Badges with eyes, killing the guards won't help Options

[wagnern]

I have not seen a mention of it, but to me, it would make great sence for a security company to hide micro cameras and microphones into their badges. Don't even tell the employies about them, just everytime they find a dead guard take his badge and use this tiny 'flight recorder' to see what killed him. (Only a few in the company would know why the badges are taken off of killed guards, most would think it is to just keep loose badges from floating around and finding there way on the black market)

This is a heck of a lot cheaper than cyber cameras and headware memory, it can't be hacked by Deckers. Also, the emblems on the guards hats can be used if the company wants a better view of where the guard is looking. Perhaps both?

If this practice leaks to the street, place trackers in the badges, so when the runner snages the badge, you can follow him. Incased in metal they can be made tough enough to resist any quick form of destruction and thus must be taken with the runner.

Kill the guard? Police perfer cameras over eye witnesses anyway.

[toturi]

What if the badges are used as a lure?

If the badges(or any other similar measures) are used, they'd quickly be disseminated out to the streets. Such measures are based on secrecy and once they are used, they won't be secret anymore. It is similar to having an intelligence source and using it. If you use it, you are exposing it, but if you don't, you might as well do not have it.

[Clyde]

Of course, that kind of thing is why the corps have to hire shadowrunners in the first place! When the security company plugs your face into its software they'll get zip if you don't have a SIN or something. Sure they could print your picture out and put up wanted posters in your neighborhood, but that would just warn you that they were onto you. Most runners are going to assume that they're on camera at any corp site, anyway, and use masks/disguises/invisibility/concealment anyway.

Still, I like this pinhole camera thing enough to try it on my group sometime :grinbig:

[Eyeless Blond]

There's also the potential lawsuit implications for invasion of privacy etc. After all, employees do take those badges home with them, and home is likely to not be on extranational territory.

[Frater Inominatu...]

So you simply make them AOD. When the get within 100 meters of the building the bagde receives an "on" code and when the badge no longer receives the code it shuts down.

[Reaver]

[toturi]

Megacorps in SR don't have issues with privacy. A corps and smaller deal with national laws, so unless your UCAS privacy laws differ greatly from those US privacy laws now, you will have problems.

[Just Pete]

Of course, the badges could also be "premises only" - that is, when the guard gets to work, he clocks in, grabs his badge, and goes on shift. Reverse in the evening. Badge never goes home, no issue with privacy.

Another thought - it's not even necessary to make this a big secret. Having locators & eyes on the guards in secure facilities is bound to be a good idea anyway - sorta like the 'communicators' in Star Trek series - you've got a radio and homing beacon in one. Adding a camera is a no-brainer.

Plus, telling the guards what they're carrying will also alleviate those privacy lawsuits that arise when the videos of them visiting the bathroom hit the matrix....

And yes, Mega-Corps still have to answer to privacy laws - even if they're just their own. PR purposes an' all.

[Reaver]

[wagnern]

Ya, Corps try to play good guy, but who are they kidding? Everyone knows how they realy feal:


Soon to be Erased reporter: "Mega Corp Inc ravages the enviroment, invades privicy, undermindes the government, and makes the rich richer and the poor poorer. What is your responce to these aligations?"

Mega Corp P.R. rep blushes: "Ah, you say the sweetest things."


Besides, how is someone going to complain? Talk to the press owned by a megacorp? Talk to the Government that is a powerless puppet of the Megacorps? Even Mega corp rivalries may not help you. Perhaps the news group of a rival megacorp would cover the story, But why, they can fabricate much better. And besides, if a whisle blower gets press, it may incourage more people to come forward, and some of these might be there own. Also, chalanging a Mega corp may inspire a seed of hope in some people; they can't allow that.

[Kagetenshi]

[Sheffield]

This is a pretty interesting idea. The badges could be kept in the guards' lockers with their uniforms so the whole privacy thing becomes a non-issue. The badges would contain cameras with transmitters that would send signals to a "black box room," which may be the security rigger's room or which may be its own room. The black box would have to be protected because it contains sensitive information, but at the same time, the information would be no more sensitive than the things the guards see anyway. The average rent-a-cop isn't going to have so much clearance, and so grabbing the right high-ranked guard would provide as much information as accessing the black box, without so much sorting through data.

However, this kind of system would allow for some interesting run hooks. Such as a corp hires a team to get the info out of the balck box room as part of their ongoing industrial espionage against a competitor. Or a team could intercept the microcamera transmissions to get the floor plan of a facility (but still has to go in for a steal because the guards don't get close enough to the secret stuff). This would also provide lots of info about guard routines and facility security procedures.

[BitBasher]

Actually I do this on most security anyway. Most guards wear a transciever with a camera/mic built in. So does Lone Star. The cost for that in SR is very low compared to the benefits. There's also the added bonus of it being head mounted so it sees what the guard is looking at, which the badge does not. Most sec guards also carry a biomonitor that reports to the central sec office on site. It prevents the whole "neutralizing the guards silently" blatant security holes.

[wagnern]

I think it would be best if kept non networked. This would be cheaper and secure. Perhaps transmit a signal if the badge orentation changes (the guard is knocked down).

As far as sinsitive information goes, Unless your security guard pulls up plans and pages through them one by one, the camera is not going to show much. Besides a simple failsafe could cut down on this. Simply have a securty code that must be comunitated to the badge before download or it wipes it's memory.

[Sheffield]

It has to be networked, even if it isn't constantly monitored. The feeds can all dump into memory banks that are kept for 24-48 hours so they can be retrieved if something happens. If they aren't networked, the system is useless. Killing the guards *will* help because the system can be defeated simply by taking the badge off a guard.

Otherwise, as someone noted above, the system is dependent on secrecy and only works if no one knows about the badges.

[Kagetenshi]

If networked, the system can be detected/intercepted/spoofed/etc. You'd need a physical line.

~J

[Sheffield]

Of course, if you wanted to go the non-network route without relying on secrecy, the guards could all be equipped with 60 MP of headware memory as part of their standard gear. The guard plugs the camera into their jack and constantly overwrites the same thirty minutes of storage until the system shuts down [guard death]. So the black box in their skull contains the last 30 minutes of footage, which can be accessed by corp geeks. Tough for runners to get around that unless they know about the system and are willing to take the time to carve a chip out of a cadaver's skull or pop it with an EX round or take some other distasteful measure.

[Sheffield]

[wagnern]

[Smiley]

[hyzmarca]

There are many good reasons for guards to have cameras that don't involve runners.

Corp Judge: Corp Guard, Corp Exec's Teenage Daughter says that she had nothing to do with the grafitti and that the only reason you arrested her was that she refused to perform oral sex on you.

Corp Guard: Well, lets just look at the recording.

[Kagetenshi]

And you've just outlined the reason why guards won't have cameras.

~J

[hyzmarca]

[Kagetenshi]

So that any executive or relative thereof can get away with any conceivable crime.

~J

[hyzmarca]