The Las Vegas Public Works Department has begun
testing a newly installed street light system with wide-ranging capabilities
including audio and video recording.
According to the Michigan based “Illuminating
Concepts,” the system’s main benefits include “energy management, security and
entertainment.” The Las Vegas setup surrounding City Hall includes such
features as emergency notification flashers, playable music and a sound
announcement system, all controlled from an Ipad.
“Actually, there’s a server that’s housed by the
company that’s providing this product and we’re communicating with just a
wireless, wi-fi connection,” Neil Rohleder of the Public Works Department said.
The company’s lights, which also offer a “Homeland
Security” feature, received major backlash in 2011 following
reports of the system’s federally-funded roll out across the country.
The
feature allows for emergency government announcements which will likely include
such slogans as “See Something, Say Something” as well as other irrationally
fear-based messages already seen in Wal Mart’s DHS-run “telescreens.”
Local privacy advocate Daphne Lee has begun speaking
out against the system, pointing to the ever-increasing surveillance dragnet
cast over everyday innocent Americans.
“This technology, you know is taking us to a place
where, you know, you’ll essentially be monitored from the moment you leave your
home till the moment you get home,” said Lee.
The Public Works Department claims they have no
plans to use the system’s surveillance cameras… for now, leading many to
believe the plan is already well underway as city-wide implementation is
discussed.
“Right now our intention is not to have any
cameras or recording devices…it’s just to provide output out there, not to get
any feed or video feed coming back,” said Public Works Director, Jorge
Servantes.
In light of the TrapWire system, a
sophisticated program that uses advanced facial recognition software through
regular CCTV surveillance cameras across the country, the likelihood of the
city’s cameras being covertly used by the federal government, or with
permission, remains a likely outcome.
Talking street lights have already been implemented
in parts of Europe for a number of years.
Apartment residents in North London
were shocked to discover cameras ordering them to stay away from
their communal garden, warning them that their photograph was being taken for
entering a “restricted area.”
“At what point do we say this is the land of the
free? People have a right to a reasonable amount of privacy,” Lee added.
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