Just the other day, one late night I was parking my car; when I got out I had a feeling to look up to the sky. When I did that I could not help noticing a device that was installed high upon a lamppost. To me it looked like a surveillance camera. I had the feeling that big Brother is watching.

Is it that counseling mentally challenged people have rubbed off on me and the condition of paranoia is contagious?   Or is it that I’ve construed the reason and function of the device as being something that is intruding on the privacy of people living and working in the area.

So I stated to inquire and bout this device. Other people that answered my inquires have confirmed that they see similar devices on lampposts in their neck of the woods. Since some of the devices don’t seem to have a camera lenses, or that there doesn’t seem to have any microphones they are not too sure that the devices are listening to people’s conversations.    

So my next step was to go to some sort of official information that the city put out as far as installations of equipment is concerned. Indeed what I’ve construed has some validity.

I’ve learned that the devices that I’ve observed are installed throughout the City. That the devices are some type sensor technology, housed in anonymous plastic or metal boxes. They are supposed to be invisible as far as the public is concerned. I guess that part is working, because most people don’t even know or notice that these devises are there above their heads.  

Now what is not clear is the ownership of the devices. The City government disclosed that the sensor devices are used by various city agencies. Like the Department of Transportation who monitors the flow of city traffic. The Police Department who monitors criminal activity; the Fire Department whose dispatch monitors clear routes to direct the fire truck Drivers to take the best route to an emergency. the Homeless services agency observing the movement of homeless people.

Then you have the state agencies like the Department of Motor vehicles measuring the speed of vehicles, issuing speeding tickets, or red light tickets and other moving violations to the car’s registered owners. Then there are Federal agencies like the Department of Homeland Services looking, and listening for so called terrorist activities.

The devices are even used to sensor private business and home owners own surveillance and security systems. The uses are endless. Sometimes the government agency has their logo’s on the devices, most of the time there is no logo so the function is not as apparent.

Maybe we are in a George Orwell zenith and no Trump did didn’t set it up, neither did Clinton or Bill Gates. After all there are people behind the scenes that direct the direction of things to come.