TIL some street lights have city/police cameras in them.
While I'm glad that it helps exonerate the cops in this instance, I'm a little concerned how widespread this might be and why I've never heard anything about it.
Streetlights would be an easy way to grow a city-wide surveillance network since they already have power and are ubiquitous enough nobody gives them a second glance.
TIL some street lights have city/police cameras in them.
Some? The average city has hundreds if not thousands of cameras. A lot were installed during some experiments to eliminate traffic congestion by having humans determine when to change the traffic lights (there was the usual delay in switching). They found that people were a bajillion times better, but weren't cost effective. The city found them useful for monitoring crime in certain areas and for reviewing accidents. Cities started adding more and more of them.
Yeah, I know about traffic cams. Those are highly visible, usually mounted at the very top of a light pole at an intersection. And they are aimed at vehicle lanes because, as you said, they are used for managing and monitoring traffic flow.
This camera is way, way different. This is a camera apparently built into the underside of an ordinary city light. This is built specifically to surveil people, not vehicles. That's a whole world of difference. Imagine them replacing the regular streetlight with a camera light outside a business? They now have a record of everyone who patronizes it. In fact, it looks like this camera was specifically to monitor that particular business. I'm very curious what it was.
I know privacy in a public space is nearly impossible... but this is really focused monitoring and I don't think the average citizen would want to see this program expanded to the point that EVERY streetlight was also a camera. But again, how would you know unless you think to check every one?
TIL some street lights have city/police cameras in them.
While I'm glad that it helps exonerate the cops in this instance, I'm a little concerned how widespread this might be and why I've never heard anything about it.
Streetlights would be an easy way to grow a city-wide surveillance network since they already have power and are ubiquitous enough nobody gives them a second glance.
Absolutely! Creepy 1984 is here
Some? The average city has hundreds if not thousands of cameras. A lot were installed during some experiments to eliminate traffic congestion by having humans determine when to change the traffic lights (there was the usual delay in switching). They found that people were a bajillion times better, but weren't cost effective. The city found them useful for monitoring crime in certain areas and for reviewing accidents. Cities started adding more and more of them.
Privacy in a public space is an illusion.
Yeah, I know about traffic cams. Those are highly visible, usually mounted at the very top of a light pole at an intersection. And they are aimed at vehicle lanes because, as you said, they are used for managing and monitoring traffic flow.
This camera is way, way different. This is a camera apparently built into the underside of an ordinary city light. This is built specifically to surveil people, not vehicles. That's a whole world of difference. Imagine them replacing the regular streetlight with a camera light outside a business? They now have a record of everyone who patronizes it. In fact, it looks like this camera was specifically to monitor that particular business. I'm very curious what it was.
I know privacy in a public space is nearly impossible... but this is really focused monitoring and I don't think the average citizen would want to see this program expanded to the point that EVERY streetlight was also a camera. But again, how would you know unless you think to check every one?