Big Bruvver, or community action?

A few days back, there was a brutal attack of two gay men in Centre City Philadelphia.   The key evidence in the attack is a video showing a group of about a dozen white men and women in their early 20s who are "clean cut" and well-dressed.

These are type of person I am expected to trust with a loaded firearm in a public place.



Anyway, the victims were able to identify their attackers from the above video.  The case was broken  after a Twitter sleuth identified the mob via photos and their social media accounts.

I should add that one of the victims lost his bag, which included a cell phone and credit card that was picked up by one of the women in the group.

Now, if the person who had lost his bag had a gun, would he have had the time to have used it?

Of course, despite this being a brutal attack, the people involved may not do jail time.

See also:

• Sources: Alleged attackers claim mutual fight, not attack, on gay couple in Center City Philadelphia | 6abc.com
• Joe. My. God.: PHILADELPHIA: Multiple Arrests Expected In Brutal Mob Gay-Bashing Case

Government surveillance cameras?

OK, given that most of the CCTV cameras I see are owned by private individuals, this strikes me as amusing.

CCTV solves another case in Philadelphia

smile for the camera, asshole.

First, there was the Rian Thal murder which was solved in a couple of days because the shootings were caught on CCTV.  Dr. Melissa Ketunuti's killer was found because the police canvassed the area and found CCTV footage of the exterminator she had hired in the area at the time she was killed.

Now, CCTV footage once again proves useful in tracking down a high profile case in Centre City Philadelphia.  The rape happened late Saturday night and the perp was being questioned on Monday.  He was charged on Tuesday.

Of course, most of the people with the CCTV cameras are not the "State", but are civic minded citizens who have enrolled in the Philadelphia Police Department's SafeCam programme.  In fact, that is pretty much how the "surveillance state" seems to be playing out.

Of course, CCTV is a lot more helpful than a gun for cutting down crime.  For example, the high profile use of CCTV pictures with facial recognition software were used to prosecute rioters after the 2011 British riots.

The same case with the Boston Marathon Bombers.

While one camera might not get proper pictures, another camera might get an image that makes it easy to identify the culprit.

Even if a camera is not a deterrent, the fact that it provides evidence which can convict criminals will lead to a strong deterrent effect.

On the other hand, how many guns are stolen and end up in the hands of criminals?

Maybe this will give you the willies

While you are all worried about the evil guvment (nevermind that big business is a whole lot more evil, but you've been drinking the water--er, kool-aid).  It seems that the NSA can snoop on your computer even if you are not connected to the internet according to the latest leak from Edward Snowden.

Remember that while you are violating the constitution by plotting against the government (Article III, Section iii)!

But, don't worry, they also have implants that can read your mind as well.  You can expect to be sitting in some secret prison rotting away after the mind police arrest you.

Drone Hunting in Colorado

Detroit Gun Owner Doesn't Like the Google Camera Truck

ABC News reports

Google's effort to revamp its mapping system took an eerie turn when one of its Google Street View camera trucks captured a young shirtless man pointing a gun at a Detroit street. 

In September 2009, Google's camera snapped photos of a man with a gun standing on the porch of the house that appears to be the house where a 17-month-old child was found dead in a closet under a pile of clothes this summer. 

There are four other people standing behind the man with the gun, all gazing toward the camera, which was lodged atop a Google Street View mapping car. 

All parties on the porch look young, perhaps in their teens. The series of photos shows how they all turn to look at the Google truck as it passed by.

How come they keep saying the UK has the most domestic surveillance?  These Google trucks are mapping EVERYTHING, and recording what's going on in the meantime.

Besides, is it a bad thing?  Doesn't it prevent crime while not depriving lawful citizens of anything?

What's your opinion?  Please leave a comment.

Big Bruvver is Watching YOU!

You think you're so cool here on the internet talking about all your guns.  Maybe you even spout some "anti-guvment" talk in a chat room thinking that you are safe and sound.

GUESS AGAIN!

You are aware that it was the Military, not Al Gore, who developed the internet.  At one time, it was called DARPANET or ARPANET.

You'd kind think that people like NSA and GCHQ might have an "in" on how to track people on it.

But, I've been wanting to write a piece about CCTV and how that is probably a  far more effective method of stopping crime than a bunch of idiots carrying handguns.  And not all those CCTV units belong to "THE STATE".

No, if you want to come to my house, you will walk past at least 3 CCTV cameras before the one that will send your image to a remote server that is focused on MY DOOR.

And NONE of them belong to the Guvment.

But what got me to write this is something from Naomi Wolf in the Guardian:

A software engineer in my Facebook community wrote recently about his outrage that when he visited Disneyland, and went on a ride, the theme park offered him the photo of himself and his girlfriend to buy – with his credit card information already linked to it. He noted that he had never entered his name or information into anything at the theme park, or indicated that he wanted a photo, or alerted the humans at the ride to who he and his girlfriend were – so, he said, based on his professional experience, the system had to be using facial recognition technology. He had never signed an agreement allowing them to do so, and he declared that this use was illegal. He also claimed that Disney had recently shared data from facial-recognition technology with the United States military.

Yes, I know: it sounds like a paranoid rant.

Except that it turned out to be true. News21, supported by the Carnegie and Knight foundations, reports that Disney sites are indeed controlled by face-recognition technology, that the military is interested in the technology, and that the face-recognition contractor, Identix, has contracts with the US government – for technology that identifies individuals in a crowd.

Fast forward: after the Occupy crackdowns, I noted that odd-looking CCTVs had started to appear, attached to lampposts, in public venues in Manhattan where the small but unbowed remnants of Occupy congregated: there was one in Union Square, right in front of their encampment. I reported here on my experience of witnessing a white van marked "Indiana Energy" that was lifting workers up to the lampposts all around Union Square, and installing a type of camera. When I asked the workers what was happening – and why an Indiana company was dealing with New York City civic infrastructure, which would certainly raise questions – I was told: "I'm a contractor. Talk to ConEd."

I then noticed, some months later, that these bizarre camera/lights had been installed not only all around Union Square but also around Washington Square Park. I posted a photo I took of them, and asked: "What is this?" Commentators who had lived in China said that they were the same camera/streetlight combinations that are mounted around public places in China. These are enabled for facial recognition technology, which allows police to watch video that is tagged to individuals, in real time. When too many people congregate, they can be dispersed and intimidated simply by the risk of being identified – before dissent can coalesce. (Another of my Facebook commentators said that such lamppost cameras had been installed in Michigan, and that they barked "Obey", at pedestrians. This, too, sounded highly implausible – until this week in Richmond, British Columbia, near the Vancouver airport, when I was startled as the lamppost in the intersection started talking to me – in this case, instructing me on how to cross (as though I were blind or partially sighted).

The funny bit to me is that you lot are complaining up and down about your "gunz" and "statism"; one the other hand, here is a serious bit of intrusion on your privacy, yet you lot are SILENT.

Is it because it's not coming from the "State", but private enterprise?

Or is it because your masters haven't told you that you need to say anything about it?

I'm hearing you sing:

We are poor little lambs
Who have lost our way.
Baa! Baa! Baa!
We are little black sheep
Who have gone astray.
Baa! Baa! Baa!

Big Brother in Sacramento

How is it possible that surveillance like this does not help fight crime? I've heard this claim before that the reports indicate no benefit, but I have to say I find it hard to believe. What do you think?

What exactly is the danger of this kind of thing? Is the lack of privacy something to be feared? Why? Is it part of the overall trend towards fascism in America, as we discussed before?

Actually, I tend to believe everything the Liberal Viewer has to say. But, this one makes me wonder. Do you think there are reports that come to the opposite conclusion, ones that show the benefit of surveillance?

Mick Jagger Knew about it in 1974

Fingerprint File - The Rolling Stones
M. Jagger/K. Richards)

Fingerprint file, you get me down
You keep me running Know my way around.
Yes, you do, child Fingerprint file, you bring me down
Keep me running
You keep me on the ground
Know my moves
Way ahead of time Listening to me
On your satellite
Feeling followed
Feeling tagged
Crossing water
Trying to wipe my tracks
And there's some little jerk in the FBI
A keepin' papers on me six feet high
It gets me down, it gets me down, it gets me down
You better watch out
On your telephone
Wrong number
They know you ain't home
And there's some little jerk in the FBI
A keepin' papers on me six feet high
It gets me down, it gets me down, it gets me down
Who's the man on the corner; that corner over there I don't know.
Well, you better lay low.
Watch out
Keep on the look out
Electric eyes
Rats on the sell out
Who gonna testify
You know my habits
Way a head of time
Listening to me
On your satellite
And there's some little jerk in the FBI
A keepin' papers on me six feet high
It gets me down, it gets me down, it gets me down
It gets me down
Hello, baby, mm-hmm
Ah, yeah, you know we ain't, we ain't talkin' alone
Who's listening?
Well I don't really know
But you better tell the SIS to keep out of sight
'Cause I know they takin' pictures on the ultraviolet light
Yes, uh huh, yeah, but these days it's all secrecy; no privacy
Shoot first, that' s right... you know
Bye bye.
Right now somebody is listening to...... you
Keeping their eyes peeled...... on you
Mmm, mmm, what a price, what a price to pay
All right.
Good night, sleep tight

Is Fascism Coming to the United States?

According to Naomi Wolf it's already here, almost. In a thought-provoking article the Star News Online describes the dire situation as Wolf sees it. (h/t to Patrick in California)

Comparing coups from the Nazis' rise to power in Germany to the Pinochet regime in Chile, Wolf identified key 10 steps in the fall of democracy. Among these: the invoking of a terrifying external threat, the creation of secret prisons, a rise in domestic surveillance, the harassment of citizens' groups, a crackdown on the press and the treating of dissent as treason.

It would certainly be hard to deny the signals she cites, but does that mean we're headed down the path to the kind of government control described so forcefully in George Orwell's 1984? Even folks who break no laws and have never suffered harassment of any kind have noticed the frightening and ever-increasing video surveillance.

The first video talks about The List which is ostensibly maintained for airport security. The second video describes how Blackwater has been mandated for domestic security work.

Watching these from the vantage point of Europe makes me wonder if I should come home to the US, change my stance on personal weapons and prepare for the upcoming fight or if perhaps I should move even farther away. What would you do if you were me? Do you think this is paranoia? Isn't there too much money invested in America's capitalism to allow something like the government taking over? Is it a valid comparison to say the US today is like the Germany of 1931?