David Sanders for The New York Times. Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company.

"The New York Times" features an interesting article today about a 28-mile "virtual fence" along the border between Mexico and Arizona. Instead of concrete, steel and razorwire, it is a multimillion dollar series of high-tech outposts cobbled together by Boeing out of high-resolution cameras, radar, motion sensors, and wireless transmitters.

According to the article, "The cameras, set off by radar, are to beam high-quality images of targets miles away to field commanders and agents, making it possible to determine almost instantly whether they are watching a family outing or a group of illegal immigrants."

Somehow this national pride of the dark-side of society's lens culture is not very comforting.