The Real Advent of Big Brother, Goodbye to Personal Privacy

Advent of Big Brother, CueOps

We stand at a true crossroads in the fight for the last shred of our personal privacy. In January of this year a company named Persistent Surveillance Systems, under contract with the city of Baltimore, initiated an aerial surveillance program. Using high resolution cameras mounted on a Cessna airplane, all that took place in the city of Baltimore was documented frame by frame and dumped into a data-base for storage and analysis. The technology was developed during the war in Iraq and the program was called Angel Fire. It was used during the Battle of Fallujah and later modified by the Army, the revised version known as Blue Devil. The utilization of high-resolution surveillance technology during the course of armed conflict to prevent US casualties seems a very good idea, but do we want the same technology to be deployed in our cities and towns potentially monitoring every move we make?

Sacrificing Privacy for Security

It is a dilemma that has grown in intensity since 2001: For the sake of security, we agree to sacrifice some measure of our privacy. From the Patriot Act to the FISA Court and from CISPA to successive versions of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), nibble by nibble our personal privacy has been eaten away. As a society we need to pay very close attention to what is being done in the name of our security. We need to closely monitor the actions of our government at all levels. Yes, none of us wants to see someone get away with a violent crime. None of us wants victims to suffer without justice. But do we really want to be watched everywhere at every second?

Who will Watch the Watchers?

We all want to be safe. We all want security for ourselves and our families. This technology can be used to enhance our public safety, but it can also be put to darker use. Who will ensure that private industry properly utilizes such technologies? How will we know whether or not our government will over-step the lines of privacy in the name of safety? Indeed, it has been well documented that serious encroachments have indeed already taken place. We need to ask the question, “who will watch the watchers?”

Secret Cameras Record Baltimore’s Every Move From Above

The meeting took place before McNutt’s work with Baltimore was arranged, and Stanley knew other companies were beginning to work in the same general field. Secret Cameras Record Baltimore’s Every Move From Above