"It's a terrible thing, but it's time to embrace Big Brother"

September 9, 2002 6:23 AM

"It's a terrible thing, but it's time to embrace Big Brother" A high school in Santee California has implemented "security procedures" that would do Mr. Orwell proud. Wireless cameras the face and license plate of every driver and car entering the parking lot. If you go to the bathroom, your picture gets logged. Hall monitors will soon carry wireless computers that can pull up a student's school picture and class schedule. And they are considering implementing face recognition software. Installed over the summer, a few parents complained to the school system - NOT that it was being done, but that they hadn't been notified. (LA Times Link - metafilter99/metafilter99)
posted by Irontom (39 comments total)

Ah, welcome to the future.
Here in the UK, thousands of schoolchildren were fingerprinted without the knowledge of their parents, under the guise of using fingerprint scanners instead of library cards.
posted by Mwongozi at 6:31 AM on September 9, 2002

embrace big brother, thanks but I'd rather not.
posted by johnnyboy at 6:33 AM on September 9, 2002

If I were a student and were faced with this I'd do my best to break the system. Vandalism is obviously a bad idea, since the umpteen other cameras would track you, but civil disobedience in the form of acting would serve its purpose. The idea is to provide them with too much data to that has to be followed up on.

So that it looks like you're doing something you shouldn't stand just in shot of a camera, like if you're trying to avoid its gaze but misjudged it. Pass a packet or money or a note to a fellow conspirator. Make sure that you have no contraband on you whatsoever. Recruit others to do this as well. The school will have to waste time investigating these occurrences since they might well not be staged protests.
posted by substrate at 6:36 AM on September 9, 2002

Personally, I wished that the administration would have added security cameras to our bathrooms in high school. There was a really bad smoking problem at our school, and their solution for it was to lock all the bathrooms. So, while the smokers all just went outside to smoke, innocent people like me risked kidney failure because we couldn't pee between class. One time, my friend got locked *in* the bathroom when the janitor didn't check if anyone was inside.
posted by emptybowl at 6:40 AM on September 9, 2002

Near the end of the article: But the security system could not have prevented last year's school rampages, because the shooters were not people who didn't belong on campus.

I love that they are using people's fear from the shootings in order to install a security system that will provide absolutely no help in the instance of a school shooting. They will, however, manage to catch the miscreants smokin' in the boys room. PHEW! I feel safer already.
posted by witchstone at 6:43 AM on September 9, 2002

Get em used to it while they're young.
posted by yesster at 6:46 AM on September 9, 2002

Forget Big Brother. What about Jesus!?
posted by freakystyley at 6:59 AM on September 9, 2002

Isn't it up to the parents in the school system to decide if they want this? I understand they were not informed at first. But if the parents wanted the equipment removed, all they would have to do is make a stink to the school board. I would assume that it is the same in CA as in WI, that the board is elected officials?
posted by Steve_at_Linnwood at 7:01 AM on September 9, 2002

Eh, if you are who you say you are, then you have no problem with matching your face up to who you ought to look like. You can have privacy at home- where you can also put your feet up on the furniture, which I wasn't permitted to do when I was in school.
posted by internook at 7:08 AM on September 9, 2002

This was inevitable unfortunately.
I graduated in 1985. One thing I noticed back then, was that year after year, the system slowly tightened up. Slowly, a piece at a time, little things were done away with or no longer allowed. Each entering class was given a new benchmark of discipline to adhere to, a new set of rules to exist by.
Granted some things needed to be sent on their way. Things like the student smoking area. I look back in amazement at that. 15 years old and allowed to smoke at school. Must have been a holdover from the 70's. I heard that the previous year to my entry to High School was the last year of the fabled bong rings out on the athletic fields.
Each year that passed, the school seemed to become more militant in its dealings with the student body.
This was inevitable unfortunately. ;-(
posted by a3matrix at 7:18 AM on September 9, 2002

As I read this article with incredulity, it occurred to me that the private school that my kids attend (grades pre-K through 8th) also recently installed cameras: but they're outside the school to protect the kids (the school is in a not-so-great area), not inside, spying on them. Hmmm. Something for me to ponder.
posted by tippiedog at 7:20 AM on September 9, 2002

internook: Eh, if you are who you say you are, then you have no problem with matching your face up to who you ought to look like.

So if you're not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to fear, right?

The right to privacy isn't just about not being bothered if you're not doing something you shouldn't or breaking society's code in some way. (That's why we have rules about probable cause and habeas corpus.)

Surveillance -- particularly the pervasive, electronic kind -- irrevocably changes the character of a public place. This is high school we're talking about, not prison...and the example set for students should be one of learning and questioning, not fear and mistrust.

Stopgap, ineffectual (and Draconian, from the sound of it) measures just don't help anything.
posted by Vidiot at 7:35 AM on September 9, 2002

I graduated high school in 1991 and we had student smoking areas too... gone now, but I don't remember them being an issue at the time (you had to have parental permission though).

This seems really sad and frightening to me somehow, but I guess a lot of it has to do with what you're used to. It seems sad to me that there will really be no private shared moments - a first kiss behind the library or whatever. It also means no harmless rule-breaking. I went to a boarding school with an 11pm curfew & sneaking out of the dorms after hours was exciting and fun and ultimately didn't cause any harm. You can say it's just for schools but these things gain ground because people get used to them; it becomes normal to always be watched. A private kiss or a secret meeting will just not be options.

That last comment by the grandfather quoted above gave me chills; I'm just going to assume he never read 1984 and used "big brother" as the generic term it's become. Still disconcerting but at least comprehensible.
posted by mdn at 7:40 AM on September 9, 2002

"We're observed all the time," said senior Kimberly Schmidtke, 17. "It's just that they're now taping us."


Seems like we have paved the way for the majority of acceptance with reality TV shows and pervasive use of web cams.

And 76 acres? What kind of high school has 76 acres?

I'm with Steve on this one-- if the tax payers and the parents decide they don't want this system then their voice should be heard. I think what we have here is a lack of forethought as to the end result-- much in the same way that schools today are accepting large donations from fast food and soda corporations. What parent wants their child to drink more soda? But the school is sold a bill of goods and not enough parents question the final outcome.
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 7:41 AM on September 9, 2002

When I was in school there were always Prefects (kids with a modicum of authority) and teachers wandering around making sure you didn't get up to no good and where not poking around places you weren't supposed to be. How is this really any different ?

I'm sure the kids that got bullied will appreciate this. I'd certainly feel safer and more relaxed in such an environment, and I'm sure it would make the bad element think twice before doing whatever to screw it up for the other kids.
posted by zeoslap at 7:48 AM on September 9, 2002

A scary aspect of this story is the fact that most of the hardware is coming in the form of donations from companies like Cisco. Which is certainly nice on their part, but my kneejerk (and maybe with less knee than I'd like) is to figure they're doing it to help create a population that is more willing to accept this sort of activity in the general public sphere. It's well-known that Larry Ellison and Oracle want to put everyone into a giant, Oracle-run database; imagine the financial boon to companies like Cisco if municipalities started setting up vast surveillance networks on streets and in other public places. The only obstacle is public wariness; fortunately, just reading the girl's blase comment about "we've always been watched, now we're just being taped" makes me think they don't have far to go.
posted by risenc at 8:16 AM on September 9, 2002

the good news is that high school only lasts four years.
posted by trioperative at 8:28 AM on September 9, 2002

for you, maybe!

hehe.
posted by Vidiot at 8:31 AM on September 9, 2002

risenc:

It's well-known that Larry Ellison and Oracle want to put everyone into a giant, Oracle-run database; imagine the financial boon to companies like Cisco if municipalities started setting up vast surveillance networks on streets and in other public places.

cisco makes routers, which are computers whose job it is to pass data back and forth between networks. are these cameras on an tcp/ip network, or are they connected via conventional technology? i'm not really sure how this is beneficial to cisco. (maybe the article says, but it requires registration and i'm not willing to get one for the paper.)
posted by moz at 8:53 AM on September 9, 2002

(whoops -- didn't see the registration bit at the end.)
posted by moz at 9:03 AM on September 9, 2002

uh - did you miss the userid and password information that were included as part of the original post? I used the following format: (userid/password).

In case you're still unclear:

USERID = metafilter99
PASSWORD = metafilter99
posted by Irontom at 9:03 AM on September 9, 2002

risenc >A scary aspect of this story is the fact that most of the hardware is coming in the form of donations from companies like Cisco.
risenc >...makes me think they don't have far to go.

Cisco has already gone too far, and supporting a panopticon is small potatoes compared to the sales and support of the great firewall of China.

Cisco is a horrible company motivated only by greed, without the slightest shred of ethics. Of course, a lot of this has to do with how the corporation was born...
posted by shepd at 9:11 AM on September 9, 2002

To 66-year-old grandfather Jerry Parli, the answer is moot. Lingering at the entrance of West Hills, he sat patiently in the hot August afternoon, waiting to pick up his two granddaughters.

"It's about time they do something like this," he said. "It's a terrible thing, but it's time to embrace Big Brother."

Of course, Big Brother would probably detain this guy as a potential rapist/pedophile. I mean, our cameras saw some dirty old man lingering outside the school. He must be up to something...
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 9:20 AM on September 9, 2002

Zeoslap:
When I was in school there were always Prefects (kids with a modicum of authority) and teachers wandering around making sure you didn't get up to no good and where not poking around places you weren't supposed to be. How is this really any different ?

With teachers and hall monitors around, there is a human element to enforcing the rules. Discretion could be used. Here, the authority figures are everywhere at once with this technology and if the computer says you're doing something bad, it must be so.


I say, if humans make the rules, humans enforce the rules.
posted by dr_dank at 9:20 AM on September 9, 2002

I hope that the kids in the school know it's up to them to:

A: Get some cheap ski masks
B: Get some cheap spray paint
C: Get a ladder
D: Paint over the camera lenses

Problem solved. I expect the real problem is that most kids are so completely brainwashed and so clueless about their civil rights these days than none of them will actually dare to commit an act of civil disobedience.
posted by mark13 at 9:29 AM on September 9, 2002

How much does a system like this cost? Why are we spending money on ineffective security systems, when schools nationwide have outdated text books, hardly enough supplies, and teachers which are severly underpaid?

There was mention of it being a school, and not a prison. Many school officials would disagree with you. When I was in school, dissent was not acceptable, and punishable. For example, I refused to go to any pep-rallys. They would try to give me detention, but I refused, stating that it was not part of the educational process, and freedom of assembly dictated that I could choose not to assemble. Now, legally, I didn't know if it would fly or not when I said it, but I got a confused look out of the principal and vice principal, and they relented. School officals believe they should be able to control every action and speech of every student. Their belief that when you enter the doors, you lose all of your constitutional rights, which is an unacceptable situation.
posted by benjh at 9:43 AM on September 9, 2002

Whats that saying that was over the door to an English Teacher at my high school..... it went something like:

"Beyond these doors...abandon all hope."
posted by SweetIceT at 9:58 AM on September 9, 2002

make that the door to an English teacfher's classroom


sorry
posted by SweetIceT at 9:59 AM on September 9, 2002

mark13, that sounds more akin to vandalism than civil disobedience.
posted by Lord Chancellor at 10:03 AM on September 9, 2002

Hmmm...I agree with the concept that big-brother is bad. but I have trouble saying this i actually the case here.

A school is not a democracy-not by a long shot. It is caste system, with the elite wielding the power and wielding it in a way that is best for their own interests. I can't think of a single instance where a football player was bullying me that he cared for my rights.

The cameras won't stop children from abusing other children, but maybe they can stop 5% of bullying and make the learning atmosphere healthier.
posted by Yossarian at 10:12 AM on September 9, 2002

Facial shrouds and masks as a fashion and political statement? Now at the Gap and Old Navy.

Make it a religious issue to get constitutional protections. The photo stole my spirit. Photos of people are blasphemous idolatry.

But I think litigation is the American way:

• you took my child's picture without my permission
• you didn't secure access to the picture, enabling predators to ...
• student was stalked using...
• you had video of criminal behavior X but didn't act on it, so you're culpable
• you can't video tape my teaching by union contract...
• protected speech was inhibited...
• if you're going to video tape my student somewhere, video them everywhere in your school, including the principal's office, school district meetings, the teacher's lounge.
• that music class video is copyright by ... and I want you to pay royalties...
• teacher Y had students reading from my book; I want RIAA and ASCAP fees.

If you're going to put students under such close scrutiny, treating them like prisoners, we must mandate course work that educates them of their freedoms and rights under the constitution and law, of methods of redress, of the nature of privacy and that once taken it is hard to recover, and of the enduring civic value of privacy in the school and workplace.
posted by evanwolf at 10:24 AM on September 9, 2002

Whats that saying that was over the door to an English Teacher at my high school..... it went something like:

"Beyond these doors...abandon all hope."

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here"
-Dante, inscription on the Gates of Hell
Inferno, Canto iii
posted by vacapinta at 11:12 AM on September 9, 2002

High school has long had the social structure of a medium security prison, it's about time they got all the cool tech toys too.
posted by cpfeifer at 11:42 AM on September 9, 2002

Despite the violence, the school district was forced to cut its budget across the board; the security group lost three of its 10 employees, including two of the staff members who helped patrol the 76-acre West Hills campus.

And then, further on down:

Reliance on such technology to attempt the creation of a protective wall horrifies privacy proponents, who insist that the West Hills system is not only invasive, but also gives parents and school officials a false sense of security.

This cuts to the heart of the matter. The school doesn't have enough money to fund a real security system and, thus, is making parents feel better by installing a cheaper security system. The cameras mean fewer full time security personnel, which, in the long run, is less expensive.

Cameras aren't particular effective unless you have a couple of people who are skilled in monitoring the cameras. The security officer needs to see the event on screen, determine that something bad is happening, figure out which camera is filming it, and get somebody to that location on the 76 acre campus, all before the individuals involved in the incident have split.

Furthermore, if you have a school shooter, they aren't going to be worried about being caught on camera. Remember, there are videos of the Columbine shooters from the cafeteria. Clearly. fear of being on camera didn't deter them. While these two shooters don't represent the set of all school shooters, I offer them as a typical example of the mentality.

It is sad how many parents, student and (most depressingly) teachers are willing to go along with this boondoggle. Baa.
posted by Joey Michaels at 11:43 AM on September 9, 2002

Sensorship? Is that supposed to be some sort of pun?
posted by hobbes at 5:09 PM on September 9, 2002

It's a terrible thing, but it's time to embrace Big Brother

I'm embracing Big Brother right now, and it's not so terrible...
posted by Dr. Boom at 5:13 PM on September 9, 2002

Thank you Vacapinta...that was it exactly...
posted by SweetIceT at 5:59 PM on September 9, 2002

This school is only notable because it has high tech stuff, i bet almost every school has video cameras. I graduated in 96 and we had quite a lot, including a few that could be hidden.
posted by rhyax at 8:44 PM on September 9, 2002

Benjh: School officals believe they should be able to control every action and speech of every student.

You missed the most important element of control. Thought.
posted by aeschenkarnos at 10:01 PM on September 9, 2002