From The Newspaper:
Fifteen hooded men set fire to a pair of traffic cameras in Athens, Greece at noon on Monday. Using gasoline to set the blaze, the group incinerated the two devices located at Pheidippidou and Michalakopoulou streets.
Source: Cameras torched (Ekathimerini (Greece), 2/14/2006)
I have seen a number of stories like this lately. People really seem to hate these traffic cameras and will work hard to get rid of them whether through civil disobedience. A recent Tribune article pointed out the backlash against traffic cameras in Batavia. According to their Mayor the cameras are not coming back:
“We’re not going to go through all those issues again anyway … Big Brother, the Constitution,” he said. “We’re going to let other communities become pioneers on this. The people here didn’t want it”
rshah Uncategorized
From the Sun-Times :
A proposal that every licensed Chicago business open more than 12 hours a day install indoor and outdoor cameras has been scaled back to late-night bars. Cameras are actually just one part of the proposal, which is aimed at preventing crime and providing better response to late night criminal activities. From a smart camera perspective, the big deal is that the government is mandating cameras for a set of businesses. Naturally, the bars aren’t too keen on being forced to buy these systems. Here is more background:
Daley’s ordinance, introduced at Wednesday’s City Council meeting, would give all of them 60 days to submit an “exterior safety plan” that would require installation of exterior lighting and surveillance cameras at each building exit and the hiring of “adequately trained” security personnel.
The cameras and lighting would have to be good enough to identify people entering and leaving the bar. Videotape would have to maintained for at least 72 hours and be available to police.
Failure to submit the plan to the city’s Department of Business Affairs and Licensing would be grounds to deny a late-hour license. Failure to implement the plan to address chronic complaints ranging from excessive noise, fighting and loitering to drug dealing would be grounds to suspend or revoke the late-hour license and all other business licenses issued to that establishment.
A few months ago, Baltimore mandated cameras in its shopping malls, see the previous stories here and here.
Update: USA Today has a story on this (it also quotes me).
rshah Chicago
From The Star-Ledger :
The Jersey City Museum has a contemporary art show called “Surveillance.” The news story has some information on it and the quote below is from the museum web site.
Surveillance features the work of Mauro Altamura, Melanie Baker, Kabir Carter, Carlos Motta, Justine Reyes, Roger Sayre, Merle Temkin, and the Surveillance Camera Players. Today’s concerns with safety (community and personal) have given rise to a host of problems surrounding public space, and to those watching and being watched. Surveillance hopes to explore various facets of the contemporary blurring of boundaries between public space and private life, between what is visible and invisible, between the observer and the observed. Installations excavate layers of photographed and re-photographed images, produced and re-produced identities. Objects that have recently become bearers of fear and the unknown become the subject of art. Overheard (and secretly recorded) conversations become intertwined into an audio piece. As part of a larger discussion around the erosion of privacy during a period of increasing fear, the works in this exhibition have the opportunity to be a part of this public dialogue.
rshah Uncategorized
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