The Governor of Texas has announced that he wants to put up thousands of night vision cams on the border - streaming their flickering images onto the Internet and relying on the efforts of patriotic Americans to watch and report the furtive movements of aliens trying to sneak across the border.
Is this going to be lowest rated TV show ever? Hundreds or thousands of web cams - shooting at night using infared - and streamed onto the net. No commercials, no jingles, no interest. The world's best cure for insomnia.
For the few hours or days, there might be a few intrepid patriots staying up at night to check out the action. (I kind of wonder why the government isn't investing in motion activation sensors that will at least tell the viewers when something interesting is occurring?)
I'm sure that these fuzzy images from the web cams will pop up as background for various Saturday Night Live skits as well as a variety of satiric parody videos on YouTube, iFilms and other sites.
So how can we motivate some proud American's to monitor these videos - here are a few ideas.
- Video from these cameras could function as a screen savers running on hundreds of thousands of Internet networked computers.
- Maybe we could run spam superimposed over the top of the images - text ads for Viagra, free spyware killers, etc.
- volunteer drama groups could be encouraged to do performances in the desert. While they are emoting, skilled eyes could patrol the desert background for illicit movement.
- Patriotic web sites who support this effort could take a few of these web cam feeds and then run them on their homepages or along the bottom third of the screen. Add a push button link that automatically sends an alert to the local police or Guardsman and you will be all set.
- Offer a prize - if you see a alien, report him and if they get captured, you get maybe $10,000 or so. Think of all the late night stoners and partiers who would stay awake for a 10G payday.
- Here's an idea. Make it into a reality TV show, invite Paris Hilton and few other b-list celebrities to camp out on the border, and to confront the illegal aliens. I bet that that might get a few eyeballs watching.
EL PASO, Texas - The governor of Texas wants to turn all the world into a virtual posse. Rick Perry has announced a $5 million plan to install hundreds of night-vision cameras on private land along the Mexican border and put the live video on the Internet, so that anyone with a computer who spots illegal immigrants trying to slip across can report it on a toll-free hot line.
Web cam idea gets cool reception - The governor of Texas wants to turn all the world into a virtual posse. Rick Perry has announced a $5 million plan to install hundreds of night-vision cameras on private land along the Mexican border and put the live video on the Internet, so that anyone with a computer who spots illegal immigrants trying to slip across can report it on a toll-free hotline.
New Web cam use: Border security - Gov. Rick Perry has announced a $5 million plan to install hundreds of night-vision cameras on private land along the Mexican border and put the live video on the Internet, so that anyone with a computer who spots illegal immigrants trying to slip across can report it on a toll-free hotline.
Perry says border cams to be hiddenBy Louie Gilot / El Paso Times El Paso TimesThe Web cameras Texas is planning to place along the border will not become tools for smugglers of drugs and migrants because the bad guys won't know where the cameras are, Gov. Rick Perry said Wednesday in El Paso.
"There will be no recognizable landscapes. If they become recognizable, they will be moved," Perry said.
Perry was speaking at the offices of the Texas Department of Public Safety about Operation Rio Grande, his border security initiative. Perry repeated his previously announced commitment to spend $20 million on overtime pay for local law enforcement agencies and for surveillance technology, and he said he would ask the next state Legislature for an extra $100 million to pay for an additional 1,000 law enforcement officers.
Last week, Perry announced the state would invest $5 million to install hundreds of surveillance cameras on private farmland along the Texas-Mexico border, broadcast the live feed on a Web site and ask Web users to call an 800 number to report sightings of undocumented immigrants. The idea was sold as a large "neighborhood watch" program.
But some critics, including Minutemen-style volunteers, fear that the cameras would help smugglers monitor the comings and goings of law enforcement officers.
El Paso County Sheriff Leo Samaniego said he is not afraid for the safety of his men.
"It's going to have numbers (on the Web site), and you'll report you saw something on camera number such and such, and you won't know if it's Brownsville or El Paso," Samaniego said.
Bob Masling, the founder of the Texas Border Regulators, a volunteer group that patrols the border in El Paso's Lower Valley, was not convinced about the plan.
"You can bet the coyotes (migrant smugglers) know what the territory looks like," he said, predicting that local smugglers will quickly spot the cameras. "What we need is more boots on the ground."
Perry said the cameras would have night vision and would operate 24 hours a day. There is no starting date for the program.
Operation Rio Grande officers responded last month to 61 drug-related offenses, 28 human smuggling incidents and 234 incidents of illegal entry by 1,318 undocumented immigrants, Samaniego reported.
Louie Gilot may be reached at lgilot@elpasotimes.com, 546-6131.
