Pubdate: Fri, 07 Sep 2001
Source: Christian Science Monitor (US)
Copyright: 2001 The Christian Science Publishing Society
Contact:  http://www.csmonitor.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/83
Author: Jeffrey Shaffer

WATCH THE WATCHERS

PORTLAND, ORE. - Almost every week, I see new evidence that our country is 
gradually turning into a "global village." Gone are the days when people 
could move to a big city and become unidentified bystanders on crowded 
sidewalks. For better or worse, we are losing opportunities to exist 
anonymously.

Once again, history comes full circle.

In earlier times, residents of small towns maintained networks of community 
surveillance to keep track of outsiders, or neighbors who aroused suspicion.

Advanced technology is now putting more and more of us under the same 
pervasive scrutiny whenever we step out the front door.

Juanita Lozano knows what I mean. Last month she was sentenced to a year in 
jail for mailing secret Republican debate material to the Al Gore campaign 
and then lying about it to a grand jury. Crucial evidence was provided by a 
post office security camera that caught her on tape as she mailed the 
package in question.

It's hard to walk around the block these days without having your face 
recorded and stored in some electronic archive.

There are videocams in grocery stores, schools, banks, airports, and 
numerous other venues.

If this situation was an episode of "Star Trek," Captain Kirk would 
probably conclude that our planet had been colonized by Alan Funt and the 
staff of "Candid Camera." A news story in early July reported that Tampa, 
Fla., has become the first American city to scan public streets, looking 
for people with outstanding arrest warrants.

Anyone who manages to avoid detection by earthbound lenses still has to 
contend with more sophisticated devices such as the IKONOS satellite 
lurking 400 miles overhead.

I was impressed by its high-resolution photos of the EP-3 Navy airplane on 
Hainan Island, and it was also used recently to uncover other vital 
information: the secret African location of "Survivor III." CBS had been 
trying to keep the site in Kenya under wraps in order to maximize viewer 
interest before the show's airing in October. I dread the day when IKONOS 
starts sending pictures of my backyard to the city weed-control bureau.

Sometimes, people hiding secrets get ambushed by unexpected adversaries. 
Private detectives hired by suspicious Little League coaches were unable to 
learn the true age of pitching sensation Danny Almonte, but Sports 
Illustrated cracked the case faster than you can say "Dick Tracy." Who 
would have guessed the scribes were also super sleuths?

If the Bush administration acted quickly to form a public-private 
partnership and link the investigative powers of Sports Illustrated with 
the technical resources of the CIA, I think Osama bin Laden would be under 
arrest in time to watch the World Series from his jail cell.

While it's true that a lot of privacy-busting is aimed at criminals, many 
Americans are alarmed by our society's increasing powers of observation. 
What we need to do is make sure we're keeping a watchful eye on the 
watchers at all times.

And that shouldn't be too hard, since we've gotten so good at keeping our 
eyes on just about everything else.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth