Wingless Wonder

iTrader: (7)

Would future provisions in the U.S. Patriot Act incorporate sophisticated vehicle surveillance such as Great Britain's?

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/tra...icle334686.ece

By Steve Connor, Science Editor
Published: 22 December 2005

Britain is to become the first country in the world where the movements of all vehicles on the roads are recorded. A new national surveillance system will hold the records for at least two years.

Using a network of cameras that can automatically read every passing number plate, the plan is to build a huge database of vehicle movements so that the police and security services can analyse any journey a driver has made over several years.

The network will incorporate thousands of existing CCTV cameras which are being converted to read number plates automatically night and day to provide 24/7 coverage of all motorways and main roads, as well as towns, cities, ports and petrol-station forecourts.

By next March a central database installed alongside the Police National Computer in Hendon, north London, will store the details of 35 million number-plate "reads" per day. These will include time, date and precise location, with camera sites monitored by global positioning satellites.

Already there are plans to extend the database by increasing the storage period to five years and by linking thousands of additional cameras so that details of up to 100 million number plates can be fed each day into the central databank.

Senior police officers have described the surveillance network as possibly the biggest advance in the technology of crime detection and prevention since the introduction of DNA fingerprinting.

But others concerned about civil liberties will be worried that the movements of millions of law-abiding people will soon be routinely recorded and kept on a central computer database for years.

The new national data centre of vehicle movements will form the basis of a sophisticated surveillance tool that lies at the heart of an operation designed to drive criminals off the road.

In the process, the data centre will provide unrivalled opportunities to gather intelligence data on the movements and associations of organised gangs and terrorist suspects whenever they use cars, vans or motorcycles.

The scheme is being orchestrated by the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) and has the full backing of ministers who have sanctioned the spending of £24m this year on equipment.

More than 50 local authorities have signed agreements to allow the police to convert thousands of existing traffic cameras so they can read number plates automatically. The data will then be transmitted to Hendon via a secure police communications network.

Chief constables are also on the verge of brokering agreements with the Highways Agency, supermarkets and petrol station owners to incorporate their own CCTV cameras into the network. In addition to cross-checking each number plate against stolen and suspect vehicles held on the Police National Computer, the national data centre will also check whether each vehicle is lawfully licensed, insured and has a valid MoT test certificate.

"Every time you make a car journey already, you'll be on CCTV somewhere. The difference is that, in future, the car's index plates will be read as well," said Frank Whiteley, Chief Constable of Hertfordshire and chairman of the Acpo steering committee on automatic number plate recognition (ANPR).

"What the data centre should be able to tell you is where a vehicle was in the past and where it is now, whether it was or wasn't at a particular location, and the routes taken to and from those crime scenes. Particularly important are associated vehicles," Mr Whiteley said.

The term "associated vehicles" means analysing convoys of cars, vans or trucks to see who is driving alongside a vehicle that is already known to be of interest to the police. Criminals, for instance, will drive somewhere in a lawful vehicle, steal a car and then drive back in convoy to commit further crimes "You're not necessarily interested in the stolen vehicle. You're interested in what's moving with the stolen vehicle," Mr Whiteley explained.

According to a strategy document drawn up by Acpo, the national data centre in Hendon will be at the heart of a surveillance operation that should deny criminals the use of the roads.

"The intention is to create a comprehensive ANPR camera and reader infrastructure across the country to stop displacement of crime from area to area and to allow a comprehensive picture of vehicle movements to be captured," the Acpo strategy says.

"This development forms the basis of a 24/7 vehicle movement database that will revolutionise arrest, intelligence and crime investigation opportunities on a national basis," it says.

Mr Whiteley said MI5 will also use the database. "Clearly there are values for this in counter-terrorism," he said.

"The security services will use it for purposes that I frankly don't have access to. It's part of public protection. If the security services did not have access to this, we'd be negligent."

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0==WW==0
"…axles of evil…" - george w. bush

HellaDumb

iTrader: (3)

I'd prefer racial profiling.

MVWRX

iTrader: (1)

No s*** helladumb...we all know you'd rather innocent people be hassled and molested than actuall freedom happen...

Wingless Wonder

iTrader: (7)

Profiling doesn't track movement like camera surveillance with real-time logging using character reading software. Even terrorists like the convenience of driving. The limitation of a traffic camera solution is that it would only be applicable to major thoroughfares, not every single street, back alley, or rural road.

--
0==WW==0
"…axles of evil…" - george w. bush

lojasmo

It also misses the rightwing white terrorists. Like the ones that attacked on U.S. soil before 9-11

HellaDumb

iTrader: (3)

Don't be stupid. Whites are generally serial killers and also make up homegrown militant groups, and Muslim Arabs want to cut your head off.

But seriously, there are crossovers in every group and race, but profiling does indeed work. Race is just one part of it, so don't don't get carried away.

Like most Americans, we are for protections that don't limit our freedoms. The whole reason for this thread is because what's been done in the U.K. is oppressive(yes, even to me), but is probably necessary to protect a country that immigrates millions of people that want to destroy it and kill its infadels.

I'd rather address the problems that lead to this kind of survelance being necessary. I don't want a freaking subdermal chip or bar code on me but that's where we are headed. That's about all it would take to turn half of the U.S. population in to home-grown terrorists.

Would you rather have that, or just change immigration policy?

lojasmo

False Dichotomy.

HellaDumb

iTrader: (3)

Hahahahhahhhahah cummon, you know it's true, just not PC.

lojasmo

I know that your assertion is unproven, as are most of your assertions.

There is no evidence showing that a change in immigration law will protect us from terrorism.

HellaDumb

iTrader: (3)

Huh? Show me one 9/11 hijacker that was U.S. born!!! Dude, are you f'n kidding me? You need some Ritalin or something... that or jam some smelling salt up both nostrils.

Oh, yeah, that little 9/11 thing you totally forgot about.....

lojasmo

That is not evidence which backs your claim. There is no evidence that those people wouldn't have been able to get here if immigration law was different than it is. Those people were ingenuous and well funded. I would postulate that different immigration laws wouldn't make one whit of difference.

Of course, if Bush hadn't allowed the emmigration of all the saudi nationals and Bin Ladens the day after 9-11...that might have made some difference.

HellaDumb

iTrader: (3)

You really are a moron, or do a good job pretending to be one.

Just like this country has strict and specific export restrictions, we should have similar "human import restrictions." Do you think humans raised to hate America and later trained to kill will act civilized once on US soil? Do politicians think we have magic dirt or something?

Wouldn't you rather see close monitoring and restrictions of visitors, or would you rather we just pretend to secure the country in some PC fashion, frisking 80 year old women?

This is what really bugs me about liberals. They are the first to scream bloody murder about the patriot act, but the last to contribute any good ideas about national security. Wake up!

Unregistered

Have any evidence yet hella?

This is what really bugs me about republicans. They are the first to scream bloody murder about any issue, but then are the last to contribute any evidence to back their claims. Wake up!

lojasmo

I believe we should restrict the immigration of saudi nationals.

19 of the 21 9/11 hijackers were saudis. There's my idea for improving national security by modifiying immigration laws.....and it's evidence based too!