If the NYPD Harlem Panopticon wasn't enough of an intrusion for you into your private life, don't step foot on Liberty Island to visit the Statue of Liberty if you hope to preserve the remaining tatters of your anonymity:
Liberty Island's video cameras all feed into a computer system. The park doesn't disclose details, but fully equipped, the system is capable of running software that analyzes the imagery and automatically alerts human overseers to any suspicious events. The software can spot when somebody abandons a bag or backpack. It has the ability to discern between ferryboats, which are allowed to approach the island, and private vessels, which are not.Cameras and megapixels are cheaper than ever and that means a greater amount of better, higher quality, cameras are available to record our every breath and movement. Do you feel safer? Or do you feel more violated?
And it can count bodies, detecting if somebody is trying to stay on the island after closing, or assessing when people are grouped too tightly together, which might indicate a fight or gang activity. "A camera with artificial intelligence can be there 24/7, doesn't need a bathroom break, doesn't need a lunch break and doesn't go on vacation," says Ian Ehrenberg, former vice president of Nice Systems, the program's developer.
An ABC News/Washington Post poll in July 2007 found that 71 percent of Americans favor increased video surveillance. There are an estimated 30 million surveillance cameras now deployed in the United States shooting 4 billion hours of footage a week.
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