Tracking all Vehicles with the Right Software

[EmptyTimCup]

Tracking all Vehicles with the Right Software Coming Soon?

The British government will soon have a fully-operational network of cameras fitted with license plate recognition software, according to a published report.

In a major first for any Western government’s police enforcement apparatus, the new system will allow any vehicle in the United Kingdom to be tracked to its precise location.

Excerpts from the BBC:

A number of local councils are signing up their Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) systems to the ANPR network. As long as the cameras are technically good enough, they can be adapted to take the software.

[...]

John Dean, who is co-ordinating the ANPR network for the Association of Chief Police Officers, said: “It’s the finest intelligence-led policing tool we’ve got.

“It covers so many different areas from crime reduction, crime detection to road safety and everything in between.”

The British news service also details the case of John Catt, who’s already had a rather unpleasant run-in with Britain’s Big Brother.

John Catt found himself on the wrong side of the ANPR system. He regularly attends anti-war demonstrations outside a factory in Brighton, his home town.

It was at one of these protests that Sussex police put a “marker” on his car. That meant he was added to a “hotlist”.

This is a system meant for criminals but John Catt has not been convicted of anything and on a trip to London, the pensioner found himself pulled over by an anti-terror unit.

“I was threatened under the Terrorist Act. I had to answer every question they put to me, and if there were any questions I would refuse to answer, I would be arrested. I thought to myself, what kind of world are we living in?”

Quite an apt question, wouldn’t you say? The BBC says the massive tracking database will be up and fully functional in a matter of months.

Do not be surprised when this software makes its way to the United States. It’s only a matter of time.

Source: Raw Story

Related Stories at We Are Change Colorado Springs

Technology versus privacy

UK.gov to spend £2bn on tracking your ISP

Every call made, email sent and website visited is now being logged under new regulations in the UK

and from NYC:

NYPD seeks to expand surveillance cameras, license plate readers
04/01/2009 @ 10:58 am
Filed by David Edwards

If New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has his way, surveillance cameras will blanket the entire midtown area of New York City.

Kelly says he intends to pattern the surveillance system after the "ring of steel" system now used in London. "That would mean the cameras and the license plate readers and coordinate it from the new coordination center located in lower Manhattan," said Kelly. The system is intended as an "anti-terrorism" measure.

"The idea, Kelly testified before a City Council committee, is to allow police to do everything they do downtown - scan license plates, monitor surveillance video cameras and use radiation and bioterrorism detectors - between 34th and 59th streets, from river to river," Newsday reports. The NYPD has already obtained most of the necessary $92 million but federal grant funds are needed to complete the project.

The New York Civil Liberties Union has filed a lawsuit against the Police Department, questioning how citizens' privacy will be balanced against security concerns.

"The NYPD must not spend vast amounts of public money blanketing downtown and Midtown Manhattan in surveillance cameras without any public discussion of its plans and without clear privacy protections," Donna Lieberman, New York Civil Liberties Union executive director, said. "The City Council must establish a formal public review process for these surveillance proposals and a statutory scheme to safeguard the privacy of millions of law-abiding New Yorkers."

"The Department's proposed privacy guidelines are entirely illusory and contain no real protection," said Christopher Dunn. "Our elected lawmakers need step in and subject this entire surveillance system to a thorough public review."

This video is from CBS 2 New York, broadcast April 1, 2009.

[wintersprings]

lefty Nonno will vote to track? Bet on it.