Here's a system that seems more Minority Report and science fiction than real life. But it is very real. Police from Compton have been experimenting with a system that allowed them to watch every car and person in real time. This enabled them to see every assault, every purse snatched and just about whatever crime you can think of.

The wide-area surveillance system invented by Ross McNutt, a retired Air Force veteran who owns a company called Persistent Surveillance Systems, is somewhat like a live version of Google Earth. The company plans to outfit planes with an array of super high-resolution cameras to allow a pilot to record what's happening below for up to six hours.



Police using this system could track a criminal committing a crime, and eventually bring the perpetrator to justice. It sounds great. Who doesn't love safety?

Of course, there's a downside of it. What happens to your privacy now?[Center for Investigative Reporting]