Smart Cameras Blog

From Schneier on Security:

In an insightful post on a facial recognition system for bars, BioBouncer, Schneier points out important issues for the storage of information collected by bars. These issues are directly relevant to proposals for mandating cameras in bars. He states in regards to collecting data:

Anyone want to guess how long that “automatically flushed at the end of each night” will last. This data has enormous value. Insurance companies will want to know if someone was in a bar before a car accident. Employers will want to know if their employees were drinking before work — think airplane pilots. Private investigators will want to know who walked into a bar with whom. The police will want to know all sorts of things. Lots of people will want this data — and they’ll all be willing to pay for it.

And the data will be owned by the bars who collect it. They can choose to erase it, or they can choose to sell it to data aggregators like Acxiom.

It’s rarely the initial application that’s the problem. It’s the follow-on applications. It’s the function creep. Before you know it, everyone knows that they are identified the moment they walk into a commercial building. We will all lose privacy, and liberty, and freedom as a result.

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From ABC7Chicago.com:

Lake County in Illinois is using an Intelligent Transportation System to reduce traffic congestion. They have two sets of cameras. One focuses on detecting traffic to time traffic signals and the another set monitors traffic.

For instance, a camera at Aptakisic and Buffalo Grove Road automatically shifts positions to check for congestion or crashes. The camera detects the speed of the traffic and computes traffic density. If heavy traffic is detected, the system can automatically adjust the signal timing at several intersections until traffic flow is back to normal.

This information is linked to 911 centers and regional traffic centers. By spring, there will be 74 traffic detections cameras and 24 with pan, tilt and zoom capability. The system is integrated with other information systems, such as highway advisory radio and message board signs.

rshah Chicago, Traffic Congestion

From Wash Post:

A story on the system to replace America’s Shield Initiative (the border surveillance system). As previously pointed out, this first border system failed to meet its goals. The followup system will have contracts worth an estimated $2 billion. We can hope this money furthers the innovation and deployment of smart cameras.

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From Evidence Locker:

You can tell that surveillance really touches people by the number of artistic works focusing on surveillance. The latest I ran across is Evidence Locker by Jill Magid. Here is one description of the project:

Working with the Liverpool police surveillance department, known as City Watch, Magid used CCTV cameras around the city to create a compelling piece that works not only as a personal diary of her experience, but also as a portrait of the city. Over a period of 31 days, wearing a bright red trench coat and knee length boots, Magid was watched by the surveillance team. The resulting footage has been edited into a film.

Disturbingly Magid found herself the victim of a mugging, though luckily for her the level of surveillance ensured her 15-year-old attacker was swiftly caught. She didn’t press charges.

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From Infochange:

A film on the role of surveillance cameras in a school in India. The film is called the Great Indian School Show. Here is a short quote from a description of the film:

The Mahatma Gandhi Centennial Sindhu High School in Nagpur is like no other. Here, 185 close circuit television cameras keep a hawk’s watch on what’s going on in every classroom, staff room, canteen and playground. The cameras are constantly monitored by the principal. It would seem more like a prison, and Pune-based filmmaker Avinash Deshpande shows how the surveillance affects the psyche of both the students and the teachers.

For a big more background check out this post at Broadcast

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From WSOCTV.com:

An article how private video surveillance is sometimes unusable by police. According to the article:

Investigators said the problem is getting evidence from the surveillance equipment. Police can’t slow it down, enhance it, or zoom in on any detail because many of the latest digital cameras come with software that doesn’t allow it.

I was flabbergasted when I saw this. Is this true? I assume cameras would allow output of digital footage in standard formats. Are there cameras that lock up footage into formats that don’t allow further manipulation. If so, this suggests current proposals (ala Chicago and Houston) may lead to unusable footage for solving crimes.

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From Flickr:

A collection of 48 photos of Baltimore’s Surveillance Cameras

rshah Other Cities

From Chicago Tribune:

A poll of 700 voters found overwhelming support for Chicago’s video security network (I am not sure how the exact question was worded). I don’t think this is a surprise, people have always abstractly supported cameras. But the support among voters will no doubt give strength to politicians seeking to mandate cameras.

When the poll asked about the proposal for mandating cameras in businesses that are open 12 hours a day, the survey found a bit less enthusiasm:

58 percent of poll participants were in favor. Support among white voters was only 46 percent, but blacks (70 percent) and Hispanics (67 percent) exhibited much stronger backing.

The story also notes that the proposal to link security cameras in offices, apartment buildings, and other private properties to the city’s system is continuing. The mayor has acknowledged a lot of companies have interest.

rshah Chicago

From the art and new media studies blog:

A post on a class called the Art of Surveillance. The class leans a bit towards philosophical and critical readings. But the class also requires a final research paper or multimedia paper, so it will be interesting to see what the students develop. You have to love a class that asks students to do the following:

Take a notebook and pen out on Michigan Avenue. Locate someone wearing a hat. Follow that person for a maximum of eight blocks writing down as much information as possible about that individual, their behavior, whether you think they are observing you, etc. Write down your route too. If you have a voice recorder or video camera feel free to tape your comments instead of writing them down.

The class materials are quite different than the usual stuff in the newspaper or on this blog. But it is striving to teach students about how to think broadly about the interactions of surveillance, privacy, and technical change. Here is some more information on the class.

Readings include works by: Jeremy Bentham, Jonathan Crary, Michel Foucault, Bureau of Inverse Technology, Critical Art Ensemble and more.

Screenings will include art works by Jim Campbell, Julia Scher, Steve Mann, Mona Hatoum, David Rokeby, Lutz Bacher, Camille Utterbeck, Knowbotic Research, PANOPTIC, Surveillance Camera Players, the NYC Surveillance Camera Project, and selected works at the MCA’s Version>03 festival (March 27-30, 2003).

Three recent exhibitions that critically deal with issues of surveillance: ctrl[space] (ZKM, 2001), Anxious Omniscience: Surveillance and Contemporary Cultural Practice” (Princeton Univ. Art Musuem, 2002), and Open_Source_Art_Hack (New Museum of Contemporary Art, 2002) will collectively provide a starting point for our conversations.

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From Houston Chronicle:

The Houston Policy Chief, Harold Hurtt, has come out in favor of cameras in the downtown area. This core argument is that it is cheaper to buy cameras than hire cops:

“Once you buy the equipment and you put it in place and you have a maintenance contract in place, I would think it would be less expensive then paying officers to stand on those corners.”

While its true that cameras are probably cheaper than humans, they also suffer from limitations. I think most criminals would prefer a camera on a corner than a police officer. Which makes you wonder what is a more cost effective solution for reducing crime and enhancing public safety.

(I hope I don’t sound like I am against cameras, I am all for cameras, but they aren’t a replacement for humans)

Update: There are a few other stores at the Chronicle on this issue (all by different reporters). The first is Hurtt’s idea that building permits should require malls and large apartment complexes to install surveillance cameras. A follow up article notes the mayor has yet to state his position as well as some privacy concerns.

Update2: Commentary on this proposal by Scott Henson.

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