Surveillance camera at Van Ness and McKinley
The other day I noticed this sign at the corner of Van Ness and McKinley. I looked up and there was the surveillance camera. I wondered why they would put a camera on this corner. It doesn't seem to be a high crime area. It's practically on the campus of FCC, with the bookstores right there on two corners across the street from the campus. Maybe the camera is old, but the sign is new.
But, seeing how that anyone with a computer can look at a photo/satellite image of your house or place of business with Google maps I guess all privacy is gone.
Go to Google maps, enter any address and click on street view and it brings up what looks like a photograph. You can 'walk' up and down the street, turn it around 360', tilt and see up close.
I walked across the Golden Gate bridge the other day, looked at an old house we lived in years ago and saw a UPS truck in stop motion in the middle of the intersection of Castro and 24th in SF.
Bugs
they have Volkswagon Bugs with plastic domes on top. There are a bunch of cameras inside the dome that record where the car drives. I had been waiting to see the day they drove Fresno. They had big cities done really quick a couple years ago, I saw them in SF a while back. The car has Google written on the side and when you see the dome, you know what's going on. All the car does is drive around and record. That's how they get the street view. I'm sure they GPS it really well so they can tie it into satellite imagery. Pretty trick.
Diablo
Is Google Street View all
Is Google Street View all satellite or digital photos or a combination of the two? Someone told me they are satellite, but at the north end of the Golden Gate there's a tunnel and you can actually go through the mile long tunnel. Satellites can't see through mountains. At least I don't think they can.
We in the public can't see back yards or other non-public areas in Google street view, but I'm pretty sure Google and Gov't authorities can if they want to.
I'm just amazed at the quality and detail of the images. In the image of the parking lot of St. Therese on Maroa you can clearly see five people sitting in a circle.
Big Brother is Watching You
Watch out those cameras can be every were now.
I think it was some time in June of 2007 that Google Street View captured Fresno's Streets.
Prostitution
I was walking to my car from a friends house after SCRG's party on Saturday. I was at the intersection of Floradora and Van Ness when a police car swooped up on me and began questioning me about where i was coming from, what i was doing. It was 3:30am and i was dressed inappropriately for the time it was (fishnets, short skirt, torn t-shirt) and he asked me if i had just turned a trick. i said yes because i just couldnt resist.
he didnt think it was funny because apparently in the witching hour, that intersection becomes a high traffic prostitution area and i was prime target. luckily i was able to walk back to my friend house and stay there but imagine all the money i wouldve made if he wouldnt have rolled up on me.
damn po-po! always trying to keep the man, er, woman down!
Governments will continue to
Governments will continue to waste money on these type of programs and convince you that they are doing more to keep you safe. Fact is, if a crime happens to you they are not going to jump out of that camera and prevent it.
The United Kingdom has been doing this for years now. A quote from the BBC:
"There are up to 4.2m CCTV cameras in Britain - about one for every 14 people."
Talk about 1984. If people do nothing to prevent their governments from doing this they will just keep taking more and more of your liberties away. Then when you have nothing left you will be scratching your head wondering why you are now scared of your own government rather than a true criminal.
eye spy Tower Crime
Makes me want to put on my black trench coat and big dark sunglasses and stand on the corner holding a newspaper with 2 eye holes cut out just to see how long it would take for my "suspicious activity" to be noticed.
Seriously, given the number of Tower Folks who have been jumped and or robbed in the area over the last year even with ALL the Officers of the Law roaming freely with their fallible human eyes, it might not be a bad idea.
Just kidding. I loathe Big Brother watching me.
However, I would like to pose the question:
How is it that the crime rate in the Tower is going sky high when you can't throw a rock with out hitting one of those new bad-ass police cars?
Could it be because chasing after a petty thief isn't as lucrative as sitting in front of Livingstones on a Saturday night waiting for drunk drivers?
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