If It's Broken, Fix It

Just caught this article (via @abc7newsBayArea) that surveillance cameras on more than half of MUNI buses were broken or only "partially operational" as of September 2009.

According to documents that the ABC I-Team received, 22 percent of buses and light rail had no working cameras on board, while 30 percent were listed as only "partially operational."

Yes, MUNI is facing a $129 million deficit heading into the new fiscal year that began July 1, much to do with the many fare cheats costing it $19 million annually, but the buses must have working cameras in order to deal with the violence and fights that break out, like this one on the 20-Columbus. It's obvious just having an empty, inoperable box in buses is just not doing the trick these days.

Podcast with Security Squared!

Here's a shameless plug here to check out my recent podcast with Steven Titch of Security Squared.

I spoke with Steve for about ten minutes yesterday as a follow-up to our brief meeting at ASIS last month. The podcast addresses the significance of combining NVR, searchable surveillance and cross-platform connectivity, as well as the concept of structured vs. unstructured video.

Steve is an editor and executive producer at Security Squared, a blog that focuses on the convergence of the security industry around access control, IP video and storage, and is an seasoned expert in the industry. Check out the full podcast here.

Underground Trolley Cameras Coming to Beantown, SweeperCams In Nation's Capital

Some interesting municipal surveillance initiatives over on the East Coast caught my eye recently:

First off, saw a Boston Globe article that the MBTA will begin testing cameras on the underground trolleys as part of a pilot program funded by DHS.

This is an ongoing effort that has already seen success. Three hundred buses and most of the T-subway stations are already equipped with cameras, and transit police have used video in almost 500 investigations, more than 240 of which have resulted in charges. This new program only will enhance the system and add more high-resolution cameras to improve video quality. (These cameras are facial recognition software-friendly and may be used to track people as well).

The video will be streamed in real-time to the Transit Police's operation control center in downtown Boston. According to the article:

"Our hope is that the cameras will be able to be viewed in a police cruiser, so that an officer responding to a call will have real-time viewing of what is happening on the scene," MacMillan said.

While station footage will be stored for almost a month, surveillance video from buses will only be kept for 72 hours. Not sure it's an issue with storage capacity due to high video quality, but a three-day limit severely restricts the video from being used in ongoing investigations, many of which last long past that time frame. However, this is a great effort on the part of the MBTA to take a proactive approach to increase transit security and identify repeat offenders.

Also interesting, I caught an article about D.C.'s Sweepercam implementation, a ticketing camera system installed on the city’s street sweepers to fine cars parked in designated-cleaning areas. The cameras are equipped with license plate recognition software so, should a car be parked in a designated spot, the cameras will note the plate number and the system will send the owners a ticket in the mail.

The system has already had a few hiccups and angered some folks with malfunctioning equipment and/or human error. Many operators have forgotten to turn off the cameras in places not slated for cleaning and thus, photographed legally-parked cars. In an email, DPW spokesperson Nancee Lyons responded to the mishaps:

“The camera may have captured the wrong vehicle, a duplicate ticket may have been issued, the camera may have been triggered accidentally and a ticket may have been issued during a day and hours when there was no street sweeping..."

With possible plans to extend parking meter hours to raise an estimated $9 million in extra funds for the transit system, I'm surprised San Francisco has not picked up on this one yet. DC has already dispensed 22,000 tickets from Sweepercam thus far -- that's good chunk of change that more than covers the investment.

If You Thought Photoshop Was Good...

Researchers at Tsinghua University and the National University of Singapore presented image processing technology at Siggraph Asia that can create realistic photo composites from a simple sketch. The technology takes a users' rough-labeled drawing of a scene and compares its elements to objects extracted from photos on the Internet. These real-world snippets are then filtered, matched and synthesized Photoshop-style into a single image. And while results vary, they need to be seen to be believed.

Like Microsoft’s Photosynth, PhotoSketch (above) shows how advanced images processing and search algorithms can be used for more than just face-matching and sorting through surveillance footage. For instance, they can also be used to create a photograph of a cheetah chasing a Motocross racer through the desert (skip to 0:14).

No wonder the site seems to be loading awfully slowly and has been down this morning. Sure it's being flooded with those in disbelief.

Security Bloggers Must Disclose Payments & Freebies

In a 4-0 decision, the FTC announced new rules today that will require all bloggers to disclose any freebies or payments they receive for reviewing or endorsing products.

This decision will be especially important to the security industry with its relatively few analysts and commentators. There is a desperate need for quality, yet unbiased, writing and research in this space -- one where good information can quite literally be the difference between life and death.

The FTC said that violators of the new policy, that goes into effect December 1 of this year, will be subject to fines of up to $11,000...per violation.

However, the commissions did not address how bloggers should disclose such 'conflicts of interest.' To meet the new guidelines, I'd suggest that my security blogging compatriots simply list out the names of any companies or individuals that they have received payments or "freebies" from in the previous 12 months.

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Steve's paychecks come from 3VR and everyone should know that he is hopeless biased in that area.

Remember To Use Your 'Inside Voice'

Just caught this article by New Scientist writer, Paul Marks, on an emerging surveillance analysis area seeing some light across the pond. A new group, the Center for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT), has set its sights on improving Britain's existing CCTV infrastructure by monitoring and predicting violent behavior exhibited on the streets and public transportation.

Paul quotes CSIT director Paul Miller in the article:

"Despite massive investment in CCTV, the impact on antisocial and criminal behavior is negligible because very little video is ever analyzed...we're trying to find a set of behavioral events that will allow CCTV to become active and alert operators to potential trouble."

Marks notes different instances -- including people shouting drivers and loitering on the stairs of double decker buses -- that could trigger an alert to notify authorities. Not sure a disgruntled passenger complaining over the $0.50 increase in fares warrants a police alert, but for more threatening and dangerous situations, I can see this being a worthwhile addition to the existing CCTV capabilities.

Another CSIT project of note includes an initiative to try and conceal metal detectors in the bus door frame. I should probably leave my samurai sword at home before hopping on next time.

Check out the article in full here.

CNET Declares Picasa 3.5 Champion of Photo-Editing Facial Recognition Software

Interesting post from CNET's Josh Lowensohn around a 'Facial Recognition Face-Off' between Google's Picasa 3.5 (just updated last week), Apple's iPhoto (new version released in January), and Windows Live Photo Gallery (updated last June) to determine the best free consumer photo-editing face finder on the market today.

Best part of the testing is that Josh used 500 of his own mugshots in the testing procedures!

Ultimately declaring Picasa 3.5 the cream of the crop, he writes:

"It has, hands-down, the best workflow for finding faces, as well as alerting users to when it had found people in new photos. It's also the only program out of the three we tested that's cross platform, meaning you can use it on either a PC or Mac and have an identical face recognizing experience."

Check out the post in full here -- excellent commentary on the hits and misses of the trials and individual breakdown on each of the three products and their specific features.