The Washington Times
Published 8/9/2001

For-profit photo radar
House Editorial

www.washtimes.com

It's bad enough that Big Brother is watching us Now, however, he's getting a
helping hand from a private, and very-for-profit company - Lockheed Martin
IMS. Under a cooperative venture launched this week with the government of
the District of Columbia, photo radar units supplied by those
public-spirited folks at Lockheed Martin IMS have been snapping pictures of
the license plates of "speeders" and sending them automated pieces of
"payin' paper" - up to $200 - out of which Lockheed Martin IMS gets a cut of
$29 smackers.
It's a nice racket, and one that Lockheed has helped get under way in
several municipalities around the country. In the District, five squad cars
armed with photo radar units will be shuffled among 60 "speed enforcement"
zones several times per week. The manna will surely be raining down upon the
city, as well as into the coffers of our friends at Lockheed Martin IMS.
Now, if you thumb through your intro political science textbook, you'll find
that cooperation between Big Business and Big Government is the defining
characteristic of a fascist state. See the trains running on time in the
Italy of the Duce - or the swift dealing by the thugs of the Gestapo with
those who dared run afoul of the edicts of the regime in Hitler's Germany.
Granted, the use of photo radar by the city is not equivalent in degree to
the brutality of either of those regimes, but the operative principle is the
same. And those who don't grasp that principles - ideas - matter, are in for
a rude awakening. The Germans did not get a fuhrer overnight; it took time
to condition them - as any people - to accepting the idea of an omnipotent
state and the loss of their liberties in order to further some "greater
good."
At a fundamental level, the use of technology for mass surveillance is
disturbing because it is an affront to the bedrock principles of a free
society. Catching "speeders" is beside the point - a straw man set up by
people who are either uninterested in the concept of civil liberties, or who
do not grasp the significance of what they are advocating. We could catch
more crooks, tax cheats, you name it, by conducting random stop-and-frisks
or surprise inspections of our papers and effects. But is the apprehension
of a few law-breakers worth the loss of our freedom to be left unscrutinized
and unmolested by the state until and unless we have given proper cause to
warrant such attention? The D.C. government apparently thinks the trade-off
is worth it - and having those extra shekels doesn't hurt, either.

As for Lockheed Martin IMS, well, what's a few civil liberties torn asunder
in the name of a nice, fat - and endlessly remunerative - private-public
"partnership"? The photo radar traps are expected to generate a staggering
$11 million in fines this year alone - representing about 80,000 tickets, or
some 70,000 more than the Metropolitan Police Department issued on its own
last year. The $12 million generated by the use of photo enforcement of red
light running probably was more than enough to whet the appetite of
Assistant Chief Terrance Gainer, an avid, unapologetic fan of the use of
mass surveillance technology.
All of this is frightening on several levels, but perhaps most alarming is
the seeming acquiescence of most area residents to the idea of Big Brother
and Big Business as they team up to watch - and fleece - citizens. If this
whole nasty business is not killed in its cradle, and the principle of mass
surveillance is left unchallenged, not only can we expect more of the same -
we shall deserve it.

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