A new $2-million citizen surveillance system installed along the Tex-Mex border has everything one can ask for: CCTV cameras, the internet, people sitting at home and catching Mexicans. That’s right, Virtual Stakeout’s webcams can be viewed online by anyone, turning alert viewers into “Virtual Deputies”.
As Kotaku rightfully points out, this project indeed sounds like a game. There’re rules – don’t let them get across – and there’s the artificial conflict: Mexicans vs the border, vs the wellfare state vs drug laws vs…
As they put it:
You sit there, you can the horizon, and if you spot someone trying to make a run across the border, you notify the authorities. So it’s like Pokemon Snap, then, only without the Pokemon. Mexican Snap, if you will.
They go on to explain:
It’s a joint operation between the Texas Border Sheriff’s Coalition and BlueServo, BlueServo being a budding …social networking site, who are helping foot the bill in exchange for the publicity.
Connecting people by having them chase others, what an awesome idea! What’s next? Ning groups getting created for the purpose of hunting Taliban? Xbox user collecting achievements by helping to catch gang members? The possibilities are endless!
-Jens
5 Comments
The concept reminds me, to some extent, of the Robin Williams movie ‘Toys’ where children are used to remotely control aircraft as a game.
I had to read this over about three times just to make sure I was reading it right… Unbelievable! Brutal actually.. But I’m curious..your writing states the facts and there’s some sarcasm thrown in at the end, but what do you really think about this?
Well, this post is tagged with “xenophobia”, so…
They need to hook those babies up to a .50 cal Barrett so we can blast ‘em!
Just like they do with virtual hunting!
Several times I have watched illegal aliens cross a river by boat and nothing is done.I know the people operating the camera are watching because they track them with the camera.Last night five aliens crossed the river and the authorities had ample time to have the law waiting for them when they reached shore.All they did was watch them as they ran across an open area and no one was there to stop them.They disappeared into the local city and no one stopped them.