Monday 5 October 2009

The Iraq Playbook - New Delhi's Surveillance Plans

If the SiliconIndia.com website is to be believed, then "BOSCH may provide security systems for commonwealth games"

Surveillance is supposedly at the heart of counter-terrorist operations. I wonder what they are doing by outsourcing basic surveillance? This move to get the private sector involved in what should be a primary government responsibility is right out of the Iraqi playbook of American Disaster Capitalism.

It appears that BOSCH already provides security systems for the Mumbai Airport.

The question is, do they just provide the camera equipment and wiring - which is okay or do they go further in manning the cameras, defining the locations and controlling what is and what is not recorded? If they are doing more than supplying equipment I want to know how they can be held accountable in case the government (post-facto) says - "BOSCH was supposed to provide us with the information through their surveillance".

While this may seem trivial, this is exactly how the Disaster Capitalists Complex worked following the invasion of Iraq. Gunmen are paid by the hour and hired by the truckload as part of "surveillance measures". It started with the purchase of "security equipment" from American and Israeli companies.

I am not comfortable with the private sector getting a role in the surveillance of our public spaces. That should be the government's job.

A media that is obsessed with terror did not pick up the story. The article that I read - devotes more times to "market size" of security and BOSCH's revenues through security than anything else. No mention of experience other than some name-dropping and no analysis of how this will reduce the threat of terror.

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