06/09/08 Surveillance or Peeping Tom

You better watch out, you better not pout, you better not cry I'm telling you why; you're being watched, and no it isn't Santa Claus! A new ultra high tech helicopter has been soaring the skies around New York City recently and criminals are finding out; you can run but you can't hide. This new $12 million dollar "whirly bird" sounds like something straight out of a Hollywood action film with it's ability to look inside buildings from up to four miles away, see and identify a face from two miles away, and track vehicles from 12 miles away! It even has that all important feature which all action heroes require on their high tech gadgetry; infrared night-vision. In a city that was ravaged by terrorists just seven short years ago the high powered surveillance seems a security dream come true, but it also has the normal civilian on edge wondering about personal privacy. A person can't help but wonder how long it will take for normal human curiosity to take over, influencing the helicopter's operators to indulge in some very expensive peeping tom activities.