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Home Front: WoT

Texas Broadcasts Live Images of Border on Internet

2006-11-03

SAN ANTONIO Texas has started broadcasting live images of the U.S. border on the Internet in a security program that asks the public to report signs of illegal immigration or drug crimes.

A test Web site went live Thursday at texasborderwatch.com with views from eight cameras and ways for viewers to e-mail reports of suspicious activity. Previously, the images had only been available to law enforcement and landowners where the cameras are located.

"There is only one way to test it, and that's open it up for business," said Texas Homeland Security Director Steve McCraw.

Some civil rights groups have criticized the "virtual border watch," saying it will instill fear in border communities and could lead to fraudulent crime reports and racial profiling.

The cameras will operate at hot spots for illegal activity, such as Amistad Reservoir in Del Rio and Falcon Lake in Zapata, and other active border areas such as highway rest stops and inspection stations, officials said. Information e-mailed by viewers goes to the state's operations center and local law enforcement in that area.

Craw said the project will eventually grow to include at least 70 cameras throughout South Texas, some with zoom lens and thermal capacity. The state is using $5 million in federal security grants that have been earmarked for the web camera program.

Posted by:Sherry

#1 Screen capture:

I tried it, it's really buggy. Users must open an account using a valid email address & then use their email address and site-supplied password to interact with the site. Firefox won't open any images. IE 7 wants me to install Active X, so I did, still most of the images wouldn't open. Thumbnail images sometimes have links which point back to home page, I could get around this by opening in a new tab. By clicking on the main image at the left, sometimes a Java applet can be made to open & users can zoom and pan the camera of the main window. Links to email address are for notifying authorities of suspicious activity. Without knowing what the cameras are looking at, makes it hard to figure out what might be suspicious. This may be a good idea if the bugs get worked out. It's nice to see someplace where the sun is shining, anyway.

Some civil rights groups have criticized the "virtual border watch," saying it will instill fear in border communities and could lead to fraudulent crime reports and racial profiling.

What a heap of Texas B.S. that is.

Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2006-11-03 17:39

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