The prediction, in brief:

With error margins of less than a centimeter, they will be able to create computer-generated playbacks of performances … Single-chip, coin-sized versions of their units will be made cheaply enough for each officer to wear several on their uniforms and equipment – wrists, elbows, ankles, knees, heads, torsos, hips, guns, nightsticks. An officer’s every move will be captured … With such a recording, many crucial questions can be answered. Did the officer violate department policy by clubbing a suspect with an overhand blow to the head? Did she shoot someone who was already wounded on the ground? … Technology may yet prove to be the best way to guard the guards themselves.

Predictor: Seifort, Sandy

Prediction, in context:

In a 1994 article for Wired magazine, Sandy Seifort, described as “a writer, cypherpunk and outlawyer specializing in privacy issues,” tackles the issues involved in surveillance of police work. Seifort writes:”Bob Fleming, is developing an entirely new positioning technology. The original idea was to use the technology to precisely position ballet dancers’ bodies and limbs in space, according to Fleming. With error margins of less than a centimeter, they will be able to create computer-generated playbacks of performances. These computerized recordings will allow the dancers to be viewed from any angle, or their moves edited for instructional or creative purposes. Fleming’s company also foresees the technology’s use in law enforcement … Fleming et al. aren’t satisfied with merely knowing an officer’s location. They envision the continuous recording of a cop’s bodily movements – just like the ballet dancers – throughout a shift. They believe that single-chip, coin-sized versions of their units will be made cheaply enough for each officer to wear several on their uniforms and equipment – wrists, elbows, ankles, knees, heads, torsos, hips, guns, nightsticks. An officer’s every move will be captured. Unlike video, this technology works in the dark and does not depend on the direction the cop’s camera is facing. With such a recording, many crucial questions can be answered. Did the officer violate department policy by clubbing a suspect with an overhand blow to the head? Did she shoot someone who was already wounded on the ground? Was he facing in the right direction to have seen the suspect he claims to have identified? Many may worry that as technology becomes more and more prevalent in our lives, so does Big Brother. But technology may yet prove to be the best way to guard the guards themselves.”

Date of prediction: January 1, 1994

Topic of prediction: Global Relationships/Politics

Subtopic: Peacekeeping/Warfare

Name of publication: Wired

Title, headline, chapter name: Watching the Detectives

Quote Type: Paraphrase

Page number or URL of document at time of study:
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.12/sandfort.if_pr.html

This data was logged into the Elon/Pew Predictions Database by: Anderson, Janna Quitney