Residents of a major American city have been spied upon through a shady government program.
They didn’t know a thing about it — and it looks like the kind of thing that could happen just about anywhere.
Baltimore police, using money provided by a wealthy, anonymous donor, have been surveilling the city with a manned plane loaded with cameras that can view 30 square miles.
The existence of the program was made public Tuesday in a lengthy report by Bloomberg Businessweek.
At a news conference on Wednesday, Police Department spokesman T.J. Smith repeatedly insisted to reporters that the test program, which began in January, was not a secret.
“It’s not a secret spy plane,” Smith said as reporters pressed him for an explanation for the lack of information. “There’s no conspiracy to not disclose it.”
Of course, citizens didn’t know about it — and it was not disclosed.
The test program lets the department evaluate the effectiveness of a potential tool in the department’s crime-fighting arsenal, Smith said.
The program tests products and services from Persistent Surveillance Systems. Phase 1, Smith said, included 100 hours of the plane flying over the city in January and February. The program is now in Phase 2, working toward 200 hours that began in mid-June. Phase 2 will end in a few weeks; the department “doesn’t have a plan to move forward beyond that,” Smith said.
The ACLU of Maryland expressed outrage at the program. “The fact that the (police department) has been engaged in a secret program of mass surveillance is both incomprehensible and unacceptable,” David Rocah, senior staff attorney, said in a statement.
“The surveillance program itself is a privacy nightmare come to life and precisely what we have warned against for years,” Rocah continued.
Smith said at the news conference, “We aren’t surveilling or tracking anyone. The only ones who should be concerned are criminals.”
Sounds like something Big Brother would say.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
I can see them using these to spy on people in Baltimore. Maybe they are really watching the conduct of the police in this racial biased city. They also need to have one or two flying over Chicago for the gang violence, of Blacks shooting Blacks.
i would hope that the election polls are scrutinized in the same manner , ID should be a requirement….
Trump/Pence 2016
my husband has the same sentiment. I doubt it will ever happen but it would stop any kind of voting fraud if it were allowed.
Yeah, it is a total POS program and should never ever be used. You don’t just track criminals with these systems, but make criminals out of everyday citizens. Privacy is our right as American citizens and it is already vastly out of control since we started the Patriot Act. Nothing like a forever or lifetime war on terror…
And the government has created a huge number of people taking free program handouts, that there will never be a critical mass of us true American’s who work and pay taxes to vote out the politicians making this happen. Revolution Part Two is the only way.
The Declaration of Independence is frighteningly appropriate for today.
Terror from our own government is so hard to find out or do any thing about! This we have been warned about for years and is coming truer every day. Keep your guns to protect yourself against our government!
Sure they don’t have a ‘phase 3 plan’. It’s now called an ‘operation’ and is likely funded, scheduled and ready to go.
I think we should not judge this as “invasion of privacy” until we know all the facts. Did you say planes watching cars on the road were unjust? Remember those little white paint rectangles on the road. They could find speeders by counting seconds between the blocks. I think we need to support our police. They could be simply watching for large groups starting to gather, gang wars, or even be on hand if a crime is reported–to help possibly find the person (s). Just like the news jumps on a black person shot by police–GET THE FACTS FIRST.
Is this sarcasm? The bit about “until we know all the facts”?
You do realize by the time WE THE PEOPLE are “allowed” to “know the facts” it’s already a “done deal”, right?
(over used quote marks for emphasis)
Catlady…….your name says it all.
In one of Trumps recent speaches he said he was going to increase survalence to make us more secure.
I hope they have fun watching us out here in the hinderlands. They might learn where their food and fiber comes from. Ok, I do get it, no one but no one should be spying like that. Probably preparing to herd us all into UN FEMA camps.
So how many criminals has this surveillance caught and what were their crimes? With increasing improvements in facial recognition software it is likely in the next few years that governments will track the movements of their citizens and build up a huge information database on each of us. They will know more about us than we know. This will make it easy to control us if the need arises.
Using private Gen Av planes??
My guess
& link to ground sensors, cameras alone.
Or the Web.
Scary
I don’t feel offended by this because I am a law abiding citizen and not worried about it, The thing that bothers me is they have not said exactly what they are using it for and the purpose for it. If it to catch criminals doing things or for riot situations then it should be explained because it is obvious that the plane does not fly 24/7. If it is for helping law officials and to cut down on crime then how does this program work.?
As for the privacy thing there are programs that the government has that can get into your laptop and see inside your house when your pc is on, the cell phone companies have programs that can turn your cell phone on even after you have it off so they can if need be find the location of the phone (mostly for emergency reasons) but if the gov’t wants to know where you are they can do it through your cell phone and the only way they can not turn it on or track your phone is if you actually take the battery out of it. So a program such as the plane should not be a surprise and if your not doing illegal then it shouldn’t offend anyone.
People want crime to be fought but then when something like this comes out they complain and say it’s not politically correct to do things like this. which in turn is not making it easier to fight crime.
I personally find it amusing that the government, politicians, as well as the police, DEMAND privacy, and yet, as an American citizen and taxpayer, you are not entitled to ANY.
Thankfully, Judicial watch has been going full bore on exposing Hillary Rotten Clinton’s dealings while SOS, while Congress does nothing. (They’re just along for the spectacular pay, retirement, benefits, and perks)
While the police revel in monitoring YOUR actions via various video security nets and measures, check out THEIR reaction if YOU OR I video tape THEIR actions.
Somehow this country is no longer “for and by the people’, but is becoming more and more a communist regime, with the government dictating every nuiance of the citizen’s lives, from healthcare, education, employment, housing, and the latest being “choose the sex that YOU identify with”. (I find it hard to comprehend that Obama is not as queer as a $3 bill. Check out every video he is seen in with legs crossed, a quite effeminate mannerism)
The question that remains is how far will America continue down it’s present downward decline before it implodes???????
We need a dramatic change in course, and soon….
i have a friend who is literally a rocket scientist; his current job – for Boeing – involves semi-stationary drone monitors which are high enough that they cannot be seen by the naked eye, yet monitor everything going on below them.
So if Baltimore WAS using “planes” to do their surveillance, they’re WAY behind the times.
The trouble with Law in America these days is that the basics – e.g. the right to be secure in our persons, property, and effects (4th Amendment) is routinely ignored by agents of the USG, all of whom – as officeholders – are sworn to “preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic(which includes themselves). Yet when clear 4th Amendment violations are exposed(see Wikileaks, Snowden, and Manning, for examples), guess how many prosecutions have taken place?
i’ll tell ya: ZERO.
Anyone who violates their oaths of office are defacto Oath-breakers…and, therefore, PERJURERS. Unless and until oath-breakers are as routinely arrested, tried, and convicted as are sworn litigants and witnesses in courts – and for the exact same reason, lying under oath – Americans stand ZERO chance of regaining control of their alleged employees and public servants. Because Americans have been lax about enforcing Oaths of Office, therefore these criminals have gotten away with perjury, grown bold in that perjury, and – like The Liar – believe now that they are impervious to justice finding them and compelling them to obey or be jailed.
Officeholders need to FEAR the People. Because they currently DO NOT fear us, therefore they have become our masters and tyrants.
Constitutionalist,
Agree, agree, agree!
(I like your stuff. Keep up the good work!)
NO MORE CLINTONS, NO MORE OBAMAS, NO MORE LORETTA LYNCH, NO MORE COMEY, NO MORE KERRY
Criminals watching criminals.
Technology…. goes both ways… can be used for good or bad…. Vote Trump in and those cams will go to protection of USA.