Olympic Security: Big Brother Really IS Watching You

This interesting report on NBC News in the States reveals that the Metropolitan Police's Air Support Unit, which is based at Lippitts Hill out in Epping Forest and that many of us can hear flying over east London on a regular basis, is using cameras on its three helicopters that are not only capable of seeing onto rooftops and other ‘inaccessible' places but are able to see very clearly "as much detail as they need to".

What this "very dynamic" surveillance means in practice is the ability to obtain a "good clothing description" (using a x1000 zoom, known as a ‘spotter scope’) as well as "multiple number of recorders" to gather evidence that is "not just visual, it's audio as well." This will be put to use during the Olympics to "facilitate crowd movement and crowds dynamics". In public order situations, the Met says that helicopter crews "down-link live pictures to either the Central Communications Command or to small suitcase size mobile receivers so the incident commander can make informed decisions on the basis of real time pictures".

All this clever technology is on top of speculation that Olympic security will include aerial drones: as Independent foreign correspondent Peter Popham pointed out in April, their historical development has always centred around their use for surveillance and it was only a matter of time before they are used on civil society:

It is the snooping function foreseen by Orwell that is the most significant next step for drones in our societies: with our cities and public buildings already saturated with surveillance cameras, we may fondly suppose that the state's monitoring of our daily lives has gone as far as it can go. But we ain't seen nothing yet.

The Met's Sergeant Richard Brandon told NBC that the Air Support Unit's cameras will provide "reassurance for the public" but, like much of the security operation during this summer's Games, isn't there something alarmingly sinister about aerial surveillance that can pinpoint sound and the colour of your shoelaces from a kilometre away?