Surveillance is in the saddle. Responding to the latest Justice Department terror alert, Washington police opened the Joint Operation Command Center of the Synchronized Operations Command Complex (S.O.C.C.). In it, 50 officials monitor a wall of 40 video screens showing images of travelers, drivers, residents and pedestrians.
These used to be the Great Unwatched, free people conducting their private lives; now they are under close surveillance by hundreds of hidden cameras. A zoom lens enables the watchers to focus on the face of a tourist walking toward the Washington Monument or Lincoln Memorial. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/18/opinion/18SAFI.html
