CDR: govt aerial photo privacy

[anonymous at openpgp.net]

Countys Aerial Photos Not for Public Sale 
                                                     Supervisors bow to residents concerns that the high-detail pictures
                                                   would invade their privacy. 

                                                   By DAVID REYES, Times Staff Writer


                                                        Bowing to privacy concerns, county supervisors backpedaled Tuesday
                                                   by agreeing not to let the public buy the high-detail, digital photographs
                                                   that will be taken during an aerial photo shoot of the entire county. 
                                                        County officials had considered selling the photos--a block-by-block
                                                   sweep of the county--on the Internet to help defray the cost of the photo
                                                   missions. 
                                                        "I think residents can rest assured that there wont be any pictures, any
                                                   Big Brother efforts in the county," said Supervisor Tom Wilson, before all
                                                   five supervisors voted to approve a $184,000 contract to Pictometry LLC,
                                                   a New York-based corporation. 
                                                        Originally, the company won approval to fly over Orange County and
                                                   take 60,000 photographs from an airplane flying at an altitude of 4,000
                                                   feet. The images would be stored in a county database and sold to cities
                                                   and governmental agencies, including police and fire departments. 
                                                        To recoup its costs, the county was going to make photographs
                                                   available for sale on the countys Web site for $15 to $25. 
                                                        Instead, supervisors were forced to reevaluate their decision after
                                                   receiving hundreds of complaints by residents, upset that their privacy
                                                   would be invaded or that the photos would tumble into the hands of
                                                   criminals. 
                                                        As a result, supervisors modified Pictometrys contract so it would not
                                                   include selling photographs to the public. 
                                                        The idea of having "Big Brother" peer into her backyard with a camera
                                                   frightened Helen Pegausch of Santa Ana. She felt strongly enough that she
                                                   missed work Tuesday to talk with supervisors. 
                                                        "I tell you having the county take photographs and then handing them
                                                   over to cities so they can check for violations really bothers me,"
                                                   Pegausch said. "We are paying more and more in taxes and voting out more
                                                   and more of our rights." 
                                                        Pastor Wiley Drake, an outspoken cleric on property rights issues,
                                                   urged the supervisors to reconsider whether the county needed the project. 
                                                        "Is there a legitimate need for this type of photography?" Drake asked,
                                                   as he sought anyone on the board with enough "intestinal fortitude" to move
                                                   to postpone the proposal until his questions can be answered. 
                                                        What makes Pictometry different from scores of other aerial products is
                                                   that, rather than being taken from directly overhead, pictures are taken at an
                                                   angle that--once combined with the companys software--allows users to
                                                   zoom in on neighborhoods and measure the height, width and length of any
                                                   feature in an image, including gullies, buildings, trees, poles and roads. 
                                                        It makes the product perfect for county planners, said Brian F.
                                                   Fitzpatrick, West Coast general manager for Pictometry, who was elated
                                                   with the boards decision. 
                                                        Rather than having a developer show an artists rendering of a new
                                                   shopping plaza, the digital software allows a planner to test the
                                                   developers claims by immediately seeing how the site will look, he said. 
                                                        The product conceivably can be used by hundreds if not thousands of
                                                   residents living in a coastal flood plain that extends through many cities as
                                                   a result of the threat of a large flood from the Santa Ana River. 
                                                        "The $200,000 the county is paying can save thousands, even millions,
                                                   of dollars to residents who may not have to pay for flood insurance,"
                                                   Supervisor Todd Spitzer said. 
                                                        Spitzer, an attorney who once worked in the district attorneys office,
                                                   said the courts already allow police authority to fly over homes and take
                                                   pictures. "This new proposal is an excellent balance." 
                                                        In other business, supervisors unanimously agreed on Lockheed Martin
                                                   as the prime contractor for an 11-year, $260-million data-processing
                                                   contract, which is believed to be the largest contract awarded by the
                                                   county. 
                                                        The decision ends more than a year of procurement activity by the
                                                   countys information and technology staff. 
                                                        Leo Crawford, the countys chief information officer, said a
                                                   procurement team had recommended Lockheed over the other finalist,
                                                   Science Applications International Corp., the largest private scientific
                                                   research organization in the United States. 

http://www.latimes.com/editions/orange/20001108/t000106980.html