"FELL THROUGH THE CRACKS" SAY COUNCIL MEMBERS.

Friday, July 6, 2001

After days of negative national publicity and an outcry from pro-privacy groups, members of the Tampa City Council are back-pedaling on a recent vote held May 10th.

The controversy centers on the installation of high-tech surveillance cameras that utilize an advanced digital face-recognition technology. The software powering the cameras can scan crowds of people and instantly match their digital images against a massive database.

Now, council members Linda Saul-Selina, Gwen Miller and Rose Ferlita say they had no idea they had voted to approve the Ybor City camera software and claim the resolution was buried within pages of other city business and the associative language "was confusing." The members, some of whom have appeared on national television shows to express their displeasure with the system say they're outraged and think the cameras and the digital databases are a blatant invasion of privacy.

Tampa Councilman Bob Buckhorn, who sponsored the legislation behind the face-recognition technology, said he didn't call for "full-blown public hearings on the matter" because the system didn't immediately involve the expenditure of taxpayer money. Now, Rose Ferlita is demanding that the city council take up a vote to terminate the contract with the software manufacturer.