"The Bush administration wants to allow law-enforcement agencies to use
military and intelligence satellites as a resource for investigations. Real-time
imagery and technology than can look inside buildings and even bunkers could be
used to pursue criminal investigations, a boon for law enforcement officials --
but a nightmare for civil libertarians:"
While I am not shaken by this on the grounds of privacy, since that is not a large concern to me, I do see what could be problems. One problem could develop between state-local governments and the federal government. If the federal government is in the hands of one party and the state-local government is in the hands of another, could the feds resist co-operation. Second, as Ed points out in his article, the court has found that if the police use enhanced technologies to see into a residence, that they need a search warrant for that, which they should get. If you can get a search warrant, why do you need this technology. Third these are forces that should be aimed at keeping America safe from invasion, safe from threats on the outside, to focus them on the country means they are not watching external threats, is that a good distraction.
The best use I would see for a technology like this is in crowd mapping. At an event like Thanksgiving Day Parada, or the Super Bowl, an political rally or any gathering of people. If there were an attack at such an event, knowing how large the crowd was, and where it was concentrated would be very useful in sending in help to those who needed it, and directing people away from trouble. One of the common problems in protests, is that the police will send crowds the wrong way, and into more trouble. It is assumed that they do this on purpose, but maybe it is an accident caused by being to close to the action and not knowing where the crowd is moving.
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