Surveillance, Sousveillance

Study: Surveillance Software Revenue to Quadruple by 2013. Maybe it's time for me to make the jump from the Internet Censorship biz (e-mail me at sgt.turmeric at gmail dot com if you'd like more details) to surveillance? There are just so many ways to profit from a Police State, after all.

... the advent of Wi-Fi has made it possible to place wireless cameras just about anywhere while still sending footage back to a central location.

Ah, is that what's really behind the proposals for free wireless Internet access in Vancouver? The Vancouver Police have an intermittent lust for surveillance cameras, and if they are going to piggy-back on municipal Wi-Fi, then said Wi-Fi should be paid for at least partially out of the Police budget.

In my opinion total surveillance is inevitable. There's nothing the public can do to stop it. In fact the public seems to be quite keen on it, even though it doesn't work. And that's when the cameras are actually working (not guaranteed: CBC also reported that a number of security cameras went off-line four hours before the theft.). That's my only comfort, really: the people deploying and operating the cameras are basically incompetent.

Also, ever since I read Steve Mann's book Cyborg I've wanted to be one. The incompetent public institutions and private entities can put up all of the cameras they want as long as sousveillance remains legal. Whoops, there's a concerted effort to stop ordinary citizens (and even the media) from taking photos in public. So to everyone out there who yearns for security cameras everywhere to make you feel safer: don't be surprised if you get TASERed or something for taking a snapshot someday.