Penguins Under Surveillance

Yet another new and creative use of surveillance and biometric technologies. At the University of Bristol, scientists have designed an unobtrusive surveillance system that can be subtly integrated into the environment of various endangered species. The systems will help scientists observe and track endangered animals, starting with the African penguin, of which there are only 170,000 remaining. Though the project was initially designed with penguins in mind (it's called the Penguin Recognition Project), the scientists are confident it could have wide-ranging benefits for the conservation of other species.

Biometrics Are Breaking Through

We're starting to see some pretty powerful and simple uses of biometrics in the security industry. In this case, government agencies were able to access fingerprint info through a shared database, which led to keeping 365 suspected terrorists out of the country. Now granted, there has been a LOT revealed about what constitutes a terrorist suspect these days, but my point here is on the technology. It works, it's easily shared, and it's effective at connecting the dots. Of course, I believe that facial biometrics hold even more promise as mug shots and surveillance images are often much more readily available than finger print dossiers. 3VR CrimeDex is the best example of next generation biometric infrastructure that makes this kind of sharing possible. Mug shots are uploaded to a shared database that all members can access; plus, if a member has a 3VR system, they can even set alerts associated with a CrimeDex mugshot. So far the system has been used to catch hundreds of fraudsters at banks; we're pretty confident it will have similar success in other realms.

Face Rec Speeds Airport Lines

Adding to the existent iris and fingerprint "trusted traveler" enrollment scheme, now face rec is being added to the package at U.S. and U.K. airports to both improve security and speed frequent international travelers through security lanes. The British and American governments have launched a partnership to allow enrolled "trusted travelers" who fly frequently between their respective countries, to bypass security lines after a quick face scan. The "new" program basically just adds face rec to the existing iris enrollment program for trusted travelers, which to me says that 1)face rec is working a helluva lot better than it did ten years ago and 2) iris and fingerprint recognition might not be working well enough if officials feel the need to add face rec technology to the existing program.

FBI Wants Palm Prints, Eye Scans, Tattoo Mapping

CLARKSBURG, West Virginia (CNN) -- The FBI is gearing up to create a massive computer database of people's physical characteristics, all part of an effort the bureau says to better identify criminals and terrorists. But it's an issue that raises major privacy concerns -- what one civil liberties expert says should concern all Americans. The bureau is expected to announce in coming days the awarding of a $1 billion, 10 year contract to help create the database that will compile an array of biometric information -- from palm prints to eye scans.

Given the recent request for a $3 trillion budget, $1 billion doesn’t seem like all that much anymore.

Cam Case Collateral

The rapid proliferation of video cameras in the public, and their increasing importance in court room had brought forth a number of important ethical and legal questions for those “caught up in the net” of video surveillance.

Among the questions to be answered: can the cops resist the temptation to "go fishing" for other bad guys when reviewing tape of an incident? What are the ethical ramifications of overlooking minor infractions caught on tape and, most importantly, will the prospect of being filmed actually dissuade ne'er-do-wells from ne'er-do welling?

While we will never be able to completely eliminate these issues of “collateral damage” in surveillance-centric criminal investigations, we can do quite a bit with recent technology advances to minimize them. For instance, the days of needing to troll through days and days of video to track down a particular bad guy are over. Using searchable surveillance and biometric technologies, an investigator can target a video investigation on a particular individual. The video search engine returns only that video that relates to the subject in question.

Sometimes, modern surveillance technologies are viewed exclusively through the lens of ‘big brother,’ but in this case we can also see how those same technologies can be used to protect our privacy by bringing much needed focus and efficiency to video investigations.

'Biometrics' Used to Identify Terrorists

Computer scientists and engineers are working with intelligence agencies on an international collaborative database that will use biometrics or unique individual facial, voice and physical "signatures", to identify and trace terrorists and persons of interest.

The combination of a facial expression, a spoken word, or a fingerprint could be enough to stop a terrorist attack.

While tenable results for accuracy, speed and timing are five and 10 years out, the goal is to combine biometrics with artificial intelligence to prevent terrorist attacks—an ambitious, expensive, but worthwhile endeavor.

When Biometrics Firms Collide: $44m Consolidation Deal

L-1 Identity Solutions, a rapidly growing company in the biometrics space, in early January came to definitive agreement with Bioscrypt, the market leader in physical access control biometrics, to purchase the company for roughly $44 million.

“The access control market is about trust and reliability,” Atick said. “You want to know that the company behind a product is able to sustain itself in that marketplace. Having the L-1 brand behind Bioscrypt takes the issue of survivability off the table, and nobody’s going to be fired for investing in a Bioscrypt solution ... Now, not only is this a good product, but this is a very good company that will stand behind you.”

L-1 will pay the equivalent of $.55 per Bioscrypt share, based on the average closing price of L-1 stock for the 20 trading days leading up to the deal’s close. The purchase price represents a more than 55 percent premium on the $.36 per share trading price of Bioscrpyt on the day before the deal’s announcement.

Mass Iris Scanning May Replace Airport Queues

From GCN Insider:

“Envision a future in which large-scale portal screening such as at airports is no longer a matter of forming long, snaking lines for serial processing, but more nearly resembles Grand Central Station, with individual travelers moving in a Brownian way,” — that is, any way they want to, William Gravel, a Defense Department consultant, said to the audience at a recent biometrics conference in Baltimore. “It is a vision,” he said, but “it is not a fantasy.”

Many Faces of Biometrics in Iraq

Just back from Iraq, Wired writer/blogger Noah Shachtman offers some interesting details on the wide array of biometric technology being utilized there. First, he writes about his own experience:

Then, us reporters need to be issued IDs. Which means getting a scan of your index finger, and a having a standard, passport-style picture taken. At two-thirty in the morning, it took seven tries to get a shot where I didn't look stoned out of my mind. After that, they take scans of both your irises. Five more headshots – for the facial recognition software. And scans of all ten fingerprints. Finally, I'm approved as an accredited member of the press in Iraq. Just that easy.

Then there is the experience of the general population, in places like Fallujah, who actually seem to have a slightly easier time of things:

The Marines have walled off Fallujah, and closed the city’s roads to traffic. The only way in is to have a badge. And the only way to get a badge is to have Marines snap your picture, scan your irises, and take all ten of your fingerprints. Only then can you get into the city.

That’s just one approach in one location, however. The various biometric projects that Shachman describes seem disconnected and sub-optimized on a number of levels. There is no single biometric database, for instance, and even if it existed, it would be too large for the hand-held devices used by the Marines. And in Baghdad, they have another problem:

Back in Baghdad, they're running a biometric badge system – based on Saddam’s old fingerprint records -- to check on the backgrounds of Iraqi security forces. (Which brings up the question, is a criminal in Saddam’s eyes a bad guy – or a good one?)

More stories and insight at Noah’s blog.

Nashville Schools Get Security Facelift

The 75,000-student Nashville School District announced that they will be deploying face recognition systems at 3 different facilities this December. It is hoped that the specialized cameras and software will help protect the safety of students, as well as, generally monitor access of the traditionally open educational settings settings.

"This will give us an edge in providing safety for our students and teachers," Thompson said of the $30,000 camera system. Several intruders have entered
Nashville schools in the past year, he said. A successful test in Nashville could prod other schools to try the technology, said Peter Pochowski, executive director of the National Association of School Safety and Law Enforcement Officers. He said Nashville is the first to use face-recognition cameras. Nashville will take digital photos of students and workers at the three test schools and store them in the new camera system, Thompson said. When a camera spots a face in a school that it cannot match to a stored photo, it will alert security. The system also could detect suspended and expelled students and fired employees, Thompson said.

In 2004, the Phoenix School District made a similar announcement, but ultimately never deployed their facial recognition systems over accuracy and privacy concerns. Of course, significant advancements in both facial recognition and privacy technologies have been made in recent years. Here is one example that I am partial to.

Terrorists Get BATized on the Go

U.S. forces have some new tools at their disposal. The Biometrics Automated Toolset, or BAT for short, now includes lightweight portable units capable of scanning and identifying bad guys on the run...and in the blink of an eye.

With today’s technology, however, the size and weight of systems have been reduced, which means members of America’s armed forces are more willing to use them. Currently 735,000 detainees in Iraq have been entered into a BAT system that can be obtained quickly -- even in the field, Jones said. The system provides an opportunity for a soldier to check to see if a person caused problems before or was a suspect but released. […] Being small, portable and affordable, the GIs like the new biometric systems, which also are being used by military police, check point security guards, and base compound guards as a way to rapidly identify insurgents. The Language and Technology Office continues to look for additional systems that will provide other information to add to the BAT arsenal. When the office began a few years ago, there were three government employees and a few contractors. Now “we have three govs (government employees) and 60 contractors,” which shows the increased importance of biometrics, Jones said.

If it Walks Like a Terrorist

Behavior scientists at the University of Buffalo received an $800,000 grant to develop a technology that would help identify terrorists by their behavior. The project aims to fuse a variety of known biometric and video analysis technologies into a single “malfeasance score.”
“No single biometric is suited for all applications,” said Govindaraju, who also is founder and director of UB’s Center for Unified Biometrics and Sensors. “Here at CUBS, we take a unique approach to developing technologies that combine and ‘tune’ different biometrics to fit specific needs. In this project, we are focusing on how to analyze different behaviors and come up with a single malfeasance indicator.” The UB project is among the first to involve computer scientists and behavioral scientists working together to develop more accurate detection systems based on research from each field.

I wish them luck, but this is a tremendously difficult problem to solve.