In the Steven Speilberg film, Minority Report, that was release nine months after 9/11/2001, homicide detectives in the year 2054 focus their attention on "crime prevention" rather than crime investigations. Their job is to fight "pre-crimes', or crimes before they are committed. Does this futuristic approach to crime fighting have any basis in today's reality? Following 9/11, the U.S. anti-terrorist agencies and technology have grown in size and scope.
Today, we are now able use high-tech surveillance cameras, satellites, wiretaps, facial-recognition software, drones, computer algorithms, and data collection methods in our attempt to stop terrorism before it starts. In 2010, 3,000 government organizations, and their associated private counterparts were employed in activities that supported Homeland Security, intelligence, and counterterrorism in over 10,000 locations across the U.S. In the fall of 2013, The NationalSecurity Agency will open a billion-dollar facility called the Utah Data Center. Two hundred people will work at the Center investigating intercepted computer files and telecommunications. The amount of information that is expected to pass through this agency is roughly the equivalent of "23 million year's worth of Blu-ray DVD's" according to the Massachusetts based advocacy group, Digital Fourth. The potential for abuse in an organization like the Data Center is huge. On the flip side, the number of people assigned to police privacy issues is minimal. Everything can somehow fall under the "war on terrorism" exception. Did Spielberg have ESP when he attempted to show what life in 2054 might be like? Was Orwell headed in the right direction in 1984? No matter what you think, the number of people watching us is growing every day. To read more about this article visit: http://www.newyorker.com/talk/
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