Beware! 'Big Brother' is watching your every move

HYDERABAD: ‘Big Brother’ will be watching us all! With hundreds of surveillance cameras, real-time video analysis software, cell tower monitoring experts, off the air voice recording gadgets, fingerprint scanners and a nationwide database, intelligence agencies will be able to snoop on each and every move you make. Though on record ‘suspicious elements’ will be on the radar so that the men in khaki can prevent trouble in the city, on the flip side, the gadgets could be used to monitor even lay people.
As of now, 132 surveillance cameras have been installed in the city and soon 76 more will be added. In addition to these, Traffic Red Light & Speed Violation Enforcement System, comprising a video camera, a still camera and a flash, will be set up at 10 junctions in the city to nab traffic violators with photographic proof.
Police have plans to eventually extend it to the entire city. GHMC is also gearing up to roll out an advanced traffic signal operating system fitted with video cameras, real-time video analysis software and automatic signal changing mechanism based on traffic load on the stretch between Greenlands junction and Jubilee Hills checkpost. Though most of the existing surveillance cameras are being used for traffic surveillance, if the need arises, these systems could be utilised for law and order purposes too.
In 2008, terror suspect Viqaruddin and his associates opened fire on two policemen and escaped. Though a surveillance camera was at the location of the incident at IS Sadan, it failed to capture any image as it was not working.
However, the 76 new cameras to be installed in the city at strategic locations will be to identify law and order problems and grab images of trouble-makers.
According to deputy commissioner of police (DCP), South Zone, M Madhu Sudhan Reddy, 103 locations have been identified in the communally-sensitive South Zone area, comprising 13 police stations, and the plan is to fix surveillance cameras at these spots.
At Mecca Masjid, the video surveillance system has been an effective deterrent, a senior intelligence official said. Since the installation of video cameras near the mosque, agitators have become cautious. So, there has been no major law and order problems near the historic mosque, he added. After the recent communal riots, traders are volunteering to install surveillance system in their areas and requesting police to monitor them.
About 100 merchants from Patherghatti, Patel Market and Madina areas approached the Hyderabad commissioner of police saying that they want to install video cameras in their business locality and sought police support in installation and monitoring.
According to the DCP, discussions were on with vendors for supply, installation and maintenance of the gadgets. “Once the vendor is finalised, the monitoring room will be set up at Purani Haveli,” the DCP said. According to inspector-general (IG), Communications, T Krishna Prasad, who is the chairman of Technical Evaluation Committee of central government’s prestigious Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS) project, in future all such atomic surveillance hubs could be easily integrated and a unified monitoring body could come into existence to anticipate, prevent or reduce the intensity of trouble.