“Naturally, the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship. …voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.” – Hermann Göring

“Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.” – Benjamin Franklin (1706-90)

“The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy.” – Charles de Montesquieu

After the meeting, Moss gave me a few details about access restrictions for the recordings, then clammed up and refused to say more. He adheres to the antiquated that security through obscurity is good policy, and explicitly stated that he will fight to keep secret specifics about the equipment they’re using. I suspect he’s going to lose that fight.

Mocek: “By policy. But it would be technically possible.”

Moss: “If they have permission, yeah, but we control that.”

Mocek: “And they can do that from the Internet? They don’t have to be on the private network?”

Moss: “They do have to be on the private network. And that’s as much of it as I’m gonna discuss. I wanna keep it safe and secure.”

Mocek: “Okay.”

Moss: “Because I gotta keep it safe from hacking as well.”

Mocek: “Sure. That’s one of the reasons I’m curious if they’re on the Internet. So clearly they are to some degree, because you said that the network can be used as an access point to get out onto the Internet.”

Moss: “But the wireless networks are very sophisticated, and the cameras are on a separate network.”

Mocek: “Cameras are on a separate network from the wireless?”

Moss: “Yeah, because you’re not logging into wireless to get to the camera, you’re logging into wireless to get to the DVR.”

Mocek: “Okay”

Moss: “So, yeah. I mean, I’ll answer questions, like, there’s firewalls and things like that in place, and there’ll be strict everything.”

Mocek: “I think it would be helpful to have all that information be in the public.”

Moss: “I don’t.”

Mocek: “The best security is reviewed by–”

Moss: “I’ll explain that, but if I say it’s this model of this and this model of that, then there are people that will start attacking that, and I don’t want that either.”

Mocek: “So is that not public record?”

Moss: “I don’t think it is, and I’ll fight that.”

Mocek: “Make and model of the equipment?”

Moss: “Yep. I’d very much like to protect that, because I think that’s important.”

You said you had made a request for information about the make, model and capabilities of these cameras. I suspect the masking is software enabled, and not based on a physical mask on the housing. If cameras can zoom, then a physical mask would not seem to deter it from taking pictures around edges of the mask if the lens can travel towards the mask. Any word about when this information will be provided?

I suspect (unfortunate word choice) that this dog and pony show is to keep the peasants from revolting and they really intend to keep these new toys regardless of any objections. If we can catch them in more lies about the cameras, especially in regards to capabilities, that would be great. Thanks.

I hope this issue is not dropped once the SPD and Seattle IT are able to demonstrate to the public that the cameras are not able to look into private residences. Whether or not we trust their “proof” is one matter, but the issue of the general right of the public to not be recorded on camera everywhere they go remains. This is just one set of 30 cameras, but will there be more? SPD Chief Kimerer said that we live in a very, very dangerous time and those who want to harm us have the upper hand. I do believe that’s true, but we probably disagree about whom we should be watching out for.