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NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with
power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams

Saturday, November 12, 2011

BIG BROTHER now has an eye in the sky


"The thought police would get him just the same. He had committed--would have committed, even if he had never set pen to paper--the essential crime that contained all others in itself. Thoughtcrime, they called it. Thoughtcrime was not a thing that could be concealed forever. You might dodge successfully for a while, even for years, but sooner or later they were bound to get you."
- George Orwell, 1984, Book 1, Chapter 1


Big Brother  -  A California City will record your every movement from the sky and then transmit those images to the Sheriff's Department in order to "protect" you.



Big Brother is totally bi-partisan.  Each party for reasons of their own wants to watch and control people 24-7.  Now we have the Republican city of Lancaster, California putting a Big Brother eye-in-the-sky to watch us and "protect" us.

Bull Shit.

The aerial surveillance program, slated to begin by May, will involve a piloted Cessna 172 fixed-wing aircraft with high-tech optical equipment that will record the movements of people on the ground. The plane will circle the Antelope Valley city at altitudes of 1,000 to 3,000 feet some 10 hours a day.

The technology, developed by the Lancaster-based Spiral Technology, Inc., includes the use of infrared imaging. It will record video footage that will be transmitted to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Lancaster, California is in the high desert
of northern Los Angeles County.
 The program is expected to cost $1.3 million to launch. Financing will come from existing funds in the fiscal year budget, city officials said. The charge for surveillance is expected to run around $300 an hour, or about $90,000 a month. The aircraft will be fueled and maintained at a Lancaster airfield.


"People who have done nothing wrong shouldn't have anything they do in their yards or homes subject to video surveillance from the sky," said Peter Bibring, senior staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California. "To the extent that it involves observing things which a typical pilot overhead might not be able to see, it raises serious constitutional questions."

The ACLU has filed a California public records request to get further details about the program. The group wants specific information such as the capability of the cameras, how long the video will be kept and whether images gathered by the Sheriff's Department will be public record, Bibring said.

"I think we have a privacy problem, and I think the city is going to have a lot of lawsuits," longtime Lancaster resident Ed Galinda told the City Council.

Residents Danelda Robbins and Lyndey Williams expressed concern that sheriff's officials harboring personal vendettas might direct the plane's pilot to focus on specific neighborhoods and target particular people.

"It's our goal to become the safest city in America," Republican Mayor R. Rex Parris said in an interview.


A $90,000 a month spy plane uses infrared imaging.  It will record video footage that will be transmitted to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.



For more on this story

14 comments:

diana said...

This is outrageous, both for the violation of 4th Amendment rights and an excessive expenditure when poverty and the current economy plague our city. I will find some way to fight this.

Gary said...

BRAVO!

This drives me crazy. I am not sure people really care about their freedoms.

You see a non-thinking knee-jerk reaction where everyone circles the wagons to protect their party with no thought about the bigger picture.

ill pay it gladly said...

This is a good thing for the people of Lancaster. There are a lot of thugs here that moved up from Compton to stretch their sec 8 money further. I personally had to chase one out of my garage at 4 am. My brother in law got knifed. My boss got robbed I can go on. The cops aren't violating your rights they are not watching you. Stop bring full of your self. They create a recording and rewind when something happens to put criminals in jail. This will make this town much safer. If your against this thn your a criminal.

Gary said...

**** moved up from Compton to stretch their sec 8 money further . . . The cops aren't violating your rights they are not watching you. ****

Wow.

No matter how many facts are presented to the Sheeple they never want to learn. They love to bow down and worship the State.

1) Maybe stop the government from re-distributing the wealth through Socialist programs like Section 8.

2) In your fantasy world cops are not watching you . . . but they sure as Hell are spending a ton of money to buy and run the equipment to watch you.

The history of mankind is the oppression of the people by the state.

Politicians don't give a crap about you. It is all about control and extracting taxes.

Read 1984.

Anonymous said...

I lived in Lancaster, Quartz Hill and Antelope Acres for many years -
"we" weren't so compliant then. Would've used it for target practice.

You need to fire the Mayor and get rid of this assault on your freedom and liberty.

Gary said...

I used to live in Palmdale. The area has changed and not for the better.

ill pay it gladly said...

With poverty and section 8 pushed up from LA plaguing our city I'm happy to have this protection. Wait until you get a home invasion and the perp gets away.

ill pay it gladly said...

Get rid of the prison here first with section 8 rights upon release to stay in Lancaster/palmdale.... then I'll sleep better at night. Until then we need a watch dog

Anonymous said...

ymOMG you people who want Gov to babysit you are going to get your dream come true, complete control and surveillance. Alan Watt, G Edward Griffin, Robert Welch, all speak on the subject of what is coming & it is not good. Videos can be found on youtube. It's too bad for the rest of us who like privacy, freedom & small Gov that you are welcoming this with wide open arms, you do have the option of personal protection you know. Sheeple, when will they learn and yes I live in Quartz Hill.

Anonymous said...

OMG you people who want Gov to babysit you are going to get your dream come true, complete control and surveillance. Alan Watt, G Edward Griffin, Robert Welch, all speak on the subject of what is coming & it is not good. Videos can be found on youtube. It's too bad for the rest of us who like privacy, freedom & small Gov that you are welcoming this with wide open arms, you do have the option of personal protection you know. Sheeple, when will they learn and yes I live in Quartz Hill.

val said...

this is bs ...its no wonder were all in financial hardship here in the a.v. they should be ashamed of themselves if i or anyone else was taking pictures or watching anyone in particular it would be considered stalking and thats a crime punishable with jail time and retitution fees court fees probation fees etc. record of restraint orders and so on that would haunt my ever job hunting ass till the day i die !!! who the hell do they think they are .. as far as im concerned theyre just a perverted peeping tom who's momma should slap the living day lights outta them if the shoe was on the other foot they would feel violated and call it paparazzi well im not sitting here looking at my self feeling famous so stop watching creeps!!! hope they like the show when my fat ass is swimming naked

Breanna said...

I live in Palmdale and work in Lancaster. I have fought this every inch of the way through City Council Meetings, petitions on and off line. Based on the people I have talked to, I would say 75% of Lancaster's citizens are not even aware of this spy plane hovering over their city and recording their every move.

This is ridiculous and people need to get angry and get loud and get this Cessna aircraft out of our city!

http://www.change.org/petitions/r-rex-parris-stop-the-use-of-spy-planes-for-citizen-surveillance

Gary said...

Big Brother is happening everywhere. The politicians don't appear to care.

Anonymous said...

You people are just feeding them Intel. So they can make their decisions. Bite that bait. Keep it up.