Big Brother in Bangkok

Across the US the public is constantly being surveyed by outdoor and indoor cameras. However, a new form of surveillance has hit the streets with streetlamps that do more than just brighten the sidewalk. Intellistreets developed these streetlamps with a hidden camera , a pedestrian counter, and proximity sensors.

While the company states that the lamps are for security purposes, this new form of ‘security’ has many people wondering where the pubic and private lines are drawn. The streetlamps, which will soon be placed throughout Chicago several other cities. According to RT America, the street lights will be able to speak to people as well as record conversations.

Each device starts at 3,000 US dollars and has also raised the question of why tax payers dollars are going into something that keeps track of the public. Still, others, such as Editorial Columnist and Author Ted Rall, point out that people are putting tracking chips in pets and thinking of putting them in children and that this is simply a “surveillance stage.”

Thailand has also jumped on the bandwagon for updated security in Bangkok with the implementation of traffic cameras. But these cameras, like the street lamp version, are also hidden in a unique location: the chest of a police traffic dummy.

According to The Telegraph, the cameras are intended for duty at busy intersections in Bangkok city. The dummy’s camera is meant to capture images of drivers speeding or driving through red lights. But with each new surveillance device that is implemented into a city one has to ask when surveillance is too much surveillance.

Below are examples of where the hidden cameras will be placed. Bangkok’s police dummies (left) will have a camera inserted into the chest while streetlights in the US (right) will have cameras, recorders, and sensors hidden throughout. Which looks the most inconspicous and high-tech?