MONDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2002
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 7A
Security
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6A
ABOVE: Security directors recently installed a new security system in Learned Hall that monitors computer labs, classrooms and the construction site outside the building. The system of cameras feeds into a control room where a series of monitors displays all the images. The system is used to deter theft and help enforce departmental policies such as the no-food-or-drink rule.
Zach Straus/Kansan
are in use in the engineering department's student computer labs and classrooms.
Lance Rombough supervises the security system that monitors four computer labs in Learned Hall. A $20,000 network replaced the old system this year. Cameras show what is going on in computer labs and classrooms on a centralized group of screens.
The cameras discouraged people from walking off with computer parts, said Rombough, director of engineering computing services.
"They are used as a deterrent," he said. "The cameras are taken for granted. People notice them, but only once and then they forget about them."
The lab's cameras also help enforce the lab's no-food-or-drink policy. The help desk employee can send an instant computer message to whoever is seen eating or drinking in the computer labs.
"Students are usually surprised and start looking around for the cameras," he said.
That is exactly what Melissa Bryan did when she got a message on her computer for bringing a water bottle into the lab.
"I just put my water bottle under my desk and went back to work," the Andover senior said.
The cameras in the labs are effective at enforcing the food and drink policy, but could be put to better use, she said.
"I think it's interesting they only have them in the labs instead of in the dark parking lots," she said. "I sometimes leave the building at midnight by myself."
Every engineering student signed a contract when registering to use the computer labs. Rombough said, so privacy is not an issue. The contract warns
about the cameras.
Bryan said she did not remember the warning when signing her contract. "I signed up for my computer account when I was a freshman and haven't updated it since," she said.
The engineering department's system is digital, so footage is recorded onto a hard drive and can be kept forever. Rombough said.
Those who worry about the use of surveillance cameras should not expect the courts to back them, said Professor Gottlieb. In public places, the Constitution would not likely prohibit the use of cameras, he said.
"The Supreme Court would likely find that people have to expect they are going to be watched and photographed in public places," he said.
Although Big Brother is the analogy people use when they think of surveillance in Western culture, there are differences between the developing surveillance society and Orwell's concept of a totalitarian government. Staples said.
"I found what is really going on today is surveillance from the private sector," he said. "It's not driven by a government agency."
RIGHT: Professor William Staples is the author of Everyday Surveillance: Vigilance and Visibility in Postmodern Life, in which he discusses the increased surveillance of citizens and what effect it has on our society.
As he said in his book, "Big Brother is us."
—Edited by Matt Gehrke
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