IHF Roundup: Retail Crime Rates Continue to Climb, Robotic Animals End Poaching Dreams & Other Top Headlines This Week

At their conference in Orlando earlier this week, RILA announced the continuing trend of crime in retail institutions at least partially blamed on the dismal economic conditions we've been experiencing. The survey included some of America's largest retailers in all market segments and inquired about measured or perceived changes in retail crimes over the last four months (on the heels of the December 2008 Crime Trends Survey). Here's a quick rundown of the statistics. Looks like we've still got a ways to go to turn this ship around:

• 61% of retailers surveyed report having experienced an increase in amateur/opportunistic shoplifting in the last 4 months.
• 55% have experienced an increase in financial fraud.
• 72% of respondents report that they continue to see an increase in organized retail crime (ORC).
• No retailers reported a decrease at all in amateur/opportunistic shoplifting since last surveyed.
  

Not exactly encouraging numbers, but they definitely show room for improvement and a growing market for surveillance deployments in the retail sector.

While some are resorting to stealing merchandise to make ends meet, others are betting on Lady Luck for a few extra bucks in this recession. Many casinos have seen increased gambling tendencies -- that is, of already-problematic gamblers -- in the past few months. Should security systems be preventing such detrimental habits? A Toronto Sun writer seems to think so.

With an estimated one-third of gambling revenue coming from problem gamblers in casinos, she puts forth the valid argument as to why they aren't stopped before hitting the tables. As she notes in the article, "In Holland, for instance, all casino visitors have to show their national ID card or a passport and are entered into a computer database that tracks their gambling behavior."

So, why aren't other countries monitoring such negative behavior? Should there be some sort of biometric database in gambling facilities? Good question. Although, if you think about it, isn't that almost like employing biometrics at a fast-food joint and prohibiting those with high blood pressure from ordering certain fatty foods? Definitely something to be considered.

Biometrics (or the lack thereof) aren't only in hot water in casinos -- that's hardly the case.

In England, the Home Office announced plans for organizations (including the Post Office and National Pharmacy Association) to collect and transmit biometric information for ID card enrollment. That would mean fingerprints and facial photographs would be stored on ID cards and in a central database.

However, the big question remains the security of the data itself. With such a massive high-street database, there must be a maximum security standard for the implementation to be viable. Additionally, who would be liable for a breach in the system?

That's an awfully high level of risk with the value this type of highly-sensitive information presents to identity thieves and the like. Still lots of kinks to be worked out here. Plus, really not sure how I'd feel about needing to give a set of prints to receive my prescription either.

Biometrics scans are popping up all over -- even in journalism. Fingerprints and retina scans are now required for all journalists covering the war in Afghanistan before being accredited to travel with NATO units or visit military bases. It's drawing some red flags from legal experts who have called the new produced "strange and offensive" and I'm not surprised. According to the article, "The data, including fingerprints and a retina scan, are used to verify identity and are apparently checked against an archive of known terrorists." I've heard journalists called bad things, but being checked against terrorist images -- not quite. At least yet.

Wrote about this quickly earlier in the week -- robotics out to save Mother Nature. Well, something like that. Researchers have designed robotic animals to catch animal poachers. Turkeys, swimming moose, white-tailed deer, black bears -- you name it, there's a robot that resembles it. These robots are saving species one at a time -- literally. With prices ranging from $500 for turkey to $5,500 for a grizzly bear, these decoys do not come cheap and with special reflective eyes glow at night, I'm not sure I'd want to be out in the wild with either species.

Also, don't forget to check out John Honovich's post about our 3VR Korea study on IPVideoMarket.info (along with the commentary from our CEO Al Shipp and myself) here. Gets into the nitty-gritty of the what the study results really mean. Definitely an interesting read.

IHF Roundup: New iPhone App Aids Gamblers, Photoshop Trumps Laptops, and Other Top Stories This Week

News from all corners of the country this week. Let's get started.

Casinos across the country were warned about an iPhone/iPod Touch application that counts cards, and according to the Nevada Gaming Commission, helps players beat the house in blackjack. If caught, I wouldn't be surprised if gamblers use this to fight off security guards. It must be more successful than trying to make a run for it.

At Black Hat DC this week, Vietnamese researchers showed the vulnerabilities of facial recognition software as a secure authentication method for laptops. With digital images and tweaked angles and lighting, they were able to bypass the biometrics on Lenovo, Asus and Toshiba laptops and gain access to the computer. Looks like traditional typed log-ins and passwords will hold the edge, at least for now.

Back in California, last week's DMV controversy has not died down in the least. A key legislative committee blocked the DMV's request to utilize facial recognition software to match up driver's license photographs with the entire DMV database of headshots. Fears that this system could make its way into police hands to monitor people at public gatherings are still rampant. So far, privacy groups: 1 DMV: 0. However, I'm sure this battle is far from over.

Did I mention Einstein was reborn? In a robot's body. The resemblance is uncanny! The researchers are still working on improving the IQ score.

Bringing Down the House...No More

These days card-counters have more to worry about than just the the odds.

No one realizes it at this casino, but Aponte is a veteran of the card-counting
team of math whizzes from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The team reportedly took more than $10 million from casinos in its heyday from 1994 to 2000. Aponte has been barred from more than 100 casinos in the United States and a few overseas. In St. Kitts, he said, he was recognized by a Biometrica database, and now he avoids the biggest, most modern casinos. The team's No. 1 downfall, he said, was information sharing. Once the members' faces began showing up in databases, their days were numbered. (via The Washington Post)

Card-counting isn't a real criminal problem, as being exceptionally good at math isn’t exactly stealing. Still, it’s interesting to see how effective this technology can be when combined with industry-wide information sharing.