- 13 October 2014
Share
An American company has developed a way to monitor entire neighborhoods using a technology developed originally for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
But, while the police welcomes the prospect of gaining access to technology, she was criticized for being seen as a threat to the privacy of citizens.
The system works through a drone that records what is happening in soil in an area 40 miles in diameter.
The aircraft is equipped with 12 high-resolution cameras, which form a kind of “Google Earth” in real time.
“The resolution is not high enough to show who the person is, they appear as a gray pixel on the screen, “says Ross McNutt, retired Air Force veteran and president of the company that developed the system, the PSS (Persistent Surveillance Systems).
But this pixel is enough for people’s movements to be monitored accurately while the plane is in the air -. for up to six hours
The idea is to fly over areas with high crime rates . In early 2012, the aircraft monitored the city of Compton, California, for nine days. Recorded murder, robbery and several other crimes.
When comparing the recordings with the testimony of witnesses, analysts and the police were able to determine the time when the crimes were committed.
This form, could find out where the suspects were before and after the time of the crime, says McNutt.
During testing in Ohio, California and Mexico, PSS witnessed 34 murders.
Threat to Democracy
The cameras PSS, however, not only see murders and criminals. . They record the daily activity streets and backyards
Although the firm insist that the resolution of the cameras is low, many Americans see the system as a threat to individual liberties
“The system not only violates people’s privacy; monitor movements an entire community is a threat to democracy, “said Jennifer Lynch, attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
The residents of Compton, for example, were not told when they tested the system.
“It’s things like this and the secret monitoring of Muslim students by police in New York in 2012 that generate distrust of the police,” says Lynch.
The company says it follows a “strong privacy policy” and only monitors people after a crime or criminal investigations communications. . Says he can also know exactly which images were observed by their analysts
In places like Compton, where a large share of the population is black, there is concern about the possibility of turning minorities target surveillance.
There is also the fear of that the system can lead people to stop doing things they do not want others to know, even if not illegal. This includes, for example, go to a gay bar, or religious institutions have more than one relationship.
“police surveillance can affect the freedom of expression and, thus, the democratic and constitutional right of the people is threatened, “adds Lynch.
The president of the firm says it is aware of these issues and sought the American Civil Liberties Union, an NGO that defends individual liberties, to discuss the topic.
Meanwhile, no American state has adopted the technology in a systematic way.
No comments:
Post a Comment