08 November 2004 Blog Home : November 2004 : Permalink
This is an interesting application of internet and digital camera technology from Oklahoma.
Wives and girlfriends: How would you like to know when your husband was cruising for prostitutes, engaging in lewd acts, parked outside message parlors known for prostitution or taking a hooker to a hotel room? Well now you can.
Employers: How would you like to know when your vehicle is being used to pick up hookers? Well now you can.
Register a family member's or company vehicle on this site and you will be notified by email when and if that vehicle is seen to be engaged in the following suspicious activity:
1. Cruising for prostitutes in areas known for prostitution
2. Picking up street prostitutes
3. Consorting with known prostitutes
4. Taking a prostitute to a hotel
5. Is parked outside a massage parlor that is known for prostitution activities (as according to 3 major web sites that allow members to post "reviews" on such establishments).
6. When "professional" escorts or prostitutes visit our city (after advertising on the above mentioned websites) we will be taping their clients and car tags (covertly) as they enter and leave the escort's hotel rooms.
When a car tag is entered into our database and matches a registered tag, the individual who registered that tag will be sent an email with specific information on when, where and what they were seen engaging in. In many cases a link to photographs and/or video evidence will be provided.
This is one of the many cases where I'm unsure if I am in favour of this or not. On the whole I think I am in favour of it since it seems to me that while I'm not against prostitution I am against it on the street and I am against people abusing other's trust in them. I think I'm going to slightly split the difference here. Streetwalkers are bad, prostitution in bothels and/or call girls in hotels are not so bad. Why? because the former is extremely dangerous for the prostitute, bad for the neighbourhood and so on. Irrespective of the legality of prostitution it should be banned on health and safety grounds and I am all in favour of someone filming those using streetwalkers and then publicising it.
On the other hand the health and safety grounds do not apply to the other two cases. And, from personal observation in Germany, it doesn't seem to me that a brothel need be more offensive than any other entertainment business. Sure I'd prefer not to have a brothel at the end of the road, but I'd also prefer not to have a cinema, a disco or a football stadium and for much the same reasons i.e. noise, lowering the tone of the neighbourhood etc. Some might complain that the brothel has a large neon sign flashing "XXX" or whathaveyou but it seems to me that this is precisely the sort of thing that local planning authorities and the like regulate. Flashing neon signs are generally unpleasant whether they say XXX or
Technologically this is an interesting use of the internet and cheap digital cameras. The technology (camera phones etc.) to make this even easier are available too. This is very easy to replicate and could be one good way to crack down on some forms of crime or antisocial activity. Of course it only affects those activities where at least one person is going to be embarassed by the publishing of the information, but in these cases it is another example of a niche that the Internet can conquer which is not well served today.
It is similar to the massive numbers of CCTV cameras that have sprouted up in the UK in particulalr but with two difference, anyone can view the results and no one has paid an cent in taxes for it. It is in some ways an invasion of privacy and no doubt one could insinuate false claims by photoshopping pictures but neither of these objections are limited to this idea and both can be fought in the courts if necessary. The key thing that it does bring home, and which should be no surprise to anyone, is that you have no right to privacy in a public place and with digital imaging technology the chances of someone catching you and publicising the result is much greater.
(link courtesy of Right Thinking Girl)