Those are the words of Michael Bloomberg, Mayor of New York City.
If you thought the city saw all already, get ready for this: It's almost like Minority Report is coming from the big screens of years ago into the reality of today's streets.
The Domain Awareness System was designed by the New York Police Department and Microsoft Corp. It will now be used to watch all New Yorkers. License plates, radiation detectors, a network of cameras, and crime reports. All in real time. All now.
Using the new system, investigators will be able to access information through live video feeds and could potentially see who left a suspicious package behind just moments later, Kelly said.The system will also allow cops to get a reading on radioactive substances, and determine if it is naturally occurring, some kind of weapon or a harmless isotope used in medical treatments.“We can track where a car associated with a murder suspect is currently located and where it’s been over the past several days, weeks or months,” Kelly said. “This is a system developed by police officers for police officers.”The system will also check license plate numbers to a watch list and alert investigators if a match is detected and quickly pull up crime reports, arrests and warrants on a suspect.The system has some civil liberties advocates warning of Big Brother type surveillance.“We fully support the police using technology to combat crime and terrorism, but law-abiding New Yorkers should not end up in a police database every time they walk their dog, go to the doctor, or drive around Manhattan,” said New York Civil Liberties Union Associate Legal Director Chris Dunn.
Is that the likelihood? Joe Sixpack or Josephine Chilled-Wine will end up doing something completely innocent but end up on a database and be monitored by the police!?
In America!?
The land of the free? Home of brave?
And the land of domestic spy drones and eavesdropping from corner to corner.
Yes, it could happen here.
The future certainly is now.