Is Texas Border Watch the Future of Public Surveillance?

[Ivan Seeking]

Texas puts border patrol cameras in the public domain.

The Texas Border Watch Test Site has closed as the state proceeds with a formal request for proposals to implement a permanent Texas Border Watch web site. During the month-long test of this site, more than 200,000 viewers subscribed to the site, and more than 25 million hits were recorded,generating more than 13,000 emails. Some wrote to alert law enforcement officials to suspicious activity, others to recommend improvements to the website or offer other comments. Many of the recommendations for improvements to the website were incorporated during the test period and will be part of the RFP the state issues.
The month-long test also demonstrated the high interest Texans -- and residents of other states -- have in border security. We thank all participants who visited this site, and we will notify you when the fully operational site is brought on line.

http://www.texasborderwatch.com/

An interesting idea, I'm surprised this slipped below the RADAR until now.

Big Brother is you?

 

[J77]

That's priceless!

Who are they protecting themselves from?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Illegal immigrants; many of whom are hardened criminals such as the members of MS-13, and potentially Al Qaeda members. Illegal immigrants are destroying our cities.

You need to get out more. Perhaps you haven't heard about the border conflicts where authorities were backed down by armed immigrants and drug runners.

 

[chroot]

I suppose they envision tens of thousands of people sitting on their fat asses every night with a beer in their hands, watching border security cameras on the internet as a form of entertainment.

It'll probably work. Convince people it's 'fun' and they'll work for the government for free. Unfortunately, it'll only be fun if those rascally Mexicans really try to cross the border frequently enough to make watching all those cameras exciting. Americans seem to have a particularly lousy attention span, so it'll have to be action-packed like Cops to keep people tuned in.

I can see it now: the government starts sending fake Mexicans across the border in the middle of the night, just to keep their legions of unpaid camera-watchers excited enough to keep watching.

- Warren

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I can see it now: the government starts sending fake Mexicans across the border in the middle of the night, just to keep their legions of unpaid camera-watchers excited enough to keep watching.

- Warren

And offering prizes for those who spot the most illegals!

This is actually a little too Orwellian for my tastes.

 

[Math Is Hard]

I can see it now: the government starts sending fake Mexicans across the border in the middle of the night, just to keep their legions of unpaid camera-watchers excited enough to keep watching.

...i am just picturing actors in giant sombreros with big fake mustaches ...

 

[chroot]

Exactly. "Hey, look ma! That big one with the fancy sombrero done got him a big ol' bag of weed too! Lemme click that report button this time!"

- Warren

 

[Math Is Hard]

Exactly. "Hey, look ma! That big one with the fancy sombrebro done got him a big ol' bag of weed too! Lemme click that report button this time!"

- Warren

 

[J77]

Illegal immigrants are destroying our cities.

Dirty. Filthy. Bastards.