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Hmm some places have great cameras..I once crossed the toll plaza from MD to DE, and was accidentally in the EZ Pass Lane (my view was blocked by a large semi, alas). A couple of weeks later, I received a letter from the DE DOT detailing my violation and asking for $2.00. In the letter was a photo of me, my car and a VERY clear shot of my license plate. They got their $2.00.
But overall, I tend to agree with you on the whole ATM thing..But---there was this guy who used to come into the local coffee shop. He fully believed that they were watching us (more specifically HIM) from everywhere, to include the TV. TV and Radio are two-way devices back to the super secret subset of the NSA he used to work for. They listened to, recorded and analyzed EVERYONE in the US through all of our electronic devices. Oh the tales he would weave...If he had written them down, he could have had a rather lucrative career in the dime-novel world of "Mack Bolan" and books of that ilk..
Digital communication--there were stories back a few years ago about the 'Echelon' project. My understanding is that nearly every digital conversation--phone, chat, etc.-- could be recorded, scanned, pattern analyzed, etc. Echelon was supposed to do this on a global scale. I figure the digital world is eavesdropped on all of the time; nothing is sacred not even the words I'm typing here.
It seems like we just had a news story about the "Biometric Database" that is being assembled. There will eventually have to be more and better cameras in order for this project to be useful to anyone. It will start in the cities. How they'll monitor us country folk is anybody's guess. Cameras in trees? (Wouldn't it be funny if they hooked the cameras up to a network and Google found them all?)
Anyway, if this all begins to get too intrusive, I'm going to spray myself down with PhotoBlocker™ spray. (ldsudduth could have saved himself $2.00 by spending $29.99 + shipping on this stuff.)
Fear is one catalyst that will allow this sort of surveillance to creep up on us. There is probably a much greater danger from self-absorption, apathy and plain ignorance from people that will pave the way for a "Big Brother" society. If everyone is fed, warm and entertained, why make waves?
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Phone Tapping YES - Cameras Everywhere NO
That's my opinion. We've had a bunch of news threads over the past year regarding the intelligence wiretaps and AT&T. But that's not exactly anything new, the Puzzle Palace pretty much describes how the NSA got into bed with every telco pretty much since the phone network began. Given a digitized phone network, it's a simple matter of course for them to be able to listen to any call if desired. So as far as that is portrayed in Hollywood, I wouldn't think twice about doubting it since given the appropriate physical tie-ins (which they have) it's easy.
No regarding the little guys in the vans or the operations rooms who immediately have access to traffic cameras or 7-11 cameras or ATM cameras in order to have a view of everything ... I don't buy it. AFTER THE FACT, sure, it's just a matter of having a subpoena and taking the tapes or getting a copy of the feed. But all the feeds connected in such a way that a software tool can access them and decode the variety of encoding systems or whatever on a live basis ... not happening. I doubt that most of those systems are networked anyhow. What I REALLY can't stand is when they crowd around a fuzzy image from a camera and draw a little square around a guy's face and do "three enhancements" before looking at a crystal clear view of a guy. Dudes, I don't care what kind of filtering algorithms you have - you're not recovering more detail than the original pixels were able to capture. Especially from crappy cameras that have been sitting out in the weather for years!
Now the satellite images ... I think Enemy of the State portrayed the concept very well and correctly described the nature of the satellite only being able to look straight down. There's probably special satellites that can be requested to sit over a location for a particular purpose ... but those are limited and anybody that's dealt with satellite controllers knows there's more than a "few people" in the loop regarding satellite requisitions. So you're not going to keep illegal satellite use under wraps TOO much because there are a lot of loose ends to notice stuff deviating from authorized procedure. As far as regular satellites and imagery go, those requests need to go in so that a scheduled pass from an orbitting satellite can can take pictures when its in position. But if the action is happening and nothing is overhead, the orders of some frustrated intel agent certainly isn't going to get a satellite to just "fly over" since orbits don't work like that. Now the day we get little drones flying over America ... that'll be a different story.
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