SceneTap Facial Recognition Coming to a Club Near You

Get ready, Bay Area clubbers: SceneTap is heading your way this weekend.

The facial recognition technology is being adopted by clubs and bars across the country to help customers get a sneak peek at the nightlife and crowds on a given night.

SceneTap is already being used in multiple cities: Austin, Texas; Bloomington, Ind.; Gainesville, Fla.; Athens, Ga.; and Madison, Wis. It was originally rolled out in 50 Chicago-area venues in 2011.

As of Friday, the technology will be in 25 bars in the San Francisco area as well.

How does it work? SceneTap uses special cameras places throughout a club or bar to tell users what kind of crowd is there, in real-time. Users download the SceneTap app for free, then can get clued into the demographics of any member bar’s crowd.

Don’t worry: The information isn’t shared with police, and the venue doesn’t even have access to the video footage. Cole Harper, the CEO of Texas-based SceneTap, insists that the technology is not any more intrusive on your privacy than showing the bouncer your ID.

"We've been privacy advocates from day one," Harper told NBC. "SceneTap helps increase foot traffic by matching up people with the scene for them. So if you're with a group looking to grab a drink at a table and have an audible conversation, you can find a place ahead of time that isn't too crowded. On the other hand, if you're looking for a busier atmosphere, SceneTap can help you find that scene, too."

'Stingray' Tech Lets Cops Track Cellphones -- No Warrant Required

The Gilbert, Ariz., police department has a lot of explaining to do.

Apparently, the department used Homeland Security Department funds to purchase cell phone tracking equipment back in 2008. And now, it's being investigated by the ACLU.

Several surveillance experts have agreed that it seems the department purchased a gadget that's sometimes called a stingray, which lets users set up what amounts to a fake cellphone tower. Then, nearby cellphones are tricked into connecting with it. Even if the owner of the phone isn't making a call, the stingray can still track their physical location. 

Although it can't record anything said on phone calls, the stingray can track the phone numbers dialed by nearby phones. Which, understandably, makes it a huge privacy concern.

Stingrays raise some very controversial issues, Catherine Crump, the lawyer who headed the ACLU project, told MSNBC.

"I think when law enforcement starts purchasing technology that allows them to track cellphones in that manner, it raises a whole host of questions about how that technology is being used that are even more serious when they track people through carriers," Crump said. "At least when a carrier is involved, there's a third party that may raise concerns if the request is of questionable legality. But when a law enforcement agency can do on its own surveillance, that raises even more serious questions about whether there is appropriate oversight."

The Supreme Court just decided that police can strip search pretty much anybody. So, maybe the use of stingrays is simply the next step.

Congress: Unmanned Drones will be Allowed in U.S. Commercial Airspace

Think unmanned aerial devices are relegated only to the skies over Iran and Afghanistan? Think again. Starting in September 2015, UAVs will be allowed into commercial airspace, even if they’re privately or commercially-owned drones.

This means companies like Google—or your neighbor that is fascinated by GPS—could deploy drones anywhere in the country for more advanced mapping or, you know, spying.

Why the change in policy? Congress passed the bill just yesterday, but they weren’t focusing on UAVs, exactly. Instead, the bill is to allow the FAA’s adoption of NextGen, a program that lets commercial aircraft install GPS technology. That will allow for more efficient (read: steeper) take-offs, which should be fun.

I’m all for more efficient air travel (will it also be cheaper?), but the privacy implications of this bill worry me. As Time explains:

Rigging a cheap drone with a video camera was no problem for an Occupy protestor; how hard would it be for someone with deeper pockets to finance a drone with even more powerful surveillance equipment to monitor, well, who knows what? How will we know what purposes any private citizen has for deploying a drone overhead?

Meanwhile, Forbes wonders how corporations will use this new-found freedom to gather more information on consumers.

Celebrate National 'Change Your Password' Day!

Thomas Baekdal via MSNBCIn an effort to prevent online security breaches--and because, let's face it, we could always use another national holiday--Gizmodo has deemed Feb. 1 National Change Your Password Day.

Sure, the name is lame. And yes, changing passwords--and then keeping track of those new passwords--is tedious. But it's more important than you may realize, according to Gizmodo:

The thing to understand is that the biggest threat to your security isn't some creep sitting in front of your email login screen, randomly bruteforcing his way into your account. Nope, you're up against compuaters that can run thousands of encrypted passwords by dictionaries of several languages, everything in the World Fact Book, and Wikipedia in a matter of minutes.

As the image above illustrates, these computers are far too skilled at hacking most passwords. Your best bet? For important log-ins, like banking websites and personal email, opt for a password with six or more random characters. Make sure it uses mixed case and includes letters, symbols and numbers.

Having trouble remembering all your complex passwords? Try a password management application, like LastPass, KeePass, 1Password or Keeper.

Real-time Facial Recognition With Face.com's KLIK App

Everyone's favorite facial-recognition company, Face.com, has released a new facial recognition app for iPhones that automatically identifies your friends by name--before or after you take their photo.

KLIK must be configured to your Facebook account to work; it references the real-time image with all your friends' images to identity the friend in front of you. Usually, KLIK is sharp enough to ID each friend even before you snap a photo. Then, their name floats above them in your camera's viewfinder (like Tom above).

If KLIK doesn't recognize a given friend, you can opt to tag him or her, giving the software a chance to learn more faces and identify additional friends. The app has several photo filters (think Instagram) that let you customize your photos. It also includes a feed of nearby photos, friends' photos and sharing options. I was glad to hear that your photos aren't automatically posted to Facebook--which seems like something Face.com would do.

To me, the app seems fun and pretty sleek. I wouldn't be surprised if my friends and I all end up downloading it the next time we're at the bar.

Interested in trying KLIK for yourself? Download it here.