What once was the science fiction of George Orwell is quickly becoming the reality of today. There are so many high-tech gadgets that are meant to provide surveillance that it is scary and wondrous at the same time. Some of these tools look good, others seem to be right out of "1984."
From WCBS-TV:
(CBS/AP) NEW YORK An array of high-tech gadgets -- including a helicopter equipped with infrared cameras and a backpack designed to detect dirty bombs -- will help secure the city against terrorism, the police commissioner said Wednesday.
In the future, the New York Police Department even hopes to deploy "a system of stationary airborne devices" to help officers conduct surveillance and respond to emergencies in a bustling, target-rich setting, Commissioner Ray Kelly said.
"There is no environment across the nation that compares to New York City," Kelly said at a Manhattan forum hosted by the firm CIT Aerospace. "We have the highest number of critical assets in the smallest amount of physical space."
That is true, there are plenty of spots in the City that are targets and they need to be protected. Another thing we need to protect are our liberties, and those are the people's responsibility to stay vigilant for. Although WCBS reports on these specific devices, there are far more intrusive instruments across the pond that are in use today. The Brits are even closer to living under Big Brother than we are. Try and imagine surveillance cameras that talk back to you if it thinks you are misbehaving. Now that is frightening.
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