Surveillance Cameras Get Smarter

kog777 writes to mention that the IB Times is taking a look at where surveillance camera technology is headed. Soon researchers tell us that cameras will be available that not only record, but are able to interpret what they see. "The advancements have already been put to work. For example, cameras in Chicago and Washington can detect gunshots and alert police. Baltimore installed cameras that can play a recorded message and snap pictures of graffiti sprayers or illegal dumpers. In the commercial market, the gaming industry uses camera systems that can detect facial features, according to Bordes. Casinos use their vast banks of security cameras to hunt cheating gamblers who have been flagged before."

Comments

Re:Gunshots

[biocute]

Maybe if a mobile phone is able to simulate a realistic gunshot noise, and its owner is keen to play that in the public, police should be alerted anyway.

PLEASE someone, hook these to a traffic light.

[Mr.Scamp]

Would someone PLEASE adapt these new intelligent cameras to work with traffic lights? Cameras that can tell how much traffic is coming from each direction could move a lot more traffic. I can't count the amount of time I have wasted at red lights when there was NO traffic at all coming the other way. Intersections that can intelligently route traffic would be uber useful.

Re:PLEASE someone, hook these to a traffic light.

[Marko DeBeeste]

You're missing the point of traffic lights. Regulation, revenue. Your convenience doesn't even make the list.

Re:PLEASE someone, hook these to a traffic light.

[rfkm]

Someone already has. It's just a matter of getting your city/county/state to pony up the money to install a new intersection management system.

And the problem with induction loop sensors is that they are prone to failure and expensive to replace. You don't need to dig up a lane every time a camera needs to be replaced.

Re:PLEASE someone, hook these to a traffic light.

[owlnation]

You need to bear in mind that traffic flow isn't confined to one junction. It relies on the complete matrix of most if not all traffic lights in a city. So, although any one red light might be holding up traffic where there's none from the other direction, that may also be to manage flow further into the city centre in the same direction.

That said, in principle there's merit in what you suggest, but all the cameras on all the lights would need to be hooked into a program to manage overall flow dynamically.

And I've never really understood why we waste energy having traffic lights on, say between 2am and 5am, in most cities.

Re:resistance is futile

[Travelsonic]

I know all the scifi authors' opinions....

Surely that is sarcasm?

While we have an obligation to allow flourishing technology we also, IMO have a great obligation to make sure the technology is protected from tyrrany as well.

Re:Gunshots

[celardore]

You may be aware that the UK is ahead of everyone else in terms of CCTV surveillance. This doesn't mean that the UK has a lower crime rate though, nor does it mean that they are on top of terrorism or gun crime. There has been a lot of publicity in the UK recently about gun crime, with a famous picture in the papers of Tory leader David Cameron with a youth behind him making some kind of gang sign related to guns.

Surveillance is not the answer, it doesn't make a difference if there are too many criminals to monitor. Gun laws (as Americans will say, right to bear arms etc) are not the answer. This has lead me to believe that there is no answer. We have to be politically correct remember. Don't discriminate against trolls, they're people too.

Re:Gunshots

[garcia]

Maybe if a mobile phone is able to simulate a realistic gunshot noise, and its owner is keen to play that in the public, police should be alerted anyway.

Maybe the government shouldn't be finding new and exciting ways to do less work and employing less real people? IMHO, as soon as they start tracking us with these cameras we should start making loud gun shot noises as we shoot the lenses out.

Take back your personal freedom and stop listening to the "but you are in public!" bullshit. If they aren't willing to have real people watch you then I'm not willing to tolerate it.

Re:resistance is futile

[biocute]

As long as these cameras are installed in and made known to the public, I'm actually fine with them. It would be like an extra pair of eyes or ears for the police.

For instance, if a camera is smart enough to pick up a car accident and notifies appropriate parties (towing, cops etc) timely and accordingly, wouldn't it be bettter?

Translation

[OpenSourced]

Casinos use their vast banks of security cameras to hunt cheating gamblers

...meaning anybody that manages to win more than a couple of times. You know, once is happenstance, two is coincidence, three is getting your legs broken.

Re:Gunshots

[maxwell demon]

What about guns with sound suppressors?

I wouldn't bet on it ...

[richg74]

In the commercial market, the gaming industry uses camera systems that can detect facial features, according to Bordes. Casinos use their vast banks of security cameras to hunt cheating gamblers who have been flagged before.

The tests of facial recognition technology in which the results have been made available (e.g., in airport security trials) have been failures. I'm pretty skeptical that there's anything of substance to this until I see some evidence. The intelligent student will readily observe that the casinos have a strong interest in having people believe that the technology can do this.

Re:resistance is futile

[Teppic_52]

To be honest, it just makes the jobs of CCTV control room operators easier, the technology isn't that new either, we just have the ability to put the thinking part of the system inside the camera now, instead of inside the DVR.
For the average Joe on the street it won't make much difference in this case, unless you get shot, then the paramedics may turn up a bit sooner.

It's the behavioral recognition systems that have the good features, they can tell the difference between someone pacing up and down talking on a cell phone and some one acting 'shifty', then track them from camera to camera around the system. Even with a 50% false positive rate on a system like that you are giving your 'Security Officers' a good head start on containing or even preventing any possible trouble.

From an invasion of privacy point of view these technologies are better, as there is less blanket coverage needed for any one area, and recording quality can be linked to a number of factors, meaning while the system is tracking that fella with the odd looking suitcase you're free to scratch your ass without it appearing on Ebaums World next week.

Re:Gunshots

[inviolet]

Maybe the government shouldn't be finding new and exciting ways to do less work and employing less real people? IMHO, as soon as they start tracking us with these cameras we should start making loud gun shot noises as we shoot the lenses out.

I'd rather be watched by algorithms than by humans. Humans are woefully fallible and (worse) in denial about their own fallibility. Humans are tribalistic asshats who lose objectivity if you are different than they are -- or if you aren't different.

Of course the advantage of human surveillance is that humans are so expensive that we won't pay for enough of them to watch everyone. That fact affords me the room I need to break laws in moral ways. We'd never program the surveillance computers to grant the same leeway.

Of course that would have the further advantage of eventually getting all those stupid laws undone. The only cure for a bad law is to enforce it on everyone, as only a surveillance society could do.

Re:Gunshots

[couchslug]

Incarceration is an answer, but there is no single answer. There is no way to make people behave if they don't wish to, but we can lock them up and keep them in the slammer longer. The UK prison system is a walk in the park compared to the US.

Combine UK surveillance with the harshest US punishment and incarceration rates, and make every prison look like Parchman.
Prison should crush prisoners and utterly break their will because they are bad humans who have nullified their value to society. They can be an example to others of the consequences of crime. Take the fight to the enemy and smash them. It isn't PC to say this, but punks only undestand force.

Unless Bad Things happen to criminals, there is no reason not to be one.

"Gun laws (as Americans will say, right to bear arms etc) are not the answer."

Personal armament has been an answer for the MANY people who have used them in self defense, often without firing a shot. My wife is among them.
A deterred, wounded, or dead perp is no loss. An injured, robbed, or raped innocent citizen is.

Re:Gunshots

[jZnat]

You're not the one who has to prove your innocence; the prosecution has to prove your guilt. The only case where you're guilty until proven innocent is in military trials usually regarding treasonous activity and other dangerous things.