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<DIV><FONT size=2><FONT size=2>Dear Activist--</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Do you know about the Homeland Security funded surveillance
cameras being installed around the city, supposedly </FONT><FONT size=2>to
monitor an evacuation from Boston in case of emergency, and meanwhile the
images to be</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>monitored and recorded by local police departments
24/7? presumably with the video recordings to</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>be shared with Homeland Security? </FONT><FONT
size=2></FONT></DIV><FONT size=2>
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cameras</SPAN></B><SPAN
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style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal"><B><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Planned
additional cameras</SPAN></B><SPAN
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<DIV align=left>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Brookline is one of the communities that has been selected to
receive cameras, and</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>we are working hard to stop them from being installed here.
There is a possibility</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>that we may be successful in doing so (See Globe article
below) -- which, if we</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>are successful, will set a model for other towns turning down
Homeland Security</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>Cameras-- Excellent!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2>A number of us from ACLU, Brookline PeaceWorks, and Brookline
PAX are now putting together a coalition of people from all the other
communities </FONT><FONT size=2>that have recently had Homeland Security cameras
either installed, or proposed to be installed.</FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV align=center> </DIV>
<DIV align=left>Are you concerned about becoming part of a "surveillance
society", part of a nation wide</DIV>
<DIV align=left>surveillance network, heavily funded and encouraged by Homeland
Security, with "Fusion Centers"</DIV>
<DIV align=left>for processing the data collected?? See <A
href="http://www.aclu.org/pdfs/privacy/fusion_update_20080729.pdf">http://www.aclu.org/pdfs/privacy/fusion_update_20080729.pdf</A></DIV>
<DIV align=left>for an explanation of the totally creepy Fusion Centers!</DIV>
<DIV align=left> </DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT color=#ff0000>If you want to join in with us and see what
we can do about stopping the cameras as a </FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT color=#ff0000>city wide coalition concerned about civil
liberties, PLEASE let me know immediately!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=left><A href="mailto:amyh@texnology.com"><FONT
color=#ff0000>amyh@texnology.com</FONT></A></DIV>
<DIV align=left> </DIV>
<DIV align=left>We are planning a meeting in late December/early January and
hope to have representatives</DIV>
<DIV align=left>from each of the Communities listed above. Nancy Murray, ACLU,
has offered to speak</DIV>
<DIV align=left>to us and help us strategize for work in the coming
months.</DIV>
<DIV align=left> </DIV>
<DIV align=left>Exciting to have the possibility of being able to have a
successful local action, that may</DIV>
<DIV align=left>have national consequences!!!</DIV>
<DIV align=left> </DIV>
<DIV align=left>Let me know if you can work with us-- and please pass this on to
anyone else that you</DIV>
<DIV align=left>think might be interested--</DIV>
<DIV align=left> </DIV>
<DIV align=left>Thanks,</DIV>
<DIV align=left>-- Amy</DIV>
<H1 class=mainHead>Brookline wary of surveillance cameras</H1>
<H2 class=subHead>Residents resist installation push</H2>
<P class=byline>By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff | <SPAN
style="WHITE-SPACE: nowrap">December 15, 2008</SPAN></P>
<P>Even as eight other cities and towns across Greater Boston prepare to more
than double, to 183, the number of security cameras monitoring their streets,
Brookline is threatening to reject the cameras, as town officials confront a
brewing rebellion of residents decrying the rise of a "surveillance
society."</P>
<P>A rejection would be unusual. Hundreds of cities and towns across the country
- from Liberty, Kan., (population 95) to New York - have installed surveillance
cameras funded by the US Department of Homeland Security in the aftermath of the
Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.</P>
<P>Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's technology
and liberty program, said the city council in Washington, D.C., recently barred
its mayor and police chief from accepting a federal grant to install the
cameras. But he said he did not know of any other municipality in the country
that had taken such a step.</P>
<P>In considering a rejection of the cameras, Brookline is thrusting itself into
a roiling international debate over the merits of surveillance cameras and the
limits of privacy in public places.</P>
<P>On one side are law enforcement officials who say the cameras can help them
keep an eye on potential targets of terrorism, manage traffic during an
emergency, and investigate street crime. On the other side are civil liberties
groups and some residents who say the cameras could also be used to follow
people going about their daily lives, even zooming in to see what books they are
reading.</P>
<P>"The overarching concern is what kind of society are we creating, where
general police surveillance cameras are in operation," said Sarah Wunsch, an
attorney for the ACLU. "You cannot assume that we will always be a free society,
and we are putting the structures in place that would allow a very different
United States of America from the one we have lived in."</P>
<P>Wunsch, a Brookline resident, scoffed at the notion of the cameras' use as a
traffic management tool during an emergency.</P>
<P>"The people who live in town laugh at that because the town can't prevent
gridlock at rush hour," she said. "To say these cameras are going to help
traffic during an evacuation is, quite frankly, ludicrous. Using cameras for
that purpose, most people think, is crazy."</P>
<P>Brookline Police Chief Daniel C. O'Leary said the cameras could help manage
traffic and investigate crime. "It's a valuable tool that I don't want to lose,
and I think the value goes beyond just managing an evacuation," he said. "There
are everyday uses that a lot of people could benefit from."</P>
<P>He has proposed installing 12 cameras on the arms of traffic lights on Beacon
Street, Route 9, and Longwood Avenue, among other locations. Police would
monitor the cameras at headquarters and install a screen in the lobby to allow
the public to view what the cameras are recording, he said. Footage would be
stored for 30 days before it is automatically erased.</P>
<P>Even so, Nancy Daly, chairwoman of the Board of Selectmen, said she is
worried about the potential for abuse. She cited an incident in 2004, when
gruesome footage of a suicide captured by a police camera in a Bronx housing
project was leaked to a website featuring violent videos.</P>
<P>"This is pretty controversial here," she said. "We all have great respect for
the chief, so I think people are reluctant to go against him on something he
wants. But there are some serious issues involved here, so I think it's still up
in the air."</P>
<P>After two contentious hearings during which about 40 residents testified in
opposition to the cameras, Daly said she is "leaning against" approval of the
cameras and believes the board could reject them. A vote is scheduled for Jan.
6.</P>
<P>The first batch of cameras in Greater Boston went up on roads, bridges, and
buildings just before to the Democratic National Convention in 2004, after nine
cities and towns received a $4.6 million grant from the Homeland Security
Department.</P>
<P>Boston installed 44 cameras, Chelsea 27, Everett 10, and Revere seven. Now,
under the second phase of the program, Boston is to receive by spring 30
additional cameras, Chelsea an additional nine, Everett three more, and Revere
nine more. In addition, Cambridge is to receive eight cameras, Quincy eight,
Winthrop nine, Somerville seven, and Brookline its 12.</P>
<P>The bulb-shaped Bosch IP cameras can tilt, zoom, and pan 360 degrees. One
community is allowed to view scenes from another's network when it obtains
permission from that community's police. In communities other than Brookline,
the cameras were installed quietly and without a vote.</P>
<P>"There was no debate in Boston," said Robert P. Dunford, superintendent in
chief of police in Boston. "Obviously, there are some people who look at it as
an invasion of privacy, but we're not looking at anything that's not already
public."</P>
<P>Boston's cameras, he said, monitor traffic for the Transportation Department
in City Hall. An officer at headquarters also monitors the cameras 16 hours a
day, and police have used the footage to investigate several shootings, he said.
The city is now looking at ways to make its cameras swivel in the direction of
shootings recorded by the acoustic gunshot detection system.</P>
<P>"They've been very useful," said Brian A. Kyes, chief of police in Chelsea,
which has used its cameras to investigate bank robberies, car accidents and
shootings. "We're able to go back into the archive and capture some pertinent
information for our investigation."</P>
<P>"This is some of the price all of us to have pay for living in a free
society, but a threatened society," said David B. Goldstein, Winthrop's police
chief, who said his cameras will monitor Logan Airport, the Deer Island Sewage
Treatment Plant, and the Belle Isle bridge.</P>
<P><EM>Michael Levenson can be reached at <A
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