminal activity. They've even picked a name for their system that echoes DARPA's Total Information Awareness, which I guess is more diplomatic than just calling it Precrime: "The Domain Awareness System will draw data from 911 calls, previous crime reports, license-plate readers, law-enforcement databases, environmental sensors, and roughly 3,000 closed-circuit cameras. It will rely on the New York City Wireless Network (NYCWiN), a high-speed wireless broadband infrastructure that allows city agencies to rapidly transmit data, and used for everything from emergency response to reading meters. Mayor Bloomberg argued that the system isn't an example of Big Brother overstepping the line. 'What you're seeing is what the private sector has used for a long time,' he told Gothamist. 'If you walk around with a cell phone, the cell phone company knows where you are. We're not your mom and pop's police department anymore.'"

The problem

[Anonymous Coward]

"We're not your mom and pop's police department anymore." That's the problem Mr. Bloomberg.

Businesss... government... it's still big brother.

[sl3xd]

Businesses shouldn't be allowed to collect data that the government can't.

Government shouldn't be allowed to collect data because "the private sector already does this."

I had the misfortune to attend a conference a few weeks ago where salesmen were being taught about "big data" by marketdroids.

These guys were drooling about wholesale intrusion into the most private aspects of our lives.

It really is the rise of big brother. The fact that it is a corporation instead of government is of little practical value; monitoring data gives those who have it power, and that power will always be abused - and will result in ruined or destroyed lives, reduced freedom, and corrupt leadership (whether government or corporate).

Do it to the police too.

[gurps_npc]

Every single room in a police station (aside from the bathrooms) and every single police car should be under constant surveillance, going directly to the Internal Affairs office, and is also recorded and retained for a minimum of 10 years.

If the video is not shown, then by law, the cops should not be allowed to testify about what they saw, heard, said, or did. I.e. it should be assumed that the cops destroyed the evidence to allow them to lie.

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[account_deleted]

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What a funny argument!!!

[stanlyb]

So, let me summarize it:
1.It is OK to do all this surveillance at municipality level, because, you see, it is already done by the private business.
2.But the fact that is is already done by the private business does not mean that it is legal.
3.But because we justified 1, based on 2, now we have 3, it is LEGAL to do all this surveillance.
Now, my friends, do you see why MATH is so important? If you, dear friend, try to prove any lemma or theorem this way, you will repeat the same year again and again and again........