If your G should get stolen

[telcoman]

in New York, You've got an excellent chance of getting it back.

Cameras are all over

Camera Scans of Car Plates Are Reshaping Police Inquiries


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/12/nyreg ... f=nyregion

I think its a great idea.

Helps keep out the riff raff.

Telcoman

[szh]

Yes, all prisons need cameras, of course!

Reminds me of this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_from_New_York

"... set in the near future in a crime-ridden United States that has converted Manhattan Island in New York City into a maximum security prison."



Z

[IBCoupe]

Yeah, I don't like the cameras.

[s0m3th1ngAZ]

I'm pretty sure he's trolling us now guys...

[stebo0728]

We sooooo need a emote!

[szh]

I'm pretty sure he's trolling us now guys...

I suspect that the scary bit is that he probably believes it himself.

Z

[themadscientist]

I'm watching you all right now. Howard, tightie whities, seriously?

[Amays U G37S]

The cars don't get stolen. Your wheels do.

Cameras that promote wheel theft and drunk driving hit n runs!

Yeahhhhhhh

[JTR]

Yes, all prisons need cameras, of course!

Reminds me of this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escape_from_New_York

"... set in the near future in a crime-ridden United States that has converted Manhattan Island in New York City into a maximum security prison."



Z

However, the cameras are only used to scan and locate criminals. I don't think cops have any interest of watching you walk around. In fact when you are in public, you are exposed to public eye anyway, so cameras pose little threat to privacy.

Comparing cameras usage to prisons is like calling Kentucky a War-zone, for highest gun ownership per capita.

[szh]

Uh ... in case it wasn't clear: I WAS JOKING ... mostly! FWIW, New York does not rank up there with my favorite places to live!

Z

[szh]

However, the cameras are only used to scan and locate criminals. I don't think cops have any interest of watching you walk around. In fact when you are in public, you are exposed to public eye anyway, so cameras pose little threat to privacy.

I do think this needs to be responded to a bit.

BTW, I am old enough to remember the Tienanmen Square incident. I remember the US media getting all hyper about the number of cameras (Horrors! How "communistic"!) it appeared that the Chinese govenrment had watching the people - it was only after it was pointed out that the US actually had more cameras in similar large city monitoring situations that they stopped harping on this!

Yes, many of the US cameras are for private security reasons, but you might be amazed at how many are monitored by some Federal or State agency - not all are police, of course! And, yes, some of them are just watching people walk around - on the assumption that criminals might be present or a crime might be detected or whatever.

Is this a crime deterrent? Perhaps. I am not a conspiracy theorist, but this still does bother me a bit.

Yes, when out in public, an expectation of general privacy is not present. However, I think that there is a general/tacit expectation - perhaps without basis in actual law - that recordings (of me and others) will not be widely disseminated without my express permission and knowledge to people who were not in the local public situation.

The YouTube phenomenon of showing people (sometimes without their consent - regardless of their best or worst face) to a world-wide audience is a far more serious threat to personal privacy than I can find comfortable.

Just my thoughts.

Z

EDIT: BTW, the cameras I am talking about here are not the license-plate cameras mentioned in the link in the OP.