Nancy Thomson

We have been told that because of the "War on Terrorism" citizens will have to loose a little privacy and sacrifice some freedoms. Our administration assures us this sacrifice, along with the war on Iraq, is for the security of the American people and the rest of the world. The rest of the world doesn't seem threatened by Iraq witness their disinterest in joining our cause.

With our borders left wide open, the government is looking for our security elsewhere. Thus we are the benefactors of the Patriot's Act #1, the recently instituted Homeland Security Department and newly drafted Patriot's Act #II, a stalled TIA Act and abandoned for the time being TIPS legislation.

All of these measures depend upon the numerous surveillance methods perfected over a number of years.

Washington DC is a hot bed of video and non-video picture taking. Mostly hidden from view, or disguised, some cameras are on swivels to locate a certain object. Still others can zoom and take pictures of someone's face. They are on top of buildings, in parks, where -ever. When I was in DC a few months ago they were installing 400 more cameras! People are told all this is necessary in order to catch terrorists.

They have had camera surveillance in Europe for years. England has made a national project of photo taking, installing over 1.5 million cameras in order to catch terrorists. So far no terrorists have been caught by this method. An average Londoner has his picture taken 300 times a day.

Some camera prone Americans want photos to be taken everywhere because of road rage, shootings in schools and general crime. This would include ALL public places. What would this do to our civil liberties? Who retains the records and for how long? How many people or agencies have access to the film recordings?

Just a few newspaper articles, many even from liberal publications about surveillance include:

• Big Brother vs Terrorist in Spy Camera Debate, The New York Times, 6/19/02.
• Cameras mulled for neighborhood watch, Washington Times, 12/13/02.
• Photographing peaceful demonstrations, Boston Phoenix, Mar-28-Apr-10, 02.
• A police state in the making, Washington Times, 6/17/02.
• As Security Cameras Sprout, Someone's Always Watching, New York Times, 9/27/02.
• Surveillance Cameras to Predict Behavior, BBC News, 5/1/02.
• Camera Eye is Focus of Fear, Kelowna (British Columbia) Capital News, 2/6/02 (EPIC Video Surveillance Information Page)

Congressman Ron Paul stated that under Patriot Act #1, anti-abortion, pro-Constitution demonstrations or public forums could be considered terrorist events. That is why they are being put under surveillance also. Some time ago, Timothy McVeigh's sister's car was stopped and searched by the FBI. They said she had anti-government material. It consisted of the Spotlight, and a copy of the Constitution.

A new air security program is called CAPPS II, Computer Assisted Prescreening System. Lockheed -Martin developed this 5-year contract project at the behest of the Defense Department for commercial airline passengers. Ordered by congress the cost is $12.8 million. CAPPS II is designed to check background information with a nation-wide computer system. Credit reports, as well as bank account activity of airline passengers are entered into the data -base and used as a watch list. This will grade the passenger's threat level with three risk guidelines, green, yellow, and red. As passengers check in, their names will be punched into the system, encrypted with one of the 3 risk levels (Leslie Miller, Orange County Register, 3/1/03)

Major car manufacturers have their own tracking (government/ private partnership) system being built into the new hybrid cars. Have you heard the advertisements about "On Star" being able to immediately track a stranded motorist calling for help? That motorist had a transponder in their car connected to the government's Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) This GPS government satellite acts as a locator and monitors vehicle travels from start to finish. An Intelligent Transportation System, ITS, is embedded in the road. The driver receives a monthly combined billing from all these systems. It is based on the miles traveled, in lieu of the gas tax. hybrid cars use little gasoline. Driving at congested times, or in "polluted areas" will cost more. There will be many added toll roads.

Toll road cameras, in California, messed up 10 per cent of the license plate images. "Transportation Corridor Agencies (part of the NAFTA/GATT International Highway apparatus) are now capturing 100 percent of violator plates with the installation of 260 high-tech security cameras, costing $550,000. The new cameras take wide-angle shots and use infrared technology to detect characters -even those covered by spray-on materials drivers use to fool the cameras." (Nancy Luna, Orange County Register, 3/3/03)

Infrared cameras are also used by government agencies to look inside of houses.

This national program of charge-by-the-mile is being introduced piece meal. A Los Angeles charge-by-the-mile plan has been presented. It was suggested the diamond lanes become toll roads, and depending on congestion, some lanes costing 20 cents will charge 40 cents.