It seems that local police are training Bright House employees to look for "suspicious" activity and report it to the police, according to this article in the Orlando Sentinel. On the surface, it sounds good. Criminals will now run and hide every time they see a Bright House van enter a neighborhood. We have a new kind of superhero who fights crime and delivers high definition television. Along with Bright House, your neighborhood Garbage Man is doing the same thing. He's picking up your recycled waste and keeping an eye out for whatever suspicious things you may be doing.
So what's suspicious? Anything they want it to be.
- If you're walking around taking pictures in your neighborhood, you're suspicious.
- If you visit a friend before he gets home and wait in your car, you're suspicious.
- If you make a delivery at an "odd" time, you're suspicious.
- If you look like you don't belong in the neighborhood, you're suspicious.
- If you're using binoculars, you're suspicious.
- If you're taking notes, you're suspicious.
- If you're drawing a diagram, you're suspicious.
- If you avoid making eye contact, you're not shy, you're suspicious.
- If you leave when a stranger approaches you, you're suspicious.
- If you're overdressed for the weather, you're suspicious.
- If your vehicle is overloaded, you're suspicious.
- If you smell bad, you're suspicious.
- If you have an "unusual" amount of people living in your house, you're suspicious.
- Most egregious of all, if you act suspicious, you're suspicious.
There are any number of perfectly legal activities which seem suspicious to those who have been trained to be suspicious, to those who get rewarded for reporting suspicious behavior, or to those who just like to feel superior.
I have no problem with individual citizens being vigilant. If I happened to see someone breaking into a house, I'd call 911 and report it. However, I'm not going to call just because someone looks like they might be in the wrong place. As hard as our government has tried to change things, this is still the United States of America (except in Lake County). If I see a Hispanic man in a predominantly white neighborhood, it doesn't mean he's a criminal. If I see a white man in a predominantly black neighborhood, it doesn't mean he's there for hookers or crack. Letting people think the worst of others is one thing. Giving them incentive and power to act upon their suspicions is another, more dangerous thing.
When you pay for Bright House service and something goes wrong, you call for a technician to come to your home and fix it. Now you're going to get something else with it, too. You're going to get a spy for the police department in your home. In addition to trying to fix the problem, he's going to be looking around your house. If you have a closed door where he's not allowed, that may seem suspicious. Never mind that it's because the room is messy or you don't want him to see the sex chandelier hanging over your bed. He's going to start assuming what evil terrorist plot you may be trying to hatch in there.
That's not surprising. When the human mind doesn't have enough information, it tries to fill the gap with supposition. If a person is looking for something suspicious and you don't alleviate any doubt, then the fact that he can't see in there is suspicious to him. Those who want to fight crime will see crime, even if they can't see a damn thing other than a closed door.
Of course, we don't need to worry about that. It says so, right in the article:
Residents who allow Bright House technicians into their homes don't need to worry about being reported for illegal activities that might be observed, said Sara Brady, the company's vice president for public affairs and community relations.
See? There you go, you have the word of Sara Brady. None of her Bright Spies are going to cross the line in your home. What more do you want? It's in print, so it must be true. They won't call the cops about things they see in your house, unless...
One exception is a life-safety issue, Brady said. For example, if a technician finds young children home alone, they will report it. But they were doing that long before the launch of Operation Bright Eyes, she said.
Well, that makes perfect sense. A young child home alone, they need to come and lock you up. What else makes sense? If they see you have children and have a wine rack, watch out. Hey, those kids are at risk. Someone needs to come and lock you up.
The truly frightening part of this program is that it's based upon suspicion. Anything you do to preserve your privacy may seem quite suspicious to others. You don't need to commit any crime, all you need to do is go about your day and mind your own business to become suspicious, and therefore, get reported by the very business you're paying.
Take a look at a recent example in the news. A Harvard professor comes home from vacation and has a problem getting in his own house. He asks his driver for assistance and they succeed in forcing the door open. Meanwhile, a suspicious person calls the police and reports that a black man is breaking into a house. The black man is the home owner. Police arrive and he identifies himself as the home owner.
Apparently, this exchange between the Harvard professor and the police was unpleasant and the professor wanted to get the officer's badge number. As expected, the crime of "contempt of cop" went into effect and the professor was arrested in his own home for disturbing the peace. I wonder if his cable company made the call to the police?
The next time Bright House raises its rates, I admit that I'll be suspicious that it's to cover the cost of spying on me.
