[From Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft Research News 08-2008-Topic 5]
Smart camera aficionados may remember that IBM started its work on smart cameras to tell a cumquat from a rutabaga for grocery stores. But security emerged as a more profitable outlet and the rest of us now wait patiently for vegetables to be manually entered. But another group has taken on this task:
Working on behalf of the industrial weighing company Mettler-Toledo, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Information and Data Processing IITB in Karlsruhe have developed a webcam module for self-service scales. “The scales automatically recognize which fruit or vegetables are to be weighed and ask the customer to choose between only those icons that are relevant – such as tomatoes, vine-ripened tomatoes and beefsteak tomatoes,” states IITB scientist Sascha Voth. Customers can confirm the correct variety on a touch screen.
But how do the scales know whether the customer has placed a pepper, a tomato or a kiwi fruit on them? “The goods are registered by a camera integrated in the scales. An image evaluation algorithm compares the image with stored data and thus automatically recognizes which type of fruit this is,” says Voth. Even the cloudy plastic bags in which the fruit may be packaged at the counter are no problem for the scales – the image evaluation system recognizes the various types of fruit and vegetable anyway.
rshah Applications
[From Devices help drivers spot 'cops in a box' -- chicagotribune.com]
The City of Chicago reports crashes have been reduced by 20 percent in the two years since the camera technology was installed in early 2006 at 10 intersections. . . . Crashes decreased 30 percent, from 1,055 in 2004 to 736 last year, at intersections where red-light cameras were installed in 2004 and 2006, according to the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications. . . . “Crashes at intersections citywide are down 4.6 percent since 2004. More people are beginning to assume there is photo enforcement at every intersection and that a red light means stop,” he said.
Two other blogs have been following the developments around red light cameras in Chicago.
The Expired Meter focuses on issues around parking and traffic for Chicago. Over at Uncensored Thoughts, they have found 2 more red light cameras not listed by the city.
rshah Chicago, Red Light Cameras
[From Surveillance Unlimited: How We've Become the Most Watched People on Earth]
A new book that discusses surveillance technologies. Its from the other side of the pond, so I didn’t find it available on Amazon. Here is a summary:
Your car is satellite-tracked, your features auto-identified on video, your e-mails, faxes and phone calls monitored. You are covertly followed via transmitters implanted in your clothes, via your switched-off mobile and your credit card transactions. Your character, needs and interests are profiled by surveillance of every website you visit, every newsgroup you scan, every purchase you make. Big Brother is here, quietly adding to your files in the name of government efficiency and the fight against organised crime and terrorism.
As Keith Laidler argues in this urgent, important book, the potential for abuse is far-reaching and formidable. Surveillance can indeed fight crime. But, he asks, at what price? If we want zero crime, can we accept its price of zero freedom? Is the deployment of such technologies even legal? What will be their effects on the fabric of society? And what can we do to prevent the worst excesses?
rshah Policy
[From Newsmax.com - Chicago Worst City for Personal Freedoms]
A Reason study ranked Chicago as the worst “nanny-state” based on its regulations in eight areas: “alcohol, tobacco, sex, guns, gambling, drugs, freedom of movement, and a catch-all category of food and “other.” Within each category, we looked at criteria ranging from helmet laws to restrictions on alcohol sales to how aggressively police target recreational activities such as drug use, prostitution, and gambling.”
According to the study, Chicago was the worst:
Chicago finished in the bottom half of all eight categories. The Windy City’s litany of meddlesome laws range from a tax on bottled water to a ban on serving alcohol at all-nude strip clubs. Local gun controls and a public smoking ban are among the most restrictive in the country. (That smoky Chicago blues joint of yore is now just a movie cliché.) There’s a primary seat belt law, meaning motorists can be pulled over for not buckling up, and a ban on using cell phones while driving. The city is second only to New York in the use of surveillance cameras in public spaces and has more red light cameras than any metropolis in the country.
For more on this check out the author of the study has an article in the Tribune, that has led to responses by the Sun-Times and a response by the the author, Radley Balko.
I am bringing this up, because the articles on this topic suggest that the proclivities for camera systems are not entirely about crime, but the type of relationship between government and citizens.
rshah Chicago, Policy
[From City Council agrees to expand camera coverage :: CHICAGO SUN-TIMES :: Metro & Tri-State]
The city council has agreed on a measure to allow private sector cameras to be incorporated into the city’s surveillance network. Its voluntary for businesses that are interested. There are also no real details on how all of this will work. I will try to find out more.
rshah Chicago
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