From The New York Times:
A short article on the efficacy of surveillance cameras with a bit on smart cameras. First, it notes the debate over the efficacy of cameras. This is constant trope in stories with surveillance cameras with one side pointing to statistics in their city (such as Chicago) versus the studies in the UK that show cameras were generally not very effective. The end of the article is rather dismissive of smart camera technology:
Chicago is beginning a trial project using software that will sift through thousands of hours of video, trying to recognize unusual behavior, like leaving behind a suitcase. Such software is largely unproven, noted Elaine Newton, a fellow at the Stanford Law School Center for Internet and Society. “These things are going to have error rates,” she said. Face recognition and other biometric applications are particularly difficult, and often the results depend on the quality of the image or the lighting. “Typically surveillance cameras are pretty low quality,” she said. And they are often exposed to heat, which degrades image quality even more. As a result, Ms. Newton said, “real-time analysis of lots of cameras isn’t something that’s going to be invested in.”
I don’t with agree Elaine Newton as she is quoted in this article. First, Newton has done some work on smart camera topics with a paper on preserving privacy by de-identifying face images for the IEEE. However, she is totally wrong that real-time analysis is not going to be invested in. There are a whole slew of vendors selling these technologies, such as Vistascape, as well as government procurement policies that are seeking these technologies (Secure Border Initiative).
While there are significant problems with some smart camera technologies, such as facial recognition, there are other smart camera technologies that already are useful. If if real-time analysis is not yet useful, why wouldn’t there be investment in the technology? Maybe I am too close to the issue, but I see enormous promise by adding “smarts” to the processing of camera footage.
I don’t want to be too hard on Newton, because I am sure her words are somewhat twisted. Maybe she is saying that we won’t add real time analysis to existing old analog cameras that don’t have the resolution for facial recognition or analyzing crowd behavior. Nevertheless, this article doesn’t accurately reflect what is happening with smart camera technology.
rshah Uncategorized
From Wired News:
Scheier’s latest column argues that we should rely on technology for boring repetitive tasks, such as screening luggage at airports. I totally agree and believe that same is true for smart cameras. They are not a solution for tasks that take real “smarts”, but are a useful for reducing the mundane tasks.
rshah Uncategorized
From Reuters in The New Zealand Herald:
Operators just can’t stop leering through cameras. This problem has been amply documented, but is tough to stop. The latest was during Spencer Tunick’s photo shoot with 1700 naked volunteers. From the article:
Close-up surveillance camera images of some of the naked participants have been offered for sale to drinkers in Tyneside pubs, and Northumbria police have begun an investigation into “possible misuse of CCTV footage”.
“We’ve spoken to a number of officers and police staff and as a result two members of staff are in the process of being suspended,” said Deputy Chief Constable David Warcup.
rshah Uncategorized
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.
rshah Uncategorized
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.
rshah Uncategorized
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.
rshah Uncategorized
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
rshah Uncategorized
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.
rshah Uncategorized
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.
rshah Uncategorized
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.
rshah Uncategorized
Recent Comments