Boston to be blanketed by surveillance cameras during DNC

July 18, 2004

The Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2004/07/18/bosto
n_to_be_blanketed_by_surveillance_cameras_during_dnc/

BOSTON - State and federal authorities are placing dozens of
surveillance cameras at strategic points around Boston for the
Democratic National Convention in an effort to deter terrorism, violent
demonstrations and ordinary street crime.

The new surveillance equipment is in addition to hundreds of cameras
already in use by the MBTA, the Massachusetts Port Authority, the Big
Dig and the state Highway Department.

The burgeoning number of largely unregulated cameras has civil
libertarians concerned that the increased surveillance will discourage
people from exercising their First Amendment rights.

"What this demonstrates is that '1984' is now technologically possible,"
said Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's
Technology and Liberty Program, referring to George Orwell's book about
an all-seeing government. "This really is a situation where we are being
asked to blindly trust the government. There is no oversight of this.
There are no safeguards."

Law enforcement officials say the cameras will only be used to deter and
detect crime, not to snoop on law-abiding citizens or demonstrators.

The surveillance includes 75 cameras installed by the federal government
to monitor the Central Artery, City Hall Plaza, the FleetCenter and
other high priority areas. The cameras will be centrally monitored in
Boston and Washington.

The U.S. Coast Guard is also using a surveillance system in the harbor
and Charles River that includes infrared imaging equipment, radar and
cameras to watch for unauthorized vessels entering the waters around
Boston.

And while many of the cameras are being set up in time for the
convention, they will stay in use long after the delegates have gone
home.

"We own them now," Boston Police Superintendent Robert Dunford said.
"We're certainly not going to put them in a closet."

Dunford, the department's top convention security planner, said the
police have a policy in place to prevent abuse. Tapes that do not show
criminal activity will be destroyed.

The federal equipment will be used simply to identify suspicious and
criminal activity and to respond to emergencies, not to snoop on private
citizens, said Ronald Libby, regional director of the Federal Protective
Service, a branch of the Homeland Security Department.

"It doesn't make sense to take all these valuable resources and look at
the guy on the corner smoking cigarettes," he said.

The new surveillance equipment is part of the $50 million security
effort for the July 26-29 convention, the first since the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks, and will augment an estimated 3,000 law enforcement
personnel.

Security for the convention, where Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry will
formally accept the party's nomination for president, also includes the
shutdown of portions of Interstate 93 for long stretches and the closure
of the North Station commuter rail hub.

Although all the cameras will not be part of the same network, law
enforcement agencies have agreed to share camera shots if necessary.

==============================================

Surveillance targeted to convention
Wide network of cameras planned

July 18, 2004

Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2004/07/18/surveillance_target
ed_to_convention/

By Ralph Ranalli and Rick Klein, Globe Staff | July 18, 2004

An unprecedented number of video cameras will be trained on Boston
during the Democratic National Convention, with Boston police installing
some 30 cameras near the FleetCenter, the Coast Guard using infrared
devices and night-vision cameras in the harbor, and dozens of pieces of
surveillance equipment mounted on downtown buildings to monitor crowds
for terrorists, unruly demonstrators, and ordinary street crime.

For the first time, 75 high-tech video cameras operated by the federal
government will be linked into a surveillance network to monitor the
Central Artery, City Hall Plaza, the FleetCenter, and other sensitive
sites. Their feeds from cameras mounted on various downtown buildings
will be piped to monitoring stations in the Boston area and in
Washington, D.C., and officials will be able to zoom in from their work
stations to gather details of facial descriptions or read license
plates.

With Boston Harbor just a few steps from the arena, the Coast Guard will
be using its new ''hawkeye system" -- in place in one other port in the
nation -- to watch area waterways. The network of infrared imaging,
radar, and cameras that operate in both day and night conditions will
give security officials a real-time picture of the harbor, and provide
agencies an early warning if an unexpected ship enters area waters.

An unspecified number of State Police cameras are also being installed,
and more than 100 previously existing MBTA cameras will be used to
monitor area subway and bus stations. Law enforcement officials will
have as-needed access to as many as 900 cameras that have been operated
for months or years by the Massachusetts Port Authority, the state
Highway Department, and the Big Dig.

Civil libertarians warn that the latest technology will be used to scare
away protesters and others exercising their rights under the First
Amendment. The critics complain that there are few state and federal
laws regulating the use of video surveillance in public places.

''What this demonstrates is that '1984' is now technologically
possible," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil
Liberties Union's Technology and Liberty Program, referring to George
Orwell's vision of an all-seeing totalitarian state. ''This is really a
situation where we are really being asked to blindly trust the
government. There is no oversight of this. There are no safeguards."

While video surveillance has become a common tool for police and private
security personnel, Boston police and federal officials concede that the
additional cameras and new technology represent another chapter in
Boston. And it's here to stay: Boston police say the 30 or so cameras
installed for the convention will be used throughout the city once the
event is over.

''We own them now," said police Superintendent Robert Dunford. ''We're
certainly not going to put them in a closet."

The Boston Police Department has a new policy permitting police to
videotape political demonstrations during the convention, and federal
officials also are planning to use hand-held cameras to videotape
clashes between protesters and police.

Dunford, the department's top convention security planner, said Boston's
new videotaping policy has safeguards against abuse. It mandates quick
destruction of any tapes of demonstrations that do not show criminal
activity.

''The only thing we're interested in is criminal activity," Dunford
said. ''We're not interested in anyone who is simply coming out to voice
their concerns."

Federal surveillance will be used to identify suspicious activities or
respond to emergencies, not to snoop on individuals, said Ronald Libby,
New England regional director for Federal Protective Service, a division
of the US Department of Homeland Security. ''Watching stuff real-time
tells you, 'That doesn't look right,' and we can do something about it,"
Libby said. ''It doesn't make sense to take all these valuable resources
and look at the guy on the corner smoking cigarettes."

The video surveillance is the latest development to surface in the
extensive $50 million security effort for the first national political
convention since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The Globe reported July 11
that an estimated 3,000 local, state, and federal law enforcement
officers will police the convention. About 40 miles of roadway leading
to the FleetCenter will be closed for part of the day during the event,
which starts July 26.

Throughout the convention, police and other security officials on the
ground will be in constant contact with those monitoring camera feeds
back at command centers. The federal cameras will be linked into one
network overseen by the Homeland Security Department and, while no
similar central monitoring will exist for all of the city, state, and
local cameras, officials from those various agencies have made
provisions to share camera shots when necessary.

Live digital video from the State Police's new high-resolution,
helicopter-mounted camera will be sent to the Multi-Agency Command
Center, where law enforcement agencies will be coordinating their
efforts. Boston, MBTA, and Coast Guard camera feeds will go to the
command center. Several RV-sized mobile command vehicles also will tap
into portions of the camera network.

On the water, the ''hawkeye" technology is a vast improvement over the
Coast Guard's old monitoring system, which relied heavily on what its
vessels in the water were able to detect, said Andrew Shinn, a Coast
Guard spokesman and petty officer. ''Now we have eyes everywhere," Shinn
said.

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority has upgraded its cameras
over the last several years, and now has cameras monitoring the interior
and exterior of its stations, in a central network. While mindful of
privacy concerns, MBTA Police Chief Joseph Carter said commuters should
know that the T is a public system, ''and you are being watched."

''It is an integral part of our security tool kit," Carter said. ''We
don't have any cameras in bathrooms and the message is not 'Hello,
you're on Candid Camera.' But we have to enhance the safety and security
of the public."

John Reinstein, legal director for the ACLU of Massachusetts, said that
while individual cameras are not necessarily a problem, larger networks
of them could be.

''If you network a sufficient number of them, then you get into
evesdropping mode," Reinstein said. ''That would be chilling. But the
more serious problems are the monitoring of political activity and the
extent to which video surveillance is tied into other things like
permanent record-keeping or facial recognition technology or both."

The idea of large camera networks has met resistance elsewhere in the
country. A recent bid by the District of Columbia police to create a
seamless, city-wide network of federal, district-owned, and privately
operated cameras was met with resistance by the City Council, which
deemed it too invasive.

Such a network would be feasible in downtown Boston, specialists said,
since the city already has hundreds of public cameras and thousands of
privately owned ones. A reporter touring a possible walking route from
the Seaport Hotel on the South Boston waterfront to the FleetCenter
found that a person's image could be captured by at least 33 cameras on
public and private buildings.

Members of the public interviewed near the convention site Friday --
under the watchful eye of up to six cameras mounted on the FleetCenter
and the adjacent Thomas P. O'Neill Federal Building -- had mixed
responses to the news of the surveillance.

''I definitely think it's good for safety reasons," said Chris Bellomo,
a 55-year-old teacher from Cheshire, Conn. ''I feel more comfortable
[knowing] that, if something bad happens, more people are going to be
watching and aware of it, and that help will be there if it is needed."

But the Rev. Ramon Aymerich, an Episcopal priest from Lowell, said the
idea made him uncomfortable, since the poor, immigrants, those espousing
politically unpopular causes would be singled out.

He said it reminded him of the time when he was a Catholic seminarian in
Buffalo. ''I finally got over the idea of God as an all-present Big
Brother, watching everything you do," he said. ''But now we have the
government playing the almighty and omnipresent, and watching over us
every second."