Texas' Online Perry-Scope

Nick Gillespie | June 8, 2006

Texas Gov. Rick Perry is taking the battle against illegal immigrants to its final destination: Cyberspace. Flush with a budget surplus--and facing a four-way election royale in the fall--Perry is planning on throwing some $120 million new money at the border, including a comprehensive series of video cameras in border areas:

"We will make the video feed available to state, local and federal law enforcement agencies so they can respond swiftly and appropriately," Perry said. "And we will post this video on the Internet -- in real time -- so that concerned Americans can help protect our nation through online neighborhood watch programs."

More here.

Quick question: Are there illegal immigrants in The Sims yet? And have The Sims set up cameras in our world yet?

Perry link via Blogcritics.

Comments

|6.8.06 @ 9:17AM|#

Stupid Aggie.

|6.8.06 @ 9:24AM|#

"And we will post this video on the Internet -- in real time -- so that concerned Americans can help protect our nation through online neighborhood watch programs."

Hasn't Reason covered something similar to this before? (I seem to remember an item about security camera feeds being put on the internet so private individuals could watch the images and report suspicious activity.)

|6.8.06 @ 9:48AM|#

...and facing a four-way election royale in the fall...

Kinky For Governor! "Why the hell not?"

N.B. -- Actually, several of Friedman's platform positions, e.g. public financing of campaigns, are terrible. On the other hand, anything to loosen the vice grip of the major parties in the U.S. is a per se good thing.

|6.8.06 @ 9:50AM|#

Cameras so you can start selecting your new employees as they come across. Call it a streaming reality show.

Regarding the SIMS I was thinking about a version where you could learn how to work the system. Call it The SIMS Entitlements Edition. You have to develope your wealth through government entitlements and welfare. Make it as realistic as possible by only using existing programs we have today. Something tells me this would take forever to code when you think of all the give aways we have. Then when you consider the loopholes, double standards and other assorted ways we are screwed by government it will probably be so full of bugs it will never run right. Just like the real thing.

|6.8.06 @ 11:01AM|#

I guess the proceeds from that new dollar-a-pack cigarette tax are already burning a hole in someone's pocket.

|6.8.06 @ 11:02AM|#

He's not Kinky! He's my governor!

|6.8.06 @ 11:29AM|#

"Nashville Casualty & Life" is a great song.

I also do not sense any Ventura-esque buffoonery from a potential KF administration.

|6.8.06 @ 12:43PM|#

OMG - it's not Haliburton, not big-oil, but big-video that will probably get the no-bid contract!

Perry Video Productions Coinkeedink? I think not.

Larry A|6.8.06 @ 1:45PM|#

So could the Mexicans get on the Internet and use the cameras to spot Border Patrol agents?

|6.8.06 @ 6:12PM|#

SR,

I think that was some private interest's plan to help DHS patrol potential terrorist targets...have people sign up to be sent an image whenever a camera detected motion, and tell the system whether there was a person or a vehicle in the image.

And of course, since it's going to happen no matter what we do, I'm all for ubiquitous cameras in public places, so long as the feeds are accessible to anyone on the Net. That way, it intrudes on the privacy of Agents of the State as much as it intrudes on the privacy of plain folks.

|6.8.06 @ 6:15PM|#

I hear there's a thread at Portal of Evil on which some Texans have vowed to rent monster costumes and crawl up over the dunes one night in front of the cameras, and then chase around two kissing teenagers, before eventually eating them.
:-)