At this point you might as well assume that every new technology serves a second purpose: to spy on you. The 171 new LED light fixtures in Newark Liberty International's Terminal B provide the area with clean lighting. They also watch and record you.
The fixtures use cameras and other censors to "spot long lines, recognize license plates and even identify suspicious activity, sending alerts to the appropriate staff." Like any surveillance-related development, suspicion is a given.
Fred H. Cate, director of the Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research at Indiana University, says that when new technologies like this come out, not enough thought is given to which data is useful and how it should be managed.
Although it's important to check the powers that be, it's hard to argue with better surveillance at airports. We don't expect much of a backlash now, but it will most likely come if we start seeing these spy lights in more places.
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[via New York Times]
