Speaking surveillance cameras that bark orders at passers-by and can also record conversations are heading for U.S. streets, with manufacturer Illuminating Ideas announcing the progress of its ‘Intellistreets’ system.
As we first reported last year, higher tech street lights with “homeland security applications” are now getting installed in key U.S. cities.
The street lights also have loudspeakers that can give audible warnings to folks, mimicking the speaking surveillance cameras in the UK that shout out orders through microphones telling individuals to choose up litter or leave the location.
A current press release place out by Amerlux announces the company’s partnership with Illuminating Ideas to more advance the rollout of ‘Intellistreets’. The announcement confirms that the street lights will have a number of “homeland security features” like a loudspeaker system that will be used to “engage captive audiences”.
“The constructed-in speaker can broadcast emergency data,” states the press release, adding, “SmartSite luminaires can be equipped with a assortment of cameras and sensors to ensure genuine-time 24/7-security coverage. The sensors detect a variety of threats that enable rapid response from emergency personnel or support stop crime and obtain control of the streets.”
The press release adds that the SmartSite system produced to operate the ‘Intellistreets’ surveillance hubs is intended not only for street lighting but also for “retail malls, sports activities venues, on school campuses, and in new building,” and “might well turn out to be commonplace” in the close to long term.
Not only can the street lights, now getting rolled out in Detroit, Chicago and Pittsburgh with Department of Energy backing, act as surveillance cameras, Minority Report-fashion promoting hubs, and Homeland Security alert systems, they are “also capable of recording conversations,” according to a report by ABC 7.
The ABC video clip, featured at the finish of this article, incorporates creepy footage of the street lights currently being used to transmit Orwellian security alerts, like “pay attention please….please stand by for a public security announcement,” and “this is a security alert”.
Illuminating Concepts responded to the controversy over ‘Intellistreets’ last year by ludicrously claiming the system did not represent a “big brother” intrusion, as if speaking surveillance cameras that also record private conversations are a completely normal idea.
The firm also denied that it had received funding from the Department of Homeland Security nevertheless subsequent reports confirmed that proprietor Ron Harwood is now “working with Homeland Security” to implement the substantial tech network, which is linked through a ubiquitous wi-fi system.
In reality, the system represents Big Brother on steroids – George Orwell’s worst nightmare come to life with interconnected wireless ‘telescreens’ blanketing America, all in the name of safety and security.