Smile: You're On Surveillance Camera

By Margaret Lyons in News on Sep 9, 2004 9:11PM

Mayor Daley unveiled a plan today that would link 2,000 surveillance cameras in public places around the city. Most of the cameras are already in place, but the $5.1 million project would add about 250 more. Thanks, Homeland Security!

Daley said that "'cameras are the equivalent of hundreds of sets of eyes'" and denied that the surveillance network would invade anyone's privacy. We don't know about you, but we fucking love it when there are hundreds of sets of eyes on us, so this should be really spectacular.

"City officials said they studied surveillance systems used by Las Vegas casinos, along with the Department of Defense and the City of London," so we can all take comfort in the examples we're following. We can hear it now: Casinos! Department of Defense! Chicago! Yeah, that's definitely the crowd we want to run with.

Before you get to skeeved, people won't be watching the cameras all the time. Phew. Oh wait, just kidding, it'll be software-monitored, which might be creepier. The software will detect anything unusual and then clue in city staffers. The project is expected to take effect in spring 2006, at which point we can all sleep better thanks to the delicious lullaby of hundreds of thousands of computer-controlled robot eyes watching our every public move.