Spy NYC

Big Brother is watching you ... and you can watch him watching you!

In this era of hyper-security, a major world city like NYC is locked, stocked, and barrelled with security and traffic cameras all over town. They spy on our streets and roads shamelessly, at all hours of the day and night, to make sure that traffic is moving properly and that people aren't up to any funny business.

Better be careful when picking your nose in public -- it's probably being recorded for all eternity. 

These cameras are everywhere. And, of course, if you go into any building or store around town, in all likelihood you are being watched by cameras there too. Basically, you can't go anywhere in NYC (except private homes) and have any expectation of privacy.

Scary. 

But you don't have to be a victim. You can sniff (some of) these cameras out. I found a link to a site that has lots of information about security cameras in NYC. Also, the Department of Transportation has a full list of its traffic cameras that you can check out -- and see which ones are active and which are inactive. 

Better yet, you can actually watch TV and see these traffic cams in action! NYC TV has a dedicated channel called City Drive Live (on my TimeWarner system, it's channel 72) where you see nothing but images of traffic all over town. Every few seconds they cut from Times Square to the BQE to the Verrazano Bridge to the Cross-Bronx and on and on. It's kinda of mezmerizing -- you get to see the whole city moving at once. But it's also kinda scary -- because you basically can't drive anywhere without being spied on.

Oh brave new world that has so many cameras in it.

 

So ... do you like to watch? (Sorry, couldn't help it.)