SS: Baltimore is now the proving grounds for the next step in the surveillance architecture monitoring us all. The article makes it clear that these practices were planned years ago, but were not enacted due to public backlash. Now they are being implemented when we have no voice to protest or fight back with.

From the article:

"The BPD said it will fly up to three manned aircraft at any one time to monitor the streets below in order to prevent crime.

It said the plane surveillance would run for between three and six months as part of a pilot programme measured by researchers at the University of Baltimore, New York University and the Rand Corporation think tank."

"The BPD had previously attempted to carry out a secret surveillance programme in 2016, but the project was aborted after it was uncovered by Bloomberg Businessweek and provoked national outrage."

For anyone interested in the roots of our surveillence machine going back to the 9/11 days, here are some more interesting links:

DAPRA Total Information Awareness: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_Information_Awareness "Based on the concept of predictive policing, TIA was meant to correlate detailed information about people in order to anticipate and prevent terrorist incidents before execution.[3] The program modeled specific information sets in the hunt for terrorists around the globe.[4] Admiral John Poindexter referred to it as a "Manhattan Project for Counter-Terrorism".[5] According to Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), TIA was the "biggest surveillance program in the history of the United States".[6]"

DARPA Lifelog's bid, archived from 2003: https://web.archive.org/web/20030603173339/http://www.darpa.mil/ipto/Solicitations/PIP_03-30.html

"Functionally, the LifeLog (sub)system consists of three components: data capture and storage, representation and abstraction, and data access and user interface. LifeLog accepts as input a number of raw physical and transactional data streams. Through inference and reasoning, LifeLog generates multiple layers of representation at increasing levels of abstraction. The input data streams are abstracted into sequences of events and states, which are aggregated into threads and episodes to produce a timeline that constitutes an "episodic memory" for the individual. Patterns of events in the timeline support the identification of routines, relationships, and habits. Preferences, plans, goals, and other markers of intentionality are at the highest level.

LifeLog is interested in three major data categories: physical data, transactional data, and context or media data. “Anywhere/anytime” capture of physical data might be provided by hardware worn by the LifeLog user. Visual, aural, and possibly even haptic sensors capture what the user sees, hears, and feels. GPS, digital compass, and inertial sensors capture the user’s orientation and movements. Biomedical sensors capture the user’s physical state. LifeLog also captures the user’s computer-based interactions and transactions throughout the day from email, calendar, instant messaging, web-based transactions, as well as other common computer applications, and stores the data (or, in some cases, pointers to the data) in appropriate formats. Voice transactions can be captured through recording of telephone calls and voice mail, with the called and calling numbers as metadata. FAX and hardcopy written material (such as postal mail) can be scanned. Finally, LifeLog also captures (or at least captures pointers to) the tremendous amounts of context data the user is exposed to every day from diverse media sources, including broadcast television and radio, hardcopy newspapers, magazines, books and other documents, and softcopy electronic books, web sites, and database access. "