Popular Mechanic’s Panopticon

This month’s Popular Mechanics features a video camera on its cover and asks the question as to whether our “surveillance society” has gone too far.

James Vlahos, writes:

We have arrived at a unique moment in the history of surveillance. The price of both megapixels and gigabytes has plummeted, making it possible to collect a previously unimaginable quantity and quality of data. Advances in processing power and software, meanwhile, are beginning to allow computers to surmount the greatest limitation of traditional surveillance—the ability of eyeballs to effectively observe the activity on dozens of video screens simultaneously. Computers can't do all the work by themselves, but they can expand the capabilities of humans exponentially.

I think Vlahos does a pretty interesting job exploring both the benefits and pitfalls of some of our nation’s security initiatives and new technologies…and I am not just saying that because of his mention of my company, 3VR Security.

Here is what he had to say about us though:

Used by banks, hotels and retail stores, 3VR’s “searchable surveillance” systems automatically create a template of every face that passes in front of security cameras (it caught our author here at a Chicago hotel check-in counter). The system creates a mathematical model based on the geometry of each person’s face that can be compared to a central list of known suspects for instant alerts. The technology can also automatically log events based on an automated object recognition analysis of an entire scene—for example, Frank Jones met with Doris Meeker at 12:45 pm; Meeker arrived in a blue sedan. Because all events are cataloged, several months’ worth of data can be analyzed in minutes.

One point Vlahos doesn’t make in his article, however, relates to the dual-benefit of many of these new surveillance technologies. While traditional security approaches are not particularly effective or conducive to privacy, new more effective technologies don’t necessary bring with them even greater privacy issues. For instance, the use of search engines and video analysis greatly increases the chance of catching bad guys before they strike. But, these same technologies can be used to help audit surveillance monitoring efforts and generally limit their abuse, as well.