Texas Gives Me the Virtual Creeps

Texas Border Watch went public today. You, too, can sign up to be a virtual border guard, and spend your days and nights monitoring the eight cameras along the border with Mexico. (On a sidenote, I can hardly wait for New York to launch its border watch, where we keep our eyes out for those pesky Ontarians and Quebecois trying to sneak into our fair land.)

This is what greets you if you go to the page:

Welcome
As part of the Virtual Neighborhood Border Watch Program, the State of Texas has been testing video surveillance cameras in different environments along the 1240 miles of Texas/Mexico border using the internet to transmit the images. The last stage of the test is to stress the system by providing pubic access to eight surveillance cameras.

Thank you for helping test this important capability.

To be part of the program you will need to have a user account. To get a user account click in the blue box on the right side of the screen.

NOTICE: You must turn off any pop-up blockers for this site. You may be asked to update your computer with software that allows you to view the video.

Um. No. Thank you. I don't think I want to register with your little citizen army at this time. I think it's kind of creepy that neighbors are watching neighbors with cameras. Last time I checked, that was called voyeurism, or illegal spying. But I guess if the government says it's alright, then by damn, it's all RIGHT.

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