A video demonstration showing how HP’s photo tracking software doesn’t work with an African American. The video is pretty funny and a nice example of how technology is far from neutral (but instead can treat particular groups of people differently). Another similar example was how a voice recognition technology, developed in Massachusetts, wouldn’t work for people with a southern accent.
We are working with our partners to learn more. The technology we use is built on standard algorithms that measure the difference in intensity of contrast between the eyes and the upper cheek and nose. We believe that the camera might have difficulty “seeing” contrast in conditions where there is insufficient foreground lighting
Now that legislators have seen how the cameras are used, they are not as supportive:
The chief author of the 2006 Illinois law that green-lighted suburban red-light cameras is now pushing a legislative revision that could effectively undo his original bill. The proposal, from Rep. Angelo “Skip” Saviano, R-Elmwood Park, would ban the use of cameras to ticket motorists for rolling right turns on red, a significant limitation that would strip away the financial incentive for municipalities to install the devices.
By some estimates, up to 90 percent of infractions flagged by cameras involve failures to make proper stops before turning right on a red light. While illegal, such maneuvers rarely lead to serious accidents.
. . .
But Saviano said the practical impact of the cameras has become distorted. “It went from a safety issue to a revenue issue,” he said. “The bottom line is people can’t afford to pay the gosh darn fines. They are grumbling.”
Saviano’s measure is one of several proposals to rein in the use of red-light cameras that have been filed by Illinois lawmakers in anticipation of the legislature’s 2010 session.
One of the concerns about surveillance cameras is the potential for government abuse. One form of abuse is using the cameras to target a political group. A historical example is the Red Squad. In this article, it claims the police added vehicles to a watch list because they attended a political protest. Once added to the watch list, a vehicle is going to be pulled over and searched. ANPR (license plate recognition) technology is used to identify a vehicle.
I hope the facts are wrong in this story. But its a chilling example of how surveillance systems can impinge on the freedom of citizens.
And, of course, police officers are less than discriminating about who they add to this list. For example, “Catt, 50, and her 84-year-old father, John” were added to the list because a police officer noticed their van at three protest demonstrations. And now Catt and John get pulled over by the police and searched as terrorists.
. . .
Officers have been told they can place “markers” against the vehicles of anyone who attends demonstrations using the national ANPR data centre in Hendon, north London, which stores information on car journeys for up to five years.
Chicago’s surveillance cameras were used to track Chicago School Board chief Michael Scott from a convalescent home to a lonely downtown spot along the Chicago River. By using the cameras, the police believe that Scott didn’t meet up with anybody else during that time.
This investigation highlighted the vast network of surveillance cameras in Chicago. Chicago has approximately 15,000 cameras at its disposal. Two thousand cameras are used for fighting crime by the CPD. The rest can be found at the CTA, airports, Park District, McCormick Place, public schools, and private cameras that have joined the city network.
Despite concerns about big brother, the current network is totally inadequate at monitoring every possible location. As I have previously pointed out, the current network of cameras covers only 5% of the city. (This does not include private cameras that are not networked to the city’s camera network.) Nevertheless, the city’s network is large and impressive.
To illustrate the camera network in Chicago, I am publishing a data set of 1,200 cameras used by the police. I believe this is useful to help educate people about the camera network in Chicago. I also hope that this data can find other innovative uses. I am very curious how this data will be viewed, used, and manipulated to other ends.
The data set can be viewed within either Google Earth or Google Maps through the KML file.
I will keep readers updated on how this information is used.
Update 1: I have also published the mapping data at GeoCommons, see the Chicago Surveillance Cameras layer. This should allow more people to use the data in additional formats, e.g., Shapefiles.
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