Editorial

Technology two-edged sword in ongoing effort to fight crime

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Criminal minds are always quick to adapt to the new opportunities new technologies offer, but crime-fighters are keeping up as well.

One of the latest is the emergency center in Waterloo, Iowa, which began accepting text messages sent to 911 last week.

For now, the service only applies to callers on T-Mobile, and only within Black Hawk County, Iowa.

Future upgrades may include the ability to receive photos and video from cell phones, as well as being able to automatically track the caller's location via the GPS already included in cell phones.

We can think of at least one instance when such a system could have been a lifesaver, when a driver was lost and stuck in a blizzard.

With tight budgets nationwide, citizens are getting into the act, using secure Twitter sites, blogs and e-mail to coordinate neighborhood watch organizations by pointing out suspicious activity and alerting neighbors to trouble.

Using cell phones, cameras and Internet access, such groups have communication capabilities only dreamed of just a few short years ago.

Security cameras are sprouting up as well, offering a economical way to keep more pairs of eyes focused on the streets.

Critics, however, say security can be taken too far, intruding on personal freedom. They point to Britain, which reportedly has 4.2 million surveillance cameras installed, or about one per 14 people.

Or China, which has installed 2.75 million surveillance cameras since 2003, largely in the countryside. That amounts to only one camera per 472,000 people in that communist, totalitarian society.

So it is up to all of us to make sure government at all levels isn't allowed to use security as an excuse for employing new technologies to chip away at more and more of our freedoms.

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