[Mpls] Cameras, cameras everywhere!

[Nathan Hunstad]

It didn't take long for people to prove that privacy concerns really ARE valid. 
What was once just "red light cameras" quickly became "drug dealing cameras," 
"loitering cameras," and who knows what else.  Maybe some people would prefer 
living in a society with a camera at every corner waiting to catch criminals. 
Not me.  I don't run red lights (or have affairs), but I am a criminal, as is 
everybody else here.  I don't drive 55 MPH on I-94 between the downtowns.  I 
may do a "rolling stop" at a stop sign once in a while when there is no 
traffic.  Is putting up cameras to catch me and everybody else going to stop 
this behaviour?  No.

The same thing goes for cameras catching drug dealing.  I'm sick of the war on 
drugs and the last thing we need is another expensive battle.  Can anybody 
explain to me how a camera is going to prevent people from having the urge to 
use drugs?  The only thing it will do is drive the activity somewhere else. 
Even if it does catch something, are drug dealers going to be so thoughtful as 
to pay the $100 fine?  If not, then in the end we will have to throw them in 
jail.  We already incarcerate more people than just about any other country on 
the planet and we still have all these problems.  Somehow, I doubt that 
"PhotoDrugCop" is going to solve anything.

Often times, the "slippery slope" argument is not valid, but I think it is 
here.  After seeing what cameras at red lights can do, lots of people with good 
intentions start calling for cameras as the answer to all those problems that 
are the bane of urban life.  Let's not forget what good intentions can get you.

===
Nathan Hunstad
CARAG
Minneapolis, MN
PGP DH/DSS public key -- http://www.angelfire.com/mn/freakpower/nhpubkey.txt
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