IHF Roundup: Chicago Bolsters Virtual Shield, Biometrics Invade Hospitals and Other Top Stories This Week

We're almost into March, officially "Fraud Prevention Month" in Canada and the US, and lots of security initiatives seem to be popping up in the headlines.

Chicago's Virtual Shield project received a $6 million grant from the DHS to link the public surveillance grid to its 911 system. Definitely a step in the right direction in integrating surveillance and emergency resources.

The FBI is putting money to good use, too, with its Next Generation Identification system (NGI). A $1 billion investment over ten years, the NGI combines iris scans, facial imaging, palm prints and fingerprint identification technologies in one, multi-dimensional system. Very cool stuff.

The Korean National Police Agency (NPA) is exploring options around installing facial recognition technologies in ATMs, as part of a comprehensive public security plan to reduce crimes in the country. Should be more focused on face finding and searching technologies in order to help track down and identify suspects, but the initiative does look promising.

An expert group in Westminster pondered the installation of biometrics in the workplace this week. Airports, ATMs, hospitals, DMVs -- why not in your cubicle -- or at the cash register, for that matter? Forget about that PIN or picking up a pen at the grocery store or shopping center -- your fingerprint may be the signature of the future. Much tougher to fake a print than an illegible scribble.

On that note, this weekend, why not head out to the theaters and and see Paul Blart Mall Cop -- might not have received rave reviews, but you'll learn a thing or two about retail security.

Biometrics: The New Timecard Verifier?

Will biometrics soon find be finding its way into office cubicles? That's the question biometrics experts, privacy advocates and academic researchers discussed in Westminster, England this week while discussing the future of biometric technology in the workplace.

In addition to augmenting security controls in private companies, experts realize that utilizing biometrics could have an economic benefit as well. Hugh Carr Archer, chief executive of biometric firm Aurora stated that a customer company utilizing facial biometrics to ensure employees were working when they claimed to be saved six per cent of its wage bill by defeating the typical strategy of employees clocking in and out for each other.

“Fred, for example, clocks on work [for Bill] when the foreman’s not looking, while Bill’s at home putting his feet up. The foreman creates three ghost workers because he can then get their pay packets," Archer said.

Particularly in this economic climate, ensuring the efficiency of your staff is crucial. As a result, with facial recognition and other biometrics solutions finding its way into airports, schools, ATMs and even DMVs, the workplace may be the next spot on the horizon.

However, being cognizant of privacy implications here is important. While infringements aren't an immediate concern to many watchdogs, going forward, some are worried they could play a role. "They are a lighting rod to privacy issues," Toby Stevens, director of the Enterprise Privacy Group, said. "This is because of personal sensitivities – my face, my fingers, my eyes, my voice – and they may carry information to you that I may not wish to convey.”

Some people worry about revealing passport and social security numbers when starting a new position -- not sure how they'll feel about having their irises scanned prior to entering the office or surveillance cameras looking over their shoulder while they're on the clock. Definitely still some particulars to work out, but should be interesting to watch.

Real Life Shoe Phone…and Other Spy Gadgets

Found this great site on the history of spy gadgets. Check it out.


http://www.coolbuzz.org/evolution/evolution-of-spy-gadgets/

How to Create a Digital Human in 18 Minutes

An detailed explanation of how state-of-the-art facial analysis technology transformed Brad Pitt in to an 87 year old man...then aged him backward.



Wow!

More British Airports to get Face Rec

In a proclaimed effort to “put British workers first,” ten more airports will be getting the same facial recognition system currently in use at Heathrow. The technology is aimed to crack down on individuals attempting to enter the country using fake passports. Though controlling the use of forged or false documents has obvious national security implications, it seems odd to me that the case for the systems would be made with such an immigration labor focus.

Said Home Secretary Jacqui Smith:

"Even in a downturn, we still need migrants - but we should be more selective about their skills levels, and we should do more to put British workers first."

Well, whatever the rationale, at least they will avoid Japan’s recent problems with their own airport passport checks.

Dating with Biometrics

Thanks to my friend Pamela for forwarding this comic from the Abtruse Goose!

Ouch.

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back: Chicago's Quest For Perfect Municipal Surveillance

As previously discussed, since its launch in 2001, Chicago's Operation Virtual Shield and its network of public surveillance cameras has consistently been billed the most advanced deployment of intelligent video in the nation. This week, the city announced that as a result of recent increased funding the project is now linked to the city's 911 system, an integration that makes the grid unlike any other in the country.

With a $6 million grant from the DHS, Chicago's computer-aided dispatch emergency system can now see real-time video if there is a surveillance camera within 150 feet of a 911 call. It was officially deployed after a trial run in December, during which live video caught a petty thief sticking his hand into a Salvation Army kettle outside of a Macy's when a bystander called 911 to report the crime.

Nonetheless, the network still has its share of flaws and areas demanding improvement.

The Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications maintains that only about 95 percent of the network's cameras are working at any given time. This statistic was at the forefront of headlines just last week when a camera in the southeast Chicago was unable to capture footage of three teens were slain directly in front of it. While the camera's blue light was functioning, technicians thus far have been unsuccessful in downloading footage -- that is, if it even exists.

As this instance demonstrates, the importance of maintaining existing infrastructure while installing more advanced, integrated capabilities simultaneously is vital to the success of any surveillance grid. How effective are cameras at fighting crime when they aren't operating? Department spokesmen note that this neighborhood is not yet on the most updated wireless network, where a connection can be established to send an alert when the camera is down.

From my point of view, however, it’s tough to find fault with a city focusing its surveillance and emergency resources on actual crimes reported by citizens. I’ll take that over red-light cameras and anti-dog-pooping surveillance any day. And in a city that’s often been criticized for its slow response to 911 calls in many of its Chicago neighborhoods, the ability to instantly assess a potential emergency will almost certainly save lives -- if the systems are functioning properly.

Integrating all cameras to operate wirelessly, as well as updating all "record on sight" cameras to enable live monitoring at the city's operations center are crucial steps Chicago must take in order to continue its leadership in municipal surveillance. If that's not enough incentive, it seems likely that Mayor Daley's team will make the necessary improvements as an argument in favor of the city's preparedness to host the 2016 Olympics.

A Billion Dollars for Biometrics

The FBI Biometric Center of Excellence is currently working on a Next Generation Identification (NGI) system that will combine iris scans, facial imaging, palm prints and fingerprint identification technologies in one, multi-dimensional system. The platform is intended to succeed the outdated Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS) put in place in 1999.

The cost on this ten-year investment? A small price tag of $1 billion dollars.

Plans for NGI include increased fingerprint storage capacity and accelerated fingerprint processing times for high priority criminals, as well as the creation of a special database of names, which will include sexual offenders, wanted persons and terrorists.

"NGI will give us bigger, better, faster capabilities and lead us into the future. We have added additional capabilities to our current system, and are working with the Departments of Homeland Security, Defense, State, and the International law enforcement community in making our communities safer," said Thomas E. Bush, Assistant Director of the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division.

Of course, privacy concerns abound in relation to the amount of personal data stored and collected on average American citizens. The FBI Web site proactively addresses these concerns and notes that the NGI system refuses to expand the categories of people from whom they collect data already, but will rather collect additional data on criminals and terrorists. As Bush said, "The privacy and security of the system is extremely important and we have to ensure the relationship with privacy advocacy groups, and make sure it's not accessible to unauthorized persons."

Eternal viligance.

Now the Ads Watch You

From Fox4kc.com:

Watch an advertisement on a video screen in a mall, health club, or grocery store and there's a growing chance the ad is watching you too. Small cameras can now be embedded in the screen or hidden around it to track who looks at the screen and for how long. The makers say the software can determine the viewer's gender, approximate age range, and, in some cases, ethnicity, and can change the ads accordingly.

Tru-Media , the makers of the technology, argue that its next generation advertising systems don’t have privacy implications in that they only enable ads to become more targeted. Actual images and identity information are not transmitted back to their servers; only general counts and other statistics relating to ad viewership are retained.

Still, I think that elderly shoppers might not welcome the idea of ad monitors suddenly switching to commercials for Boniva, Depends, and Quaker Oatmeal as they walk by.

Korean ATMs Exploring Face Rec Options

According to JoongAng Daily, one of three English-language daily newspapers in South Korea, the Korean National Police Agency is currently looking into new facial recognition technologies as part of a comprehensive public security plan to reduce crimes in the country.

Bank machines have been involved in several notable crimes in South Korea, including the highly-publicized murders by confessed serial killer Kang Ho-sun earlier this year. In those murders, an ATM was used to withdraw money from the victims' bank accounts before they were kidnapped and killed.

In the JoongAng Daily article discussing new attempts to further secure the nation's ATMs, the author discusses concerns around the implementation of facial recognition technologies, including problems with complicated instructions, cost and the technical headaches often involved:

"But ATMs with such advanced features still come with a litany of problems. Facial recognition machines were once test-run by several banks in 2005. Users were confused by a string of instructions such as "Raise your head, please" or "Step up to the machine, please," before being able to access their accounts. The disabled had even more trouble."

All of these arguments point to an interesting issue, and ultimately the resounding truth that facial recognition should not be implemented solely in the manner criticized above. Instead, government agencies should focus on using face finding technologies to help police procure better evidence, while also implementing face searching technologies in order to help track down and identify suspects.

Using these technologies, alerts can still be generated if someone with a mask or disguise attempts to use an ATM, but that notice would go directly to a monitoring center for evaluation, rather than immediately freezing all activity on the machine. As we know, when you adversely affect a customer's experience too much they become upset, and when too many people become upset the offending technology must be removed -- in this case, the removal wouldn't help anyone, and thus the complete freezing of ATM machines should be uniformly avoided.

3VR has created its own technology to address this problem by combining face finding, face matching and face searching. It is this synthesis of capabilities that ultimately makes the technology effective and leads to the best, least intrusive and most efficient results for all users -- from the smallest businesses looking to manage access control for a single door to multifaceted government agencies and airports.

Do it Yourself UAVs Explained

Have RC aircraft, radio transmission systems, camera phones, and other navigational programming techniques and technologies become so cheap and available today that we are witnessing a homebrew UAV boom?



Yep!

Army Upgrades Biometric Gear

From Defense News:

The U.S. Army and Marines are upgrading more than 4,000 Polaroid camera-sized biometric detection devices that scan, track and identify potential terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan, service and industry officials said. The Handheld Interagency Identity Detection Equipment (HIIDE) scans fingerprints or irises, then matches them with those stored in a remote database. […] "With identification technology, you will know that if a farmer in southern Iraq shows up running around in northern Iraq as a taxi driver, you have reason to be suspicious."

The Coming Robocalypse

As the public waits in breathless anticipation of the next Terminator movie, the Office of Naval Research has been studying the likelihood of a real robot uprising.

You can read the full report here, but let me share with you one of my favorite tidbits.

In April 2008, several TALON SWORDS units—mobile robots armed with machine guns—in Iraq were reported to be grounded for reasons not fully disclosed, though early reports claim the robots, without being commanded to, trained their guns on ‘friendly’ soldiers [e.g., Page, 2008]; and later reports denied this account but admitted there had been malfunctions during the development and testing phase prior to deployment [e.g., Sofge, 2008]. The full story does not appear to have yet emerged, but either way, the incident underscores the public’s anxiety—and the military’s sensitivity—with the use of robotics on the battlefield.).

My ED-209 nightmares from childhood aside, I know that present AI technology is a long long long way from posing any meaningful risk to our society as a whole outside kind accidents that have marked all forms of industrial progress. Still, I do hope that a lifetime of movies featuring rebellious robots has given us all a healthy dose of caution, if not paranoia, in this particular area of technological exploration.

India Bank Gets ATM Biometrics

From Rupee Times:

SBI Chief General Manager of Gujarat H C Pattnaik said, "The orders for biometric ATM's have been placed and we expect to install 150 such machines initially in important districts and talukas of the state by March end this year."

With identity theft and other forms of financial fraud on the rise, I expect to be seeing announcements like this more and more. Finger print verification is one way to go. Another is to use facial recognition to do the same thing. That approach has the benefit of being generally viewed as less intrusive from a privacy standpoint, and since it also requires banks to invest in the quality of their ATM cameras, it would also enhance a banks general surveillance capabilities.

Camera Meet Robo Beetle

I've looked at robotic insects before, but getting "bugged" is really starting to take on new meaning with this one.

Via Technology Review:

Most previous research in controlling insect flight has focused on moths. But beetles have certain advantages. The giant flower beetle's size--it ranges in weight from four to ten grams and is four to eight centimeters long--means that it can carry relatively heavy payloads. To be used for search-and-rescue missions, for example, the insect would need to carry a small camera and heat sensor.

IHF Roundup: New iPhone App Aids Gamblers, Photoshop Trumps Laptops, and Other Top Stories This Week

News from all corners of the country this week. Let's get started.

Casinos across the country were warned about an iPhone/iPod Touch application that counts cards, and according to the Nevada Gaming Commission, helps players beat the house in blackjack. If caught, I wouldn't be surprised if gamblers use this to fight off security guards. It must be more successful than trying to make a run for it.

At Black Hat DC this week, Vietnamese researchers showed the vulnerabilities of facial recognition software as a secure authentication method for laptops. With digital images and tweaked angles and lighting, they were able to bypass the biometrics on Lenovo, Asus and Toshiba laptops and gain access to the computer. Looks like traditional typed log-ins and passwords will hold the edge, at least for now.

Back in California, last week's DMV controversy has not died down in the least. A key legislative committee blocked the DMV's request to utilize facial recognition software to match up driver's license photographs with the entire DMV database of headshots. Fears that this system could make its way into police hands to monitor people at public gatherings are still rampant. So far, privacy groups: 1 DMV: 0. However, I'm sure this battle is far from over.

Did I mention Einstein was reborn? In a robot's body. The resemblance is uncanny! The researchers are still working on improving the IQ score.

Facial Recognition Authentication Software on Laptops Still Vulnerable to Hackers

At Black Hat DC yesterday, researchers demonstrated the vulnerability of current biometric facial recognition technology as a log-in security measure. Entitled "Your Face is NOT Your Password: Face Authentication Bypassing Lenovo – Asus – Toshiba," the report describes how the software -- a successor to traditional, typed passwords -- is still in its very early stages.

Lenovo's Veriface III, ASUS' SmartLogon V1.0.0005, and Toshiba's Face Recognition 2.0.2.32 systems all use webcams and algorithms to match a stored image with the user's face in order to log them into the system. However, as the researchers demonstrated, there remain several fairly simple ways for users to bypass this authentication process.

For example, Nguyen Minh Duc, manager of the application security department at the Bach Khoa Internetwork Security Center, a Hanoi-based security organization, described how using an image bearing a slight resemblance to the one stored by the system can allow a user to bypass the software. With millions of photos made accessible online by Facebook, MySpace and other social networking sites, hackers can easily manipulate images in terms of angle and lighting until one works -- even an intermediate PhotoShop user could make the requisite changes.

The team also showed a secondary spoofing technique called "fake face bruteforce," in which hackers generate multiple random faces to eventually gain access to the system. As one reporter recognized, this process parallels the conventional mechanism of trying hundreds, or possibly thousands, of text passwords before the correct combination is found.

Taking into account all of these concerns, it looks like the typed password will remain the preferred authentication method for laptops worldwide -- at least for now.

There are approaches, however, that can address both of these issues. First, dealing with the brute force attack vulnerability is the easiest. Since it's relatively easy for a laptop to know when it is being bombarded with hundreds or thousands of randomly generated and incorrect faces, that kind of activity burst can trigger a response from the facial recogntion software itself. It might shut down in response to the attack, or possibly just slow down. By suspending for longer and longer intervals with each failed access attempt beyond the acceptable threshold, the brute force attack is dragged out over such a long time period that the attack becomes impractical.

As for detecting the difference between live faces and pictures, a so called 'liveness' test can be performed to deter hacking, but is a much more difficult problem. However, I assure you that too can be done, as well. As to how? I need to keep that to myself for now, but let's just say that not all facial recognition technology is so easily hacked.

Einstein Reincarnated -- in a Robot!

Scientists at the University of California-San Diego's California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) recently installed specialized facial recognition software into a new robot -- the "Einstein Robot" -- which is designed to interact with humans "in a relatively natural, conversational way."

Why Einstein? "He's an icon of creativity, intelligence and science; he's emotionally accessible; he's lovable and visually recognizable very easily around the world," said David Hanson, the robot's primary designer and owner of Hanson Robotics.

Originally designed by Hanson Robotics of Dallas, Texas, the white-haired, bushy-mustached, and Frubber-faced robot publicly debuted last week at the Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) conference in Long Beach, Florida. With software enabling Einstein to interpret and respond to "perceptual primitives" such as human facial expressions including sadness, fear and confusion, he is one of the first robots that can recognize facial cues suggesting different ages and genders of humans.

"When a robot interacts in a way we feel is human, we can't help but react. Developing a robot like this one teaches us how sensitive we are to biological movement and facial expressions, and when we get it right, it's really astonishing," said Javier Movellan, a research scientist in the Calit2-based UCSD Machine Perception Laboratory (MPL).

While still dealing with cost issues and what is known as Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori's "uncanny valley theory," -- essentially that the more a robot looks like a human, the more repulsed we are -- large-scale manufacturing is still out of the question. However, this potential platform for future education purposes, entertainment or even cognitive therapy is another example of how facial recognition technologies are making their way out of the physical security and surveillance arenas and into other fields.

Very exciting stuff. I'm looking forward to seeing what comes of this research going forward.

Weekly News Summary from Around the Globe

Thought I'd highlight a few of the headlines that caught my eye this week -- including a little of our own news!

On Tuesday, we announced that Al Shipp, former VP of the Enterprise Divison at Apple, would be taking over my position as CEO, and I'll be continuing on as chairman. It's a pivotal stage in the company's development, and we're thrilled to have Al onboard! Check out an informal interview between Al and myself here.

Also, lots of chatter with regards to driver's licenses recently -- last week, California's proposal to use biometric technology to create a database containing facial and fingerprint information had privacy advocacy groups up in arms. In Oklahoma, a Senate bill to eliminate fingerprints as a requirement to receive a license at all was passed. On the other hand, across the border in British Columbia, as part of the government's latest efforts to prevent identity theft, both identification and driver's licenses will now incorporate facial recognition technology. With the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles cracking down on smiles and acceptable apparel, it looks like each state (and province) will continue to have its own technological and political battles to fight.

While national airports have deployed advanced security systems for years for border protection, California's southern coastal borders are now looking to implement similar security technologies.The Port of Long Beach this week opened a $21 million command center with 115 cameras to monitor the port's 3,200 square feet -- and are claiming to be able to read badge numbers from over two miles away! Impressive stuff.

In the same vein, surveillance cameras may soon have a new use in the hospitality industry, particularly hotels. This week, a UK security firm revealed that one of their hotel clients installed their system not for security purposes, but rather the improvement of guest services -- in order to recognize and properly greet returning customers.

Let's hope those cameras have higher accuracy readings than those I received on MyHeritage earlier this month.

Fool Me Once, Shame on You...

As reported last month, a South Korean woman fooled a fingerprint scanner at a Japanese airport to gain entry into the country. How did she do it? No need for an elaborate scheme -- instead, she used a special kind of tape purchased from a broker to easily bypass the state-of-the-art biometric system.

The 51-year-old woman used "special tape" to alter her fingerprints to trick the technology, which in November 2007 was installed at 30 airports around the country at a cost of around $45 million dollars. Designed to prevent entry by "international terrorists and other undesirables," reports say it is possible that a large number of South Koreans may have illegally entered the country using similar methods.

While the woman was eventually arrested in South Korea after attempting to purchase a fake passport, this incident raises a red flag about how effective border security really is and if expensive installments are worth the cost. In fact, last month, the DHS announced an update to its biometric technology in the US-VISIT program, which records biographic information to conduct security checks and verify the identities of international visitors to the United States.

However, why spend millions of tax dollars deploying systems that don't perform?

While biometric systems certainly complicate methods traditionally used by criminals to bypass the law, these tools will always exist -- ultimately, what customs and airport security checkpoints need is the deployment of an all-encompassing solution to stop those "special tape" users and repeat offenders in their tracks.

Integrating access control and facial recognition systems are two critical deployments needed to transform border security infrastructure and ensure a comprehensive solution to deter criminal acts. Designed to improve access control, passenger screening and liability protection, our deployments in airports (including Evansville Regional) monitor for criminal suspects and support both passenger and general airport visitor screening procedures with facial recognition technology, which stores profile pictures regardless of angle, shadow or lighting.

What does that mean in terms of catching criminals? We'll let's just say that no amount of "special tape" will get a person past an access control gate that requires an ID varified using facial recognition.

As the age-old proverb goes, "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me." Multiple levels of security technology ensure the validity of this saying, and are ultimately crucial components of a successful surveillance program in the public places that need it most.

Every Step You Take, Someone (Or Something) Will Be Watching You

Just came across this feature on wireless surveillance cameras taking on some unusual forms around the industry.

A teddy bear that captures video through its left eye? Cameras in such innocuous household items as a boombox, a set of computer speakers, or a wall clock? An air purifier capable of 420 lines of resolution? They all exist. Even jacket buttons and Clorox Bleach wipe containers are now capable of carrying cameras!

Next time you're snooping around a friend's house or checking out their medicine cabinet, you might want to think twice before whether the mantle clock or Pringles can might be catching you in the act.

3VR Welcomes New CEO Al Shipp

Big news out of 3VR Security, Inc. today -- this morning, we officially announced that Al Shipp is joining us as the new CEO, effective immediately. I will be continuing on as chairman of the company.

We're very excited to have Al with us as we enter a pivotal stage in 3VR's development. Most recently the vice president of the Enterprise Division at Apple, he is a technology industry veteran and brings deep expertise in executing and managing rapid corporate growth.

Al is also a great friend of mine, and I really look forward to working with him in the next years as we look to take 3VR to the next level in terms of global reach, influence and leadership in the security industry.

For more information, you can read the press release that went out this morning here or watch this short, informal video interview between Al and myself:

Here is a round-up of some the coverage the announcement has received:

SecurityInfoWatch.com: New CEO takes over at 3VR Security
Security Director News: Former Apple VP takes over as 3VR CEO
MacBlogz: Former Apple Enterprise VP Takes Over as 3VR CEO
Dow Jones VentureWire: Shipp Joins 3VR Security As CEO
IPSecurityWatch.com: New CEO takes over at 3VR Security
OhMyGov!: CA Implementing Facial Recognition Software for DMV

$9,000 Net-shooting Sentrybot

For the budget conscious crime fighter, Japanese firm Alacom just unveiled the T-34 automated surveillance robot...complete with a high-power net gun.



According to the company, plans for the follow up T-100 are well underway. We'll all look forward to that.

Opt-In Video Surveillance "Cloak" Aims to Calm Privacy Fears

The "Big Brother" argument -- that citizens are losing their individual privacy rights due to increased public security efforts -- is found in nearly all articles and reporting that cover the growing ubiquity of surveillance cameras worldwide.

Hewlett-Packard computer scientist, Jack Brassil, is hoping to address and resolve such criticisms with a new opt-in surveillance technology, Cloak, that he hopes will limit the privacy invasions presented by massive surveillance networks. According to Brassil, "Rather than prohibit surveillance, our system seeks to discourage surveillers distributing video without the authorization of the surveilled."

Cloak enables those who wish not to be identified in video footage to "opt-in" to the system, essentially making a "do-not-call" list for the surveillance grid. However, with this selection, the person must instead carry a 'privacy enabling device' that enables the image processing software to blur them out of any corresponding surveillance video, yet still allows the system to locate them on the grid.

Brassil is off to a great start in addressing the "loss of anonymity" argument that large-scale surveillance deployments bring to the forefront. However, the system still has a few kinks that need to be addressed before installation.

From a crime prevention standpoint, those that have the most to gain by blurring themselves out are those committing the crimes. In Brassil's proposal, it is impossible to 'un-blur' someone into focus for evidence in a possible investigation. Furthermore, requiring people to register GPS devices that tracks their location as a means to prevent surveillance systems from capturing their image seems to be just trading one modest privacy violation for another (perhaps even more) severe one.

As privacy analyst Ian Brown of the Oxford Internet Institute in the UK comments, "People shouldn't have to opt in to get privacy protection. And this system actively invades your privacy because it tells the service where you are at all times."

I commend Brassil in his efforts to resolve some of the privacy repercussions advanced surveillance deployments continue to introduce to society and have a couple suggestions to further improve the developing technology.

In an ideal system, every tracked face and motion activity should be blurred using a "reversible encryption" to enable future investigations if needed. That way, subject to policy (and perhaps subpoena), a person's anonymity can be reversed in a narrowly-focused way to solve crime and/or prove innocence.

Furthermore, the blurring functionality should be tailored to enable monitoring by police without revealing identity. For instance, security officials would be able to see if someone engages in violent or publicly-unacceptable behavior without identifying the individual. However, in an emergency, or if the system identifies a criminal, officials should have the option to disable the blurring feature in order to speed up the necessary response.

With these adjustments, Cloak is a much more workable proposal and more congruent with privacy, legal and societal concerns. Brassil is definitely a visionary in the space, and I hope to hear more about Cloak's progression in the near future.

Protecting Citizens and Foiling Criminals: California DMV Looks to Biometrics Technology to Prevent Identity Fraud

Some consumer rights groups in California are up in arms around plans for the state Department of Motor Vehicles to use biometric and facial recognition technology to identify citizens and control identity fraud.

The California DMV has applied to use biometric technology to create a database that would contain facial and fingerprint information for all California citizens over the age of sixteen. The technology would be used to verify the identities of applicants for driver's licenses and ID cards and would additionally have the ability to compare new photos against older records, thus confirming the individual's identity and thwarting potential identity thieves.

The DMV claims the new system will reduce fraudulent driver's licenses -- pointing out that more than 1,200 identification cards are linked to the wrong individual each year. They are asking for roughly $63 million over the next five years to institute the system and begin creation of the database. States including New Mexico, Texas, Oregon and Georgia have already implemented biometrics technology and experienced success.

On the other hand, groups including the California American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the World Privacy Forum, and the Consumer Federation of California are protesting the proposal and calling on legislators to halt the contract's progress. Because the information contained in the DMV's database would be accessible to government agencies, some claim that it could be used for other purposes besides basic identity recognition. Privacy group leaders also worry about data falling into the wrong hands, and insist that safeguards must be put in place to ensure that the implications surrounding biometric data are fully discussed and understood by the public.

While the privacy concerns of innocent citizens are always valid and it certainly is necessary for people to be cognizant of data being held by government agencies, this case is in fact an excellent use of facial recognition technology. To apply for and receive a DMV identification card, citizens are required by prove their identities often with 2 or 3 other pieces of information. Therefore, the only people who have real privacy in this situation are the fraudsters, criminals and identity thieves who resort to using fake information and documents and never reveal their true identity in official records.

Ultimately, using facial recognition technology to prevent the acquisition of fake IDs in scenarios like this one helps everyone. While concerns that this type of biometric comparison may ultimately be used to track the general public in ways that genuinely impinge on privacy are legitimate, this is why sensible, balanced surveillance policy and technology is so important.

Image via Mercury News

Cheerleaders Demo Face Rec

From InfoSync:

"Face Recognition" is the next wave of visage-geared technology, and who better to demonstrate Panasonic's latest phenomenon than three Miami Dolphins cheerleaders? Though it was a nearly insurmountable task to remain focused, we were able to extract the general concept behind Face Recognition.

Somehow, I don't think Ariana has any trouble with people remembering her name.

Big Surveillance Initiatives in the Heartland

Chicago's Office of Emergency Management and Communications recently installed 500 surveillance cameras and integrated them with the existing 4,000 public sector cameras already installed across the Windy City as part of Operation Virtual Shield.

Currently in its third phase, Operation Virtual Shield's network of public surveillance cameras has been billed as the most advanced deployment of intelligent video in the nation since its launch in 2001. Cameras at Boeing, John Hancock, Sears Tower and over 100 other private companies have been integrated into the citywide surveillance grid and feed into the system.

Next steps for the project include extending the network along the city's lakefront and non-central business district locations, as well as adding more video analytic functionality to control how footage is captured and indexed. Without advancing analytics to help intelligently sort and organize footage, increasing the surveillance grid is insignificant.

As ABC News asks, "The technology will grow and so too will the number of cameras. But ultimately, how many cameras do we need, at what cost and how effective are they in fighting crime?"

Chicago police claim the increased number of street cameras have both discouraged crime and also led to arrests in other violent crimes, however there is still room for improvement in order to decrease the growing "Security Gap" between how much data systems can collect and how much humans can analyze.

Chicago is on the right track, but there are still some holes to be filled in this 'virtual shield'.

Pole Dancing Surveillance Robots!

In London, often referred to as the most surveilled city in the world, the cameras really are everywhere:


"Hey Buddy, my lens is up here."

Via BBC