Big Brothers

ISIS is only the first step in making surveillance more efficient. When used in conjunction with what Ibarra calls "chatback speakers," the ISIS technology can actually prevent crimes from happening. "Say we set up cameras in an area on Federal that's dealing with vandalism and graffiti issues," he says. "ISIS recognizes those selected features of someone who is preparing to break a window or tag a building. If the cameras are equipped with the two-way speakers, whoever's watching the video could then actually say to the kid, 'Hey, you in the gray sweatshirt, stop what you're doing immediately.' That's instant behavior modification. They aren't going to hang around for long when someone catches them in the act. They're going to split."

The Ibarra brothers are keenly aware of the Big Brother potential if the technology they supply is abused. "Surveillance can be used for good and bad, depending on who's using it," Tony says. "I think that the universal national identification cards that the federal government is trying to get passed are too invasive. And the Patriot Act -- that just allows the government to do pretty much anything they want as far as surveillance goes. It's important that we as citizens make sure that the government works for us, and not vice versa."

"On the other hand," contends Greg, "an individual's motivation for using surveillance cameras can be just as bad as any government agency's, so you have to put yourself on both sides of the fence in the privacy debate. If you're a criminal, you don't want the cameras because they catch you doing your crimes or make you move somewhere else to do them. And if you're way left politically, you see all cameras as an invasion of your privacy. But as soon as you're a victim of a crime, no matter who you are, the first thing you're asking is, 'Where's the camera? Where's the evidence? I want justice.'"

Regardless, both Tony and Greg agree that as surveillance technology becomes cheaper and more advanced, the number of cameras in places like downtown Denver won't have to be estimated; they'll just be everywhere. Tony estimates that Digatron has installed more than 3,000 cameras and recorders in the greater Denver area alone and that by the end of this summer, the company will be actively monitoring approximately 450 of them from a one-room, one-man control station in their Highland offices.

Some of the other cameras are privately monitored, though often not very carefully, because few of Digatron's clients have the time or the resources to do so. Still others are recorders whose footage is merely retrieved on a need-to-see basis.

"Really, we all just have rich imaginations," says Greg. "We want to believe that someone is always watching us, recording our every move. But most of us just really aren't that interesting."