Big Brother Is Watching

Published by

Clarissa

May 30, 2013

The university administrators pushed through a video surveillance policy without consulting anybody. The policy was announced at a time when most faculty members are not around and cannot protest.

Now, the university can install video cameras pretty much anywhere on campus, including classrooms, professors’ offices, etc. The language of the policy does not prevent the administration from installing cameras in the toilets or gym showers.

One lonely voice of a senior faculty member has been raised in outrage. Everybody else is on vacation, afraid to say anything (my case), or indifferent.

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24 responses to “Big Brother Is Watching”

David Gendron

May 30, 2013

The good news is that teachers could not rape anymore their students in their office. I’m sure that it’s the REAL 😉 purpose of this!

:poop:

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David Gendron

May 30, 2013

OH, BUT WE HAVE NO MONEY FOR ANYTHING ELSE!

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  May 30, 2013
  
  Exactly!!! Suddenly, the money materialized. For this kind of shit, there always is money.
  
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  1. David Gendron
    
    May 30, 2013
    
    Money is unlimited for authority.
    
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David Gendron

May 30, 2013

Austerity measures are always authority measures, in fact.

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Pen

May 30, 2013

I thought there were laws preventing surveillance in bathrooms and showers?

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  May 30, 2013
  
  I’m sure there are but the policy doesn’t mention any of that.
  
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David Gendron

May 30, 2013

Or (even though I’m against gun control, NRA-freakazoïds are like this)

I’M A FREEDOM-LOVER, NO GUN CONTROL AND NO IRS AUDITS FOR MEEEEE…but I like cameras everywhere, that’s cool!

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Z

May 30, 2013

afraid to say anything (my case)

You have nothing to fear. Join forces with that senior person and present a motion in Senate. Get it through — it will be a major service since this is only the beginning.
Stop them now.

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  May 30, 2013
  
  You know what?? I think you are right. I will write to him now. The more I think about it, the more I hate this policy.
  
  And I’m getting tired of feeling afraid.
  
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  1. bloggerclarissa
    
    May 30, 2013
    
    It’s just like in China! http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/01/03/china-security/1802177/
    
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  2. Z
    
    May 30, 2013
    
    Also consult AAUP. You appear not to have a chapter at your place but it sounds as though you need one and I would start one if I were you. Here is the Illinois webpage: http://www.ilaaup.org/ … there is a big, active chapter at UIUC and I am sure they would be very interested in this (and may have even already dealt with it). Fear does you no good. And also, if I may say: a profession that makes you that scared, or in which that degree of fearfulness and cowedness is considered sensible, is NO GOOD. Don’t allow it.
    
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    1. bloggerclarissa
      
      May 30, 2013
      
      OK, the plot thickens. Now we – or some of us – will have to get trained as surveillance equipment operators. I’m guessing this is a very marketable skill. Maybe next we will learn to operate drones.
      
      The good news is that more people are getting upset about this. I will talk to a colleague who is active in AAUP tomorrow.
      
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Z

May 30, 2013

Surveillance equipment operators, shocking. AAUP, ACLU, I see a lawsuit coming and if some are creative, Luddism. But first a severe letter signed by many has to go to the administration, I am guessing …

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  May 30, 2013
  
  And now it turns out that many people think it’s a great idea. . . They say they don’t feel safe without it.
  
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  1. Z
    
    May 30, 2013
    
    Christ. What lemmings. They deserve the loss of civil liberties, then.
    
    I think you can successfully defend a request to get this turned off in your office, and get other faculty the opportunity or option to have it turned off. If you fail at that I am sure you can have it discreetly vandalized / disabled.
    
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  2. Z
    
    May 30, 2013
    
    Christ. What lemmings. They deserve the loss of civil liberties, then.
    
    I think you can successfully defend a request to get this turned off in your office, and get other faculty the opportunity or option to have it turned off. If you fail at that I am sure you can have it discreetly vandalized / disabled.
    
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    1. bloggerclarissa
      
      May 30, 2013
      
      I have the perfect way of defending my office from this : autism. We will see how the majority feels about the policy.
      
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  3. Ol.
    
    May 31, 2013
    
    American people will never feel safe enough.
    
    Related, but you probably read the news already:
    
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    1. bloggerclarissa
      
      May 31, 2013
      
      I wonder why we didn’t hire her since this is precisely the kind of administrator we tend to hire. 😦
      
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cliff arroyo

May 31, 2013

The conspiracy-addled part of my brain can’t help but wonder if a lot of the previous drahma about budget cuts was meant to tire out and/or distract faculty so they could push this through when people were decompressing and not paying attention…..

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  May 31, 2013
  
  I haven’t thought about this but it sounds scarily possible. Since the budget cuts turned out to be completely non-existent, yet the administration allowed that they continued to be discussed for quite a while, how likely is that this was simply a screw-up with no other consequences?
  
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N G

May 31, 2013

I assume that this initiative in your university is in anticipation of H.R. 1470, School Safety Enhancements Act of 2013, which will make available a very large sum of money from the federal government for the purchase of school surveillance equipment. You can read the text of the act here:

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/113/hr1470/text

It’s also interesting one sentence states, “Establishment of hotlines or tip lines for the reporting of potentially dangerous students and situations” and another mentions, an “Interagency Task Force.” My understanding is that in addition to your professorial role if you’re designated as a “surveillance equipment operator” then you will be an informant for your local FUSION center, a Homeland Security information sharing center including HLS, CIA, FBI and other state/local police forces, which will very useful for future student Occupy type activities or perhaps dissident faculty.

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1. bloggerclarissa
  
  May 31, 2013
  
  Oh God. Yes, this must be it. The beauty of teaching at a state school is gradually dissipating.
  
  The very worst thing about all this is that one colleague already expressed the wish that we should all be armed. 😦 😦 This paranoia is sickening and baseless. I have no idea what happens to people to make them feel all this fear. All of us have an enormously higher chance to die in a car accident than being shot by a mass murderer. Yet everybody gets into a car every day without a second thought while letting these imaginary spree killers prey on their minds.
  
  “My understanding is that in addition to your professorial role if you’re designated as a “surveillance equipment operator” then you will be an informant for your local FUSION center, a Homeland Security information sharing center including HLS, CIA, FBI and other state/local police forces, which will very useful for future student Occupy type activities or perhaps dissident faculty.”
  
  – Exactly!!!!!! But why does nobody else understand this? Why are people so dense? Why is this spurious safety from mass murdering students so important to them that they want to participate in this gradual demolition of their and everybody else’s rights?
  
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