CCTV To Get 'X-Ray' Vision

From Engadget via New Scientist:

[A] Carnegie Mellon University team has created an augmented reality car system to see through any massive obstacle. The objective: Avoid car collisions. The Carnegie Mellon team, lead by Yaser Sheikh, thinks that the system could be easily implemented by tapping into the CCTV camera networks available in most major cities.

I am not sure about the feasibility of our individual vehicles tapping into a city's surveillance network. I see huge technical and legal issues in that. However, the Carnegie Mellon research, like that at Photosynth and others, points to new interface paradigms made possible when we abandon the traditional 1:1 relationship between physical CCTV cameras and their resulting surveillance monitoring feeds. Combining feeds and 'augmenting reality' can provide more context and transmit more information using less data...and you can also see through walls, which is cool.

Remember To Use Your 'Inside Voice'

Just caught this article by New Scientist writer, Paul Marks, on an emerging surveillance analysis area seeing some light across the pond. A new group, the Center for Secure Information Technologies (CSIT), has set its sights on improving Britain's existing CCTV infrastructure by monitoring and predicting violent behavior exhibited on the streets and public transportation.

Paul quotes CSIT director Paul Miller in the article:

"Despite massive investment in CCTV, the impact on antisocial and criminal behavior is negligible because very little video is ever analyzed...we're trying to find a set of behavioral events that will allow CCTV to become active and alert operators to potential trouble."

Marks notes different instances -- including people shouting drivers and loitering on the stairs of double decker buses -- that could trigger an alert to notify authorities. Not sure a disgruntled passenger complaining over the $0.50 increase in fares warrants a police alert, but for more threatening and dangerous situations, I can see this being a worthwhile addition to the existing CCTV capabilities.

Another CSIT project of note includes an initiative to try and conceal metal detectors in the bus door frame. I should probably leave my samurai sword at home before hopping on next time.

Check out the article in full here.

3VR Featured in New Scientist!

This just in! Check out 3VR's image-scrambling technology in the most recent issue of New Scientist out this week.

I spoke with Paul Marks, New Scientist's chief technology correspondent, a little while back around our new method of scrambling CCTV images to preserve the privacy of innocent persons, and he discusses this technology in the issue out this week. Just another example of how we're bringing structure to the world of surveillance to eliminate the 'all-or-nothing' nature of such data collection.

Check out a longer post about the piece on 3VR's blog here.

London Watching

With 4.2 million CCTV cameras currently in operation in the UK -- that's one for every 14 residents -- what's a couple thousand more?

Recent news out of the UK (via @Steve_Hunt and @kasrar) is that within months a national grid of cameras will be able to automatically read and record license plate numbers. Thousands of cameras are already operating in the UK, and soon enough that ANPR metadata will be shared and available to England, Wales and Scotland via one central computer.

With cameras scanning over 10 million plates daily, it won't matter whether you're driving a stolen vehicle or your mom's Volvo -- the plate number will be logged and stored for two years.

Not surprising that the new implementation is drawing red flags from folks concerned about the lack of regulation and personal information protection -- and for good reason! Even if the technology is intended for criminals rather than law-abiding citizens (police have already seen a 40% increase in arrests!) the public have the right to ensure that personal privacy rights are not infringed upon and that proper regulation of information is enforced.

Many details are still to be worked out, such as a regulatory code for the grid -- the system is far from flawless in nature -- but it looks like the UK is well on its way to effectively utilizing CCTV to cut down on crimes. Let's hope they use it for tracking down criminals and stolen vehicles rather than stopping red-light runners and other minor traffic offenses. We already have enough of that in the US.

Daily Headers: May 22, 2009

Report: CCTV Schemes in City and Town Centers Have Little Effect on Crime
The Guardian
Alan Travis

• The use of closed-circuit television in cities, town centers and public housing estates does not have a significant effect on crime, according to Home Office-funded research to be distributed to all police forces in England and Wales this summer.
  
• The review of 44 research studies on CCTV schemes by the Campbell Collaboration found that they do have a modest impact on crime overall, but are at their most effective in cutting vehicle crime in car parks, especially when used alongside improved lighting and the introduction of security guards.
  
• The Campbell Collaboration report says that CCTV is now the single most heavily-funded crime prevention measure operating outside the criminal justice system and its rapid growth has come with a huge price tag. It adds that £170m was spent on CCTV schemes in town and city centerse, car parks and residential areas between 1999 and 2001 alone. "Over the last decade, CCTV accounted for more than three-quarters of total spending on crime prevention by the British Home Office," the report says.
  
• Am going to look into this one a bit further. Definitely some additional factors involved in the effectiveness of CCTV grids, including camera placement and image quality. Interested to dig a bit deeper and read the actual report. I'll report back.

Swiss Narrowly Accept Biometric Passport
Associated Press
Eliane Engeler

• By a narrow margin, Swiss voters accepted an overhaul of the country's passport system to include travel documents equipped with biometric data -- a change needed for Switzerland to stay on the United States' visa waiver program.
  
• The biometric passport was approved by 50.1 percent to 49.9 percent margin, reflecting widespread concern over government intrusion into people's privacy in a country that does not belong to the European Union and has long valued its independence.
  
• Switzerland joined Europe's control-free travel zone last year, which requires countries to register citizens' facial and fingerprint images on an electronic chip in the passport.
  
• Most of the 27 European Union members have issued biometric passports since 2006. But Switzerland has until March 2010 to put in place the new travel document, according to European law.
  
• Great to see this widespread deployment continue. DHS recently announced initiatives to improve current passport technology -- it looks like it's taking off worldwide.
  

Some People Really 'Never Forget A Face'
California Science & Technology News

• A new study suggests that skill in facial recognition might vary widely among humans. Previous research has identified as much as 2 percent of the population as having "face-blindness," or prosopagnosia, a condition characterized by great difficulty in recognizing faces. For the first time, this new research shows that others excel in face recognition, indicating that the trait could be on a spectrum, with prosopagnosics on the low end and super-recognizers at the high end.
  
• The research involved administering standardized facial recognition tests. The super-recognizers scored far above average on these tests—higher than any of the normal control subjects.
  
• One woman in the study said she had identified another woman on the street who served as her as a waitress five years earlier in a different city. Critically, she was able to confirm that the other woman had in fact been a waitress in the different city. Often, super-recognizers are able to recognize another person despite significant changes in appearance, such as aging or a different hair color.
  
• The human mind never fails to amaze me -- and disappoint at the same time.

Robber Makes "Gutsy" Lady's Day (Video)

Here’s a video from TrueTV that I just had to share. In it, Robin, the store manager at a small convenience store, faces off with a would-be robber. After narrowly dodging a bullet, Robin reaches for her gun.

"[W]e looked each other dead in the eye and we were barrel to barrel."

Sadly, the robber got away. And with such poor quality surveillance video, I don't think there is very much for the police to go on.

It's A Small World After All

Alton Towers, a UK amusement park, has started offering a personalized movie to each park visitor who wants to chronicle their day at the park.

Families are issued an RFID tag that is automatically scanned and registered as they walk through the park. The RFID numbers are then used to collect any relevant surveillance video from areas and times when the RFID tags are scanned. Even on those high-speed rollercoasters, the video cameras use "super slow motion" to capture quality footage. The video is then assembled together into a “YourDay” DVD to take home upon exiting the park.

Every traumatic interaction with a park mascot, every meal on a stick and every painstaking minute of waiting in line can now be yours, starting at the low price of £6.99. Quite the deal.

Face-Rec Continues to Go Mainstream - Can DVRs Keep Up?

Five years ago no one had ever heard of facial surveillance, or if they had it was mostly in a negative light. Now it’s a must-have feature and one of many must have new video analysis algorithms. The jury is still out, however, on whether DVR and security companies in general can adapt to this quickly evolving software-dominated surveillance market.

No Place to Hide for Camera-shy Criminals

http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=15&art_id=vn20080121035546155C224410

CCTV cameras, commissioned by the Tshwane Metro Council three years ago, have helped to reduce crime and traffic violations in the inner city. And now the council is hoping to get public support to extend their range into neighboring areas.

“We have 68 cameras and we are negotiating with business and CIDs (city improvement districts) to expand the coverage,” said Tshwane Metro Police spokesperson William Baloyi.

In contrast to many stories where video surveillance has not been effective, Tshwane, South Africa is having nothing but success. The township’s city council credits video cameras for capturing 640 incidents that led to 45 arrests, 129 tickets for driving offences, and the capture of 2 car thieves and three robbery suspects—all from just 68 cameras.