How well have we heeded that warning?
There are at least 200 cameras in City parking garages alone. With cameras also in and on other city buildings, libraries and the coliseum, in parks and on public streets, inside and outside city buses and mounted to the front and rear of police cars, not to mention handheld, helmet mounted and maybe even airborne, it's not inconceivable that Greensboro citizens are being monitored by thousands of cameras, unaware as they simply go about their lives.
How many surveillance cameras does the City maintain? What are they watching? What are they doing with the information they collect? Are they also recording audio, recognizing faces, storing license plates? Who is watching and under what circumstances? Have these systems been deployed surreptitiously or have our elected representatives given their explicit approval?
Have we, the people, given our consent to the monitoring that is underway? How could we have if we don't even know the extent of it?
I have made multiple requests for a variety of records from the City of Greensboro that would shed some light on this topic. So far, the City has refused to provide any records that would answer any of these questions. None.
The City will not even release a single video segment from the alleged downtown melee that occurred on July 4th of this year, even though the City Attorney initially said they should and the City Manager said they would and even though release of this video would greatly serve the public interest as the alleged event is being cited by City Councilor Zack Matheny as a reason to reconsider a downtown curfew and since no other visual records (oddly, in my opinion) are to be found on the Internet.
Crowdsource me. If I've missed some video or pictures of the July 4th event, please bring them to my attention in the comments. The only thing I could find was this interview with someone who says he was threatened with tear gas and describes:
"six or seven police kicking another guy... holding him on the ground kinda kicking him."
In the mean time, I wait for the City to adjust their response to my requests to conform with North Carolina public records law. I'll keep you posted.
Thank you.
ReplyDeleteAnd if you knew where to look and could hack your way in the city's camera's, are all on the Internet. They have a problem though. Having used the same cameras and same camera installation company that the City uses while on my last job (I can still watch those cameras from home.) I know that unless data is intentionally saved it is automatically deleted after about 10 days to free up server space.
ReplyDeleteI'm betting the city won't release the video because someone forgot to download and save it. As GPD is sadly aware, it wouldn't be the first time it has happened.
Billy, public records law requires that these videos be preserved for 30 days. When we were coming up on that deadline, I requested that they be preserved while we worked this out. The city attorney instructed staff to do that.
ReplyDeleteI have also requested that the city provide information about who is viewing video, including by internet access.
Default setting on the system is much less than 30 days. I'm betting no one ever thought to change the default setting and the City is afraid to admit their mistake.
ReplyDeleteThat last anonymous comment above was me. Billy, one of the easiest ways to end a records request is to deny that a record exists. Since they haven't done that and since the city attorney instructed staff to preserve the footage, I think it exists and is being maintained.
ReplyDeleteI was almost certain the anon comment was you, Roch. ;-)
ReplyDeleteMy thinking is you're probably right. The City is trying to protect the City from something that is on those video files.
PS. Please reread my updated post from yesterday. I reflected on what you wrote and added more.