From: geeman <NOSPAM-geeman@best.com>
Date: Fri, 2 May 1997 00:12:38 +0800
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Subject: Re: Privacy news: Oakland Cameras, Levi employee files, FileGate
Message-ID: <3.0.32.19691231160000.006ae0c4@best.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


At 06:35 PM 4/30/97 -0700, Bill Stewart wrote:
>It's been a busy day for privacy issues in the Oakland Trib.
>
>Surveillance Cameras in Oakland
>-------------------------------
>Bay Alarm is trying to sell the City Council a $500K-$1.5M closed-circuit
>TV system for watching people in public places.  The three picknickers
>didn't litter, but the camera mounted on the public library building could
>zoom in enough to that the council could tell a ham sandwich from roast beef,
>and whether the two joggers were wearing Nikes or Reeboks.
>"Anybody who is a law-abiding citizen is not going to be concerned about
>this..
>"When I'm out in a public place.... I don't have an expectation of privacy"
>said Councilcritter Nate Miley (East Oakland/Elmhurst), who wants a test run
>in his district, where residents have bars on their windows and are afraid
>to go out at night.  Police Chief Joseph Samuels likes it too.
>"This is technology spying on our citizens from camera on light poles"
>said John Crew of the ACLU police practices project, speaking against it.
>Bay Alarm said that some British cities have dealt with privacy fears by
>setting up monitoring centers away from city and police offices,
>where tapes are kept in case a crime occurs -- crime victims can call up
>the police and ask them to play back tapes, said Mark Demier of Bay Alarm.
>The camera systems are also capable of taking pictures in the dark.
>

Brief radio piece on the red-light cameras in S.F. --- red-light running
appears
to be down at the 4 intersections where cameras are installed; some
well-placed official was
quoted as saying "The cameras are definitely having an effect on people's
behavior." Yes, a
Good Thing.  They are continuing to move forward with plans to install more
cameras.

This is fine for red-light-running.  I'm just worried about the day when
the cameras
have an effect on people's behavior with respect to what they say, whom
they associate with, 
the clothes they wear, the thoughts they think...

How do you hack a camera?