Governor proposes Web cams

The governor of Texas wants to turn all the world into a virtual posse.

Rick Perry has announced a $5 million plan to install hundreds of night-vision cameras on private land along the Mexican border and put the live video on the Internet so anyone with a computer who spots illegal immigrants trying to slip across can report it on a toll-free hot line.

“I look at this as not different from the neighborhood watches we have had in our communities for years and years,” Perry said last week.

Some say it is a dangerous idea and a waste of money.

“This is just one of those half-baked ideas that people dream up to save money but have no practical applications,” said Jim Harrington, director of the Texas Civil Rights Project in Austin.