> Rizzo is dead. Long live the intelligent panopticon.
Maybe in the bounded application you describe, with (at least) the consent of the observed. But I have to wonder what success here will be used to justify as life continues to imitate _Minority Report_.
In China, a high-tech plan to track people
China plans the world's largest effort to meld the latest computer technology with police work.
The New York Times By Keith Bradsher The New York Times Published: August 12, 2007, 6:00 AM PDT
SHENZHEN, China-- At least 20,000 police surveillance cameras are being installed along streets here in southern China and will soon be guided by sophisticated computer software from an American-financed company to recognize automatically the faces of police suspects and detect unusual activity.
Starting this month in a port neighborhood and then spreading across Shenzhen, a city of 12.4 million people, residency cards fitted with powerful computer chips programmed by the same company will be issued to most citizens.
Data on the chip will include not just the citizen's name and address but also work history, educational background, religion, ethnicity, police record, medical insurance status and landlord's phone number. Even personal reproductive history will be included, for enforcement of China's controversial "one child" policy. Plans are being studied to add credit histories, subway travel payments and small purchases charged to the card.
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-- Andy