The investigation into the bombing of the Boston marathon is an incredible example of how technology has changed the way we fight terrorism, Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said on Tuesday’s Morning Joe.
Not only did photographs capture and add surveillance to nearly every inch of the crime scene, police were able to track their suspects through a cell phone.
“The most interesting thing is that when the carjacking occurred, the guy left his cell phone in the car and that’s how the police, very cleverly, tracked the bad guys and ultimately the firefight that killed one was the result of that cell phone,” Schmidt said.
These technologies have of course created many dangers—the bombers reportedly learned how to build the bombs online—but they’re revolutionizing the way we fight terrorism.
“In the future, as terrorists have to opt in to using technology, the room for error becomes much greater, and millions of people with smartphones are able to catch them in their tracks and press rewind,” said Jared Cohen, the director of Google Ideas, the company’s internal think-tank, and Schmidt’s co-author on the new book The New Digital Age. On Monday’s Morning Joe, New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly explained how New York is using these technology to transform the way they fight crime and terrorism. The city is amping up its surveillance efforts by implementing threat-spotting “smart cameras” that identify and alert authorities to potential threats. Follow Morning Joe’s newest, exclusive Web series, Afternoon MoJoe, for more insights from Schmidt and other innovators.
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