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Chicago Becomes Oceania: Big Brother is Watching Illinois Pantagraph | September 21 2004 It may have taken a couple extra decades for George Orwell's predictions in his book "1984" to come true, but Big Brother is watching. In Orwell's book, the residents of Oceania were under near constant surveillance. Sounds like Chicago of the near future. Mayor Richard Daley is developing a network of more than 2,000 surveillance cameras that would be linked to a computerized network programmed to recognize suspicious or emergency situations. Most of the cameras are already in place at O'Hare International Airport, on transit lines, in public housing buildings and schools and in high-crime areas. The new development would be the software designed to detect unusual activity, notify emergency officials and allow 911 operators to access the image. There is something vaguely discomforting at the thought of being watched by government cameras, even if they are in public places. In reality, more of these unblinking eyes probably look at us every day -- even in Bloomington-Normal -- than any of us realize. But do we really want to emulate London, where it's estimated the average person passes in view of 300 cameras a day? --------------------------- |
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