BlueServo was an American company whose primary service was the Virtual Community Watch, which attempted to crowdsource the surveillance of the
Texas-Mexico border.
Virtual Community Watch
BlueServo's site allowed for online users to watch video feeds from near the US-Mexico border and report people they saw on the cameras. The initiative, first proposed in June 2006, was initially launched by the State of Texas in 2007. The service was backed by the
Texas Border Sheriffs' Coalition and was endorsed by governor
Rick Perry
James Richard Perry (born March 4, 1950) is an American politician who served as the 14th United States secretary of energy from 2017 to 2019 and as the 47th governor of Texas from 2000 to 2015. Perry also ran unsuccessfully for the Republica ...
, despite 2009 criticisms arguing that the service has been ineffective in reducing the flow of illegal immigration.
In the first 6 months, only 13 of the expected 200 cameras were installed along the 1,254 miles of Texas-Mexico border and only three arrests instead of the expected 1,200.
It came under scrutiny on issues of civil liberties and the stoking of nativist sentiment.
In 2014, the Perry administration cancelled funding for Virtual Community Watch.
[Frank Gaffney]
No-Brainer: The ‘BlueServo’ Solution To Border Insecurity
Center for Security Policy
The Center for Security Policy (CSP) is a US far-right, anti-Muslim, Washington, D.C.-based think tank. The organization's founder and current president is Frank Gaffney Jr. who is known for promoting falsehoods about former U.S. President B ...
, July 23, 2014
References
External links
BlueServo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blueservo
Crowdsourcing
Illegal immigration to the United States
Borders of the United States