From: tcmay@netcom.com (Timothy C. May)
Date: Thu, 10 Mar 94 22:11:27 PST
To: avalon@coombs.anu.edu.au (Darren Reed)
Subject: Re: Surveillance cameras
In-Reply-To: <9403110541.AA11095@toad.com>
Message-ID: <199403110612.WAA29822@mail.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Darren Reed writes:


> > entrances) and another one at New Scotland Yard where all the 
> > transport police have theirs.  The ones in the underground - which
> > are ostensibly just for mass crowd volume monitoring - have an
> > absolutely deadly killer zoom lens that's centrally steerable.
> > 
> > It's *way* overkill for the use it's supposed to be for...
> 
> Do the station staff ever use them ?
> 
> Here in Melbourne, all the underground railway stations have cameras
> pointing at escalators, up and down the platforms, etc, but if you're
> doing something silly like riding around on a chair that the ticket
> guys usually sit upon, you can expect an announcement :)  There is also
> a window that looks into a `monitor' room from a public walkway at one.

Most American airports, especially those with international
connections, routinely videotape all passengers. I can't cite a source
for this, but I think it's common knowledge (not that this means its
true).

The recent film "The Pelican Brief" has this as a plot device, with a
terrorist captured on tape on his departure to Paris.

Paranoid note: Ear shapes are said to be a fairly unique
characteristic, hard to disguise, and easy for computers to process (
a line scan). This may mean the return of long hair. (No wonder
Singapore bans long hair on men.)

"Oh, I'm going to a "Star Trek" convention in London. I'm playing Spock."

> Oh, and one of the cameras looking up a platform has gum fixed to part
> of the cover in front of the lens :)

Wouldn't one of our "Big Brother Inside" stickers work pretty well
here?

--Tim May


-- 
..........................................................................
Timothy C. May         | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,  
tcmay@netcom.com       | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
408-688-5409           | knowledge, reputations, information markets, 
W.A.S.T.E.: Aptos, CA  | black markets, collapse of governments.
Higher Power: 2^859433 | Public Key: PGP and MailSafe available.
"National borders are just speed bumps on the information superhighway."