The future doesn't announce itself; rather, it softly drifts in, like fog or mist.
Now comes the inevitable next step on the road to a real-life world of "Minority Report"-like surveillance and observation, 24/7/365, anywhere and everywhere.
Read Debbie Howlett's story, from today's USA Today, about Chicago's imminent real-time video grid, scheduled to go live in March, 2006.
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Chicago Plans Advanced Surveillance
A surveillance system that uses 2,000 remote-control cameras and motion-sensing software to spot crimes or terrorist acts as they happen is being planned for the city.
Mayor Richard Daley said the cameras would be tied to a network armed with software to alert authorities to suspicious behavior.
If that sounds a little like Big Brother is watching, he might be.
"Cameras are the equivalent of hundreds of sets of eyes," Mayor Richard Daley said Thursday.
"They are the next best thing to having police officers stationed at every potential trouble spot."
The system would exceed existing projects in how it would tie cameras to emergency operations, said Ron Huberman, executive director of the city's Office of Emergency Management.
Neither the courts nor the American Civil Liberties Union have objected to cameras in public places, saying there is no expectation of privacy on a city street.
"We live in a video world," said Ed Yohnka of the ACLU of Illinois.
The high-definition, motorized cameras can rotate 360 degrees and include night-vision capability.
They will be mounted on buildings and utility poles across the city.
Most are already in use — 30 by the police department and 1,000 at O'Hare International Airport. Other cameras are on elevated train platforms and the city's 600 schools. An additional 250 cameras yet to be installed will raise the number to more than 2,000.
The city is also considering allowing private companies to join the network, for a fee.
Officials said the system size is nearly limitless.
Article comments
1 - Bill Wallo
This may be many things, but to compare it to Minority Report's "pre-cog/pre-crime" unit seems problematic to me. There's a big difference between arresting people based on what they might do in the future and monitoring people and arresting them for what they are doing in the present. Yes, it may be invasive and raises all sorts of civil liberty questions, but at the very least they are being arrested for actual crimes.