The Costs and Benefits of Face Recognition

Most people think face recognition is great when it's catching baddies and weird or invasive when it's tracking innocent people. The technology has sparked debate after debate over whether privacy or security is more important. Honestly? I think we can have both.

First off, people need to understand what facial recognition can and can't do. This ABC story about a face rec system analyzing someone's face and telling a clerk that they're underage is bogus. If the kid had been in the store previously and been busted for buying liquor then yes, the system could alert the clerk, but no one is suggesting that face rec can tell the difference between 17 and 18 any more than a human can.

One thing face rec can do, which hasn't gotten a ton of press, is include simple privacy measures. We have been working on this at 3VR and I wrote recently about a team in Canada that's working on a similar project. Basically, software engineers can write a password-protected program that blurs faces and when an incident occurs, an investigator can unblur faces in particular pieces of video. This way, while people may still feel uncomfortable about being on camera, at least they will not really be watched unless they happen to be present during a robbery or some other incident, in which case they'll typically be glad the cameras were there to help catch the bad guys. Also, because this type of application can also have auditing capabilities written into it, it provides a crucial and often overlooked capability: a way to "watch the watchers," if you will.

The same could feasibly work in the grocery store situation described in the ABC story - if someone was a match with a suspect in the database, then the system could alert the clerk. For everyone else, faces could be blurred, and if someone is caught buying liquor or cigarettes underage, then the store manager could unblur the face and save it to the suspect list.

There has also been a lot of press recently about the rise of surveillance that risks privacy without actually improving security. I agree. Thing is, the bulk of new cameras installed are meant to catch traffic violators and raise money for municipal governments, not improve security. These cameras misfire fairly often, sometimes costing a city more than they're worth, and invading citizens' privacy for no good reason.

During the bombings in London, however, investigators were able to use video footage to find their suspect. If they had had face recognition and video search capabilities, that investigation would have been far shorter. And as banks have begun installing surveillance systems, they have seen a marked increase in the number of fraud cases they're able to solve.

Surveillance clearly has a place in modern society, but I do think that the industry needs to continue to work towards securing both people and their privacy.

Video surveillance gets smarter in Verbania, Italy

Verbania, the capital of the province of Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, Italy, was created when the towns of Intra and Pallanza merged. As one of the most idyllic and famous tourist destinations on Lake Maggiore, the town relies heavily on holidaymakers to fill its streets and generate income. To ensure the safety of visitors and citizens, the town council decided to launch a community surveillance project based on a system of network cameras.

Monitors linked to the ten Sony SSNC-RX550 network cameras are installed in the Verbania Municipal Police control room, which is currently undergoing restructuring. Even so, the system does not require the intervention of dedicated security operatives. The human element only comes into play when real-time monitoring is needed (for example during a major event), or when an automatic alarm is triggered.

Today the Municipality of Verbania can be assured that those who commit crime will be identified, thanks to technology which directly recognizes objects and reads vehicle registration plates. In fact, the town's network cameras have been positioned so that they can monitor all arrival and escape points in every area of the town. Intelligent image analysis functions now enable allow the city to keep special areas such as no-stopping zones under control. Using these features, live images can be monitored in unattended mode until suspicious activity occurs, at which point the operator is proactively alerted to the threat by means of an appropriate alarm.

Biometric Powered ‘Medicine’ Dispenser…Dude

Biometric technology stands ready to change forever the way we visit the pharmacy…potentially rendering a lot of people in white lab coats obsolete in the process. Anytime Vending Machines or AVMs went into operation in California today and employ a variety security features designed to make the automated vending of controlled and prescription medicines possible without any human intervention. The first product to benefit from AVM technology, however, might catch you a little by surprise. It’s marijuana, and here is how the process works:

Patients have to present a prescription and be fingerprinted before they are issued with a pre-paid credit card that stores the dosage and type of drug prescribed. […] Vince Mehdizadeh, owner of the Herbal Nutrition Centre in Los Angeles, where one of the first machines is based, said patients could get access to prescribed drugs after hours. "They'll be greeted by a security guard right there. They'll slide the card in and they'll fingerprint in to verify that it's them,'' he said. "A camera takes a picture of them, verifying that they're actually at the machine. And they get the medicine and they move on.''

AVMs are a very cool device, though I think they might end up with an interesting reputation given their market entry strategy. In any case, I would I am not sure the necessity of a full-time security guard standing next to the AVM fits terribly well with the automation concept being pitched.

Top 10 Asian Telecom Predictions for 2008

IDC has revealed its top 10 telecommunications predictions for the Asia-Pacific region excluding Japan (APEJ) in 2008. These include greater demand for Web 2.0 and unified communications applications such as collaboration tools within the enterprise, as well as increasing awareness in IP-surveillance products.

8. IP surveillance With IP-surveillance tools currently being deployed in Beijing, China, as part of the 2008 Olympics security plan, 2008 is set to be a "big" year for the technology. "Businesses will be receptive to IP surveillance due to increased security concerns, as well as IP surveillance's cost effectiveness," IDC said.

IP surveillance technology will become popular in the
gaming, financial services, and retail industries, the study noted, citing
physical security as a primary concern for these vertical industries. I would
add banking to this list.