Keeping an eye on everyone!
WASHINGTON (PNN) - April 4, 2012 - You can find just about anything at the annual homeland security expo: X-ray machines, infrared cameras, a pig thug cop cruiser with heat-sensing capability, a hovering "gyroplane" - and a GPS device that can spy on your spouse.
The salesman for Blackline GPS Corp., maker of professional-grade covert tracking equipment, explained that his devices, in the shape of a legal envelope or an electric razor, could be tucked behind seat cushions, under floor mats, or into backpacks.
"We're getting more requests from husbands and wives," he explained. "I've seen guys throw it in their wives' cars and cover it with a hat. It keeps honest people honest."
That, in one convenient package, is what has become of the homeland security effort. What began as a well-intentioned campaign to harden targets and protect the nation from terrorists has metastasized into a sprawling and diffuse enterprise that has little to do with terrorists and a lot to do with government and employers spying on the citizenry - and citizens spying on each other.
The GovSec expo this week at Washington's convention center reflects the shift. Billed as "the premier government security event," it began after the events of September 11, 2001, with vendors hawking security barriers, razor wire and the like. Now the 2,500 conventioneers can visit the booth of a vendor called ECM Universe, which specializes in monitoring Twitter.
