WASHINGTON, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- The Bush administration is funneling millions of U.S. dollars to local governments nationwide for purchasing high-tech video camera networks for street surveillance, the Boston Globe reported on Sunday.

The move could accelerate the rise of a "surveillance society" in which the sense of freedom that stems from being anonymous in public will be lost, privacy rights advocates were quoted by the report as saying.

Since 2003, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has doled out millions of dollars on surveillance cameras, transforming city streets and parks into places under constant observation.

The department never disclosed how much of its taxpayer-funded grants have gone to cameras.

But researches and congressional press releases show that a large number of new surveillance systems, costing at least tens and probably hundreds of millions of dollars, are being simultaneously installed around the country as part of homeland security grants.

Last month, U.S. cities that have moved forward on plans for surveillance networks financed by the DHS include St. Paul, which got 1.2 million dollars for 60 cameras for downtown; Madison, Wis., which is buying a 32-camera network with 388,000 dollars; and Pittsburgh, which is adding 83 cameras to its downtown with 2.58 million dollars.

Small towns are also getting their share of the federal money for surveillance to thwart crime and terrorism.

The expanded use of surveillance in the name of fighting terrorism has proved controversial in other arenas, as with the recent debate over the administration's programs for eavesdropping on Americans' international phone calls and e-mails without a warrant.