<nettime> Network Vision

["Soenke Zehle [c]" <soenke.zehle@web.de>]

CCTV networks as the biggest thing since the introduction DNA 
fingerprinting - that's what they say, affirming the 'biomediality' of 
the biometric state. As Shuddha Sengupta has pointed out, a state that 
has its roots in the identification and surveillance technologies 
developed and deployed at the colonial margins of empire, so whenever 
that's written, it'll be quite the transcultural story.

Until then, maybe use public transportation instead, or at least keep 
your cars from 'associating' with other vehicles lest they get caught in 
the act,

Soenke

<http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/transport/article334686.ece>

Independent/UK

Britain will be first country to monitor every car journey

 From 2006 Britain will be the first country where every journey by 
every car will be monitored

By Steve Connor, Science Editor

Published: 22 December
2005

Britain is to become the first country in the world where the movements
of all vehicles on the roads are recorded. A new national surveillance
system will hold the records for at least two years.

Using a network of cameras that can automatically read every passing
number plate, the plan is to build a huge database of vehicle movements
so that the police and security services can analyse any journey a
driver has made over several years.

The network will incorporate thousands of existing CCTV cameras which
are being converted to read number plates automatically night and day to
provide 24/7 coverage of all motorways and main roads, as well as towns,
cities, ports and petrol-station forecourts.

By next March a central database installed alongside the Police National
Computer in Hendon, north London, will store the details of 35 million
number-plate "reads" per day. These will include time, date and precise
location, with camera sites monitored by global positioning
satellites.

Already there are plans to extend the database by increasing the storage
period to five years and by linking thousands of additional cameras so
that details of up to 100 million number plates can be fed each day into
the central databank.

Senior police officers have described the surveillance network as
possibly the biggest advance in the technology of crime detection and
prevention since the introduction of DNA fingerprinting.

But others concerned about civil liberties will be worried that the
movements of millions of law-abiding people will soon be routinely
recorded and kept on a central computer database for years.

The new national data centre of vehicle movements will form the basis of
a sophisticated surveillance tool that lies at the heart of an operation
designed to drive criminals off the road.

In the process, the data centre will provide unrivalled opportunities to
gather intelligence data on the movements and associations of organised
gangs and terrorist suspects whenever they use cars, vans or
motorcycles.

The scheme is being orchestrated by the Association of Chief Police
Officers (Acpo) and has the full backing of ministers who have
sanctioned the spending of £24m this year on equipment.

More than 50 local authorities have signed agreements to allow the
police to convert thousands of existing traffic cameras so they can read
number plates automatically. The data will then be transmitted to Hendon
via a secure police communications network.

Chief constables are also on the verge of brokering agreements with the
Highways Agency, supermarkets and petrol station owners to incorporate
their own CCTV cameras into the network. In addition to cross-checking
each number plate against stolen and suspect vehicles held on the Police
National Computer, the national data centre will also check whether each
vehicle is lawfully licensed, insured and has a valid MoT test
certificate.

"Every time you make a car journey already, you'll be on CCTV somewhere.
The difference is that, in future, the car's index plates will be read
as well," said Frank Whiteley, Chief Constable of Hertfordshire and
chairman of the Acpo steering committee on automatic number plate
recognition (ANPR).

"What the data centre should be able to tell you is where a vehicle was
in the past and where it is now, whether it was or wasn't at a
particular location, and the routes taken to and from those crime
scenes. Particularly important are associated vehicles," Mr Whiteley
said.

The term "associated vehicles" means analysing convoys of cars, vans or
trucks to see who is driving alongside a vehicle that is already known
to be of interest to the police. Criminals, for instance, will drive
somewhere in a lawful vehicle, steal a car and then drive back in convoy
to commit further crimes "You're not necessarily interested in the
stolen vehicle. You're interested in what's moving with the stolen
vehicle," Mr Whiteley explained.

According to a strategy document drawn up by Acpo, the national data
centre in Hendon will be at the heart of a surveillance operation that
should deny criminals the use of the roads.

"The intention is to create a comprehensive ANPR camera and reader
infrastructure across the country to stop displacement of crime from
area to area and to allow a comprehensive picture of vehicle movements
to be captured," the Acpo strategy says.

"This development forms the basis of a 24/7 vehicle movement database
that will revolutionise arrest, intelligence and crime investigation
opportunities on a national basis," it says.

Mr Whiteley said MI5 will also use the database. "Clearly there are
values for this in counter-terrorism," he said.

"The security services will use it for purposes that I frankly don't
have access to. It's part of public protection. If the security services
did not have access to this, we'd be negligent."

Britain is to become the first country in the world where the movements
of all vehicles on the roads are recorded. A new national surveillance
system will hold the records for at least two years.

Using a network of cameras that can automatically read every passing
number plate, the plan is to build a huge database of vehicle movements
so that the police and security services can analyse any journey a
driver has made over several years.

The network will incorporate thousands of existing CCTV cameras which
are being converted to read number plates automatically night and day to
provide 24/7 coverage of all motorways and main roads, as well as towns,
cities, ports and petrol-station forecourts.

By next March a central database installed alongside the Police National
Computer in Hendon, north London, will store the details of 35 million
number-plate "reads" per day. These will include time, date and precise
location, with camera sites monitored by global positioning
satellites.

Already there are plans to extend the database by increasing the storage
period to five years and by linking thousands of additional cameras so
that details of up to 100 million number plates can be fed each day into
the central databank.

Senior police officers have described the surveillance network as
possibly the biggest advance in the technology of crime detection and
prevention since the introduction of DNA fingerprinting.

But others concerned about civil liberties will be worried that the
movements of millions of law-abiding people will soon be routinely
recorded and kept on a central computer database for years.

The new national data centre of vehicle movements will form the basis of
a sophisticated surveillance tool that lies at the heart of an operation
designed to drive criminals off the road.

In the process, the data centre will provide unrivalled opportunities to
gather intelligence data on the movements and associations of organised
gangs and terrorist suspects whenever they use cars, vans or
motorcycles.

The scheme is being orchestrated by the Association of Chief Police
Officers (Acpo) and has the full backing of ministers who have
sanctioned the spending of £24m this year on equipment.

More than 50 local authorities have signed agreements to allow the
police to convert thousands of existing traffic cameras so they can read
number plates automatically. The data will then be transmitted to Hendon
via a secure police communications network.

Chief constables are also on the verge of brokering agreements with the
Highways Agency, supermarkets and petrol station owners to incorporate
their own CCTV cameras into the network. In addition to cross-checking
each number plate against stolen and suspect vehicles held on the Police
National Computer, the national data centre will also check whether each
vehicle is lawfully licensed, insured and has a valid MoT test
certificate.

"Every time you make a car journey already, you'll be on CCTV somewhere.
The difference is that, in future, the car's index plates will be read
as well," said Frank Whiteley, Chief Constable of Hertfordshire and
chairman of the Acpo steering committee on automatic number plate
recognition (ANPR).

"What the data centre should be able to tell you is where a vehicle was
in the past and where it is now, whether it was or wasn't at a
particular location, and the routes taken to and from those crime
scenes. Particularly important are associated vehicles," Mr Whiteley
said.

The term "associated vehicles" means analysing convoys of cars, vans or
trucks to see who is driving alongside a vehicle that is already known
to be of interest to the police. Criminals, for instance, will drive
somewhere in a lawful vehicle, steal a car and then drive back in convoy
to commit further crimes "You're not necessarily interested in the
stolen vehicle. You're interested in what's moving with the stolen
vehicle," Mr Whiteley explained.

According to a strategy document drawn up by Acpo, the national data
centre in Hendon will be at the heart of a surveillance operation that
should deny criminals the use of the roads.

"The intention is to create a comprehensive ANPR camera and reader
infrastructure across the country to stop displacement of crime from
area to area and to allow a comprehensive picture of vehicle movements
to be captured," the Acpo strategy says.

"This development forms the basis of a 24/7 vehicle movement database
that will revolutionise arrest, intelligence and crime investigation
opportunities on a national basis," it says.

Mr Whiteley said MI5 will also use the database. "Clearly there are
values for this in counter-terrorism," he said.

"The security services will use it for purposes that I frankly don't
have access to. It's part of public protection. If the security services
did not have access to this, we'd be negligent."




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