An interesting development on CCTV at Leeds univeristy U.K. They have developed ‘sleepless’ cameras. Well you could liken it to the sentinel dog, sleeping with one ear popped up, just in case. The cameras are able to detect if someone else than the person that left the bike takes it. These cameras have been developed by a PhD student Dima Damen to tackle the problem of stolen bicycles with seems to be endemic wherever you go, and the success rate of the owner getting back their bicycle is only 5%. The technology could also be applied to airports for suspicious luggage, i.e. someone comes in with a bag and leaves with no bag… read more here…
Tag: surveillance
Britain’s surveillance culture
The Information Commissioner in the U.K. Richard Thomas warns of ‘surveillence culture’ in Times online. Well what’s new… although he also brings into the discussion the ContactPoint database. This is the U.K. database containing details on every child in the country. Action on Rights for Children talk alot about this.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KH-1IumXZbI&hl=en&fs=1]
U.K. wants yet another database!
As if it’s not enough with the databases for the heathcare, and then of course the failed ID card databases, and the children databases, the U.K. government just can’t get enough of this, now they are building a database for all international travel for U.K. residents all in the guise of the fight against crime, illegal immigration and terrorism.
Computerised records of all 250 million journeys made by individuals in and out of the UK each year will be kept for up to 10 years. Read more…
Game accounts to be linked to ID in China
The Chinese Government’s next step is to implement a real name registration system in 2009, which would link game accounts with a given person’s ID number. Apparently the government claims to have a system implemented that can limit the number of hours each day an individual can spend playing games. This is the alleged motivation for this initiative, China’s young are spending too long playing online games. Read more..
Of course during online gaming young people are meeting for long periods of time other players from all over the world. This may start to give them new perceptions on the censorship that is going on in China… this is probably not desirable either for the Chinese government.
China’s Net Nannies have been busy
This was brought to my attention a couple of months ago by one of my HP colleagues, just never got around to posting anything.
“A group of Canadian human-rights activists and computer security researchers has discovered a huge surveillance system in China that monitors and archives certain Internet text conversations that include politically charged words. The system tracks text messages sent by customers of Tom-Skype, a joint venture between a Chinese wireless operator and eBay, the Web auctioneer that owns Skype, an online phone and text messaging service. The discovery draws more attention to the Chinese government’s Internet monitoring and filtering efforts, which created controversy this summer during the Beijing Olympics. Researchers in China have estimated that 30,000 or more “Internet police” monitor online traffic, Web sites and blogs for political and other offending content in what is called the Golden Shield Project or the Great Firewall of China.” Read more…
“The Great Firewall of China” is described in a short chapter in my book Virtual Shadows. What they refer to here as “Internet police” are also rather quaintly referred to as “Net nannies” 😉
Privvy Awards 2007 – The Bug
This is actually old news from 2007. It’s about ‘The Bug, why didn’t I post on this before? I know when I was on a train on my way out of London in 2008 I was sat next to a guy that told me about these cameras that could talk to you, e.g. if you happen to be a drunk and knock over a rubbish bin, the camera will ask you to place it back…..
The Bug is a cluster of eight cameras that can scan in any direction. The cameras are “smart,” meaning they employ software for advanced functionality. In this case, the software uses algorithms to look for suspicious behavior—sudden running or wild flailing, for example. The Bug can identify 50 suspicious traits. It can then automatically lock on to a subject and follow that person or object. The Bug also has speakers, so someone monitoring can issue instructions or warnings.
Why it has popped up now is that I was just browsing through some links to http://www.csoonline.com/ when I came across ‘Privacy: The Worst Quotes’, i.e. privacy lowlights albeit for 2007 and one is dedicated to this almost Orwellian style surveillance technology….
Electronic System for Travel Authorization to the U.S.
ESTA is an automated system used to determine the eligibility of visitors to travel to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) and whether such travel poses any law enforcement or security risk. It is expected that the the implementation of the mandatory ESTA requirements to become effective on Jan. 12, 2009.
International travelers are already familiar with security measures that are necessary to protect travelers and crew. ESTA adds another layer of security that allows DHS to determine, in advance of travel, whether an individual is eligible to travel to the United States under the VWP and whether such travel poses a law enforcement or security risk. Read more…
Google’s street view is ok according to U.K. Information Commissioner
The U.K. Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has deemed Google’s Street View service permissible. Google’s controversial Street View service – which will offer ground-level pictures of every UK street online – can finally be launched in Britain, after a privacy watchdog said it had no complaints about the service.
Chinese wire-tapping during Olympic Games
Interesting, despite their promise to provide an environment free of government censorship, the Chinese government will monitor the Internet activity of guests staying at foreign-owned hotels during the Beijing Olympics. InformationWeek reports that the government has ordered these hotels to install software and hardware so that the Public Security Bureau may monitor guests’ activity. Chinese authorities said the monitoring is necessary in order to ensure the smooth opening of the Olympic Games and to safeguard the security of the Internet network and the information thereon. Read more….
Would you like your personal data anonymous or anonymous?
The Law of User Control is hard at work in a growing controversy about interception of people’s web traffic in the United Kingdom. At the center of the storm is the “patent-pending” technology of a new company called Phorm.
Phorm’s proprietary ad serving technology uses anonymised ISP data to deliver the right ad to the right person at the right time – the right number of times. Our platform gives consumers advertising that’s tailored to their interests – in real time – with irrelevant ads replaced in the process.
The British Information Commissioners Office confirmed to the BBC that BT is planning a large-scale trial of the technology “involving around 10,000 broadband users later this month”. The ICO said: “We have spoken to BT about this trial and they have made clear that unless customers positively opt in to the trial their web browsing will not be monitored in order to deliver adverts.”
“I also have trouble with the notion that in Phorm identities are “anonymized”. As I understand it, each user is given a persistent random ID. Whenever the user accesses the ISP, the ISP can see the link between the random ID and the user’s natural identity. I understand that ISPs will prevent Phorm from knowing the user’s natural identity. That is certainly better than many other systems. But I still wouldn’t claim the system is based on anonymity. It is based on controlling the release of information.* Find out more on this from Kim Cameron’s blog.