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Prototype EU Airplane Spy Cams Watch For Facecrime
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "You can't make stuff like this up. The EU is actually testing a prototype system of cameras in airplanes to monitor passengers' facial expressions in order to detect both terrorism and 'air rage.' The Security of Aircraft in the Future European Environment (SAFEE) project used an Airbus A380 fuselage with six wide-angle cameras to watch for people running or loitering near the cockpit door, as well as a camera in the back of every seat to watch for facecrime like sweating too much, or acting nervous. But that's okay, because the system won't alert anyone until it sees a 'combination of signs,' instead of just one stray expression, or they might accidentally catch a lot of people who are afraid of flying or of being watched."
because perpetrators wouldn't ever be calm or completely resigned to their fate/choice.
The A380 is a long haul aircraft and there isn't a lot to do up front with automated cockpits. So in the interests of "security", the pilots will probably "monitor" the cameras ...
keeping a particularly close eye on attractive females.
And how long until the first footage of the Mile High Club shows up on YouTube?
One of my all-time favorite "caught in the act" via webcam was Duncan Grisby using the opensource motion program to catch a burgler in his flat - technical details of his setup.
Speaking of cams, here is a nifty BirdCam of House Finches - look for baby chicks.
Hulk SMASH Celiac Disease
thats all I have to say.
Find what makes it tick and have as many people do "facecrime" or whatever gobbledygook they call it. 30 people doing something weird (not illegal and not evil) would do some funny things on an airplane.
I'm thinking of something like that Improv group in New York City and their shenanigans.
Wow, sounds like a sure fire way to keep people from flying. Already flying is becoming too much of a hassle for many people flying for both business and pleasure and the competition will be trains, automobiles and the Internet. Generally speaking flying outside the US has been more pleasant until recently, but I may try and fly even less from here on out both foreign and domestic.
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Well, we all realize it's very important for everyone (especially young children) to learn that being watched at all places and all times is normal and important for the functioning of civilizations. Airplane cabins are a convenient place to start since some people are sufficiently scared of flying to accept surveilance there.
Whiting out your face won't make a difference, I'd go with the old trusty tinfoil hat.
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We may not be created equal
But we can be treated equal.
1. How much does all of this equipment weigh?
2. If it detects a terrorist attack, what can anyone do about it while the plane is in the air?
One of our competitors trademarked the term "hypothesis". From now on, we will call them "boneheaded ideas".
See, you're a perfect example of the 'air rage' they're trying to stamp out. How dare you be angry about flying coach.
finally, a way to discover those who are thinking criminal thoughts!
I bet it even works 5-10% of the time.
Would "air rage" be the rage I feel after I've had my laptop and bags rifled through, a full body-cavity search, and after having my toothpaste confiscated and after pouring my water in a big bucket?
"No maam, I don't know how that tape got there, maybe someone was trying to fix something.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
Better hope you're not susceptible to airsickness...or overly concerned about making your connecting flight...or mildly allergic to the airline peanuts...or worried that Big Brother might just single you out for having the wrong hair/skin color, or for "suspect behavior", and make an example of you, with no chance of appeal or redress...
I'm so glad my profession does not require large amounts of air travel...I would have to get another job.
____
~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
Sky marshal pulls a gun on me thinking I'm a terrorist just because after two hours of the little bastard behind me screaming and crying and kicking my seat, I finally get the wrong combination of facial expressions when my mp3 player battery dies...
An I.T. motto in the hands of an idiot is a dangerous thing...
A camera in every seat back is another example of the government's efforts to identify and then marginalize nose pickers.
Because it's easier to sell a security system that helps protect against a threat people have heard of, than to get people to listen to you about a threat that has not shown up.
Even before 9/11 planes have traditionally been high value targets. Originally this was probably because jet travel was regarded as sort of symbolic of the wealthy and privileged (the expression 'jet-set' though perhaps a bit dated, is a product of that mentality). So whatever the specific nature of your complaint, targeting a passenger jet was a way of focusing on high value targets, as opposed to, say, hitting a Greyhound bus.
Additionally, factor in some of the tactical benefits of an assault on a plane: you automatically have mobility and hostages, which affords you some protection against police or military who might try to intervene. And if your goal is widespread death, crashing or detonating a plane is pretty surefire, compared to a comparable attack on the ground.
Of course, common sense tells us that if we make planes terrorist-proof, terrorists will just strike elsewhere. There's a diminishing marginal return on airplane security, and products like this facecrime camera are probably WAAAAY out there in terms of cost/benefit.
...and move all air travel over to the Mr T model: dope the passengers senseless at the airport, pack the unconscious bodies in like sides of meat and wake 'em up at the destination airport.
Oh, wait - you wouldn't be able to sell them duty free & Skymall would go out of business. Darn.
In a survey of 100 programmers, 111111 thought that duck-typing was a good idea.
... So, some sort of Post-It note with a smiley face on the back may be in order.
Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
Well, unless you carefully black out the camera before you sit, they'll have a picture of your face. Since the airline knows who was sitting in a seat, they know who you are anyway. If cameras start dropping off-line, and if they're monitored in real time, don't you think someone will notice?
Do you really not think that it will be a criminal offense to tamper with the airline safety system? And, clearly, people with good intentions would never do such a thing, so they'll presume you had bad intentions from the start.
I simply can't believe that they'd neither catch your nor fail to charge you with something. I'm not in favor of being on camera while in flight (I think it's an appalling idea), but I don't imagine the powers that be will react nicely to people mucking about with their security toys.
People seriously pondering something like this should accept the fact that their principled stand might find themselves in some trouble.
Cheers
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
My grandfather was commissioned into the Navy in 1936 as a pilot. My great uncle flew the China Clipper and was a Pan-Am pilot for 30 years. My father is a retired airline pilot with over 20 years. I took flying lessons from when I was 12 to when I was 17 (I was supposed to solo the Saturday following Sept. 11, however that fucked everything up and I never got my lesson).
I even have some time logged behind the stick of a DASH-8 that my dad snuck me in to ferry between Newport News and Norfolk airports one time when I was 13 (only crew members on board, no "passengers").
Its not that I don't like flying. However, I **HATE** to fly commercially. The seats are uncomfortable, the air is stale, babies scream, people cough and sneeze, etc.
I always look pissed off on airlines and in airports, because I usually am. Of course, most of the flights I've taken in the past were as a non-rev and the crew knew my dad, so I was nice to them and they were nice to me, too.
Frankly, I think the people who **DON'T** look like they're about to kill someone are the ones you need to watch out for. There is probably something wrong with them as they clearly enjoy pain and discomfort.
Um, not to sound racist or anything, but wouldn't the terrorist just send their women to blow up the planes then? You know, the ones that cover their faces with veils? Epic fail.
For starters, I can't imagine you could get half of the people on an A380 to stir up that kind of shit. It's a big plane, and most people aren't that politically concerned.
I have no idea if you can easily request to be let off the plane or not. There are very strict rules to ensure that you can't have checked baggage that flies when you don't. They could conceivably have to empty the cargo hold to find your bag. If you kick up too big of a stink, well, disruptive passengers get arrested and can get fined for flight disruptions.
Activism is good. I'm sure someone will do the kinds of things you're suggesting -- I'm just saying, once you start messing about in airports/planes, you enter into a whole new level of ways to get into trouble.
Don't undertake such acts without seriously thinking if that is the best way to achieve your point and not end up in some serious legal troubles. The consequences could be well beyond what you're prepared to deal with.
Cheers
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Word up: bring a tiny bit of modelling clay in your pocket, and then when you sit down, put it on top of the camera lens.
Or just sit there and pick your nose for THE ENTIRE FLIGHT.
RS
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
Tell her Richard Dean Anderson is aboard, and the landing gear is better than ever.
Modding Trolls +1 inciteful since 1999
I'm not saying do nothing. I'm saying pick your venue and what you do.
Getting yourself arrested and kicking up a stink might help them say "See, the system is working, we found a crazy person already who had planned to disrupt the flight".
There's a huge gap between doing nothing, and doing something stupid which won't actually help what you're trying to do.
Cheers
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
is that like, picking your nose?
There is an answer to that. Whenever you get on a Qantas long haulflight to the US - even though it is an Australian airline flying under the Australian flag - they announce that US regulations prohibit people from congregating in the plane. This includes handing around the toilet waiting to use it. so technically you are already a Bad Person (tm) for doing so. The video surveilance just proves it.
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People seriously pondering something like this should accept the fact that their principled stand might find themselves in some trouble.
some 200+ years ago, some yanks threw some tea into the water. I think they caught hell for it, too. but in the long run, everyone was better off.
some indian guy, in our century, also did something disobedient. I seem to remember its outcome was positive even though individuals did catch some hell for it, in the short run.
is our freedom to NOT be watched every damned minute of our lives not worth fighting for? I'm starting to wonder, what IS worth fighting for, then?
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Wow. Sounds like something the "mark of the beast" alarmists would make up. So how long before you're denied any kind of basic service like travel, home ownership, car ownership, etc if you refuse to let them drill a hole in your skull and implant a brainwave monitor?
No... seriously. You're right to think that sounds absolutely insane, but what security news doesn't in the last 7 years? This kind of reckless Big Brotherism - no, McCarthyism makes me rage. We should work out some ways to stop arresting and punishing innocent people and THEN worry about finding more ways to incriminate them.
easier solution:
Don't Fly.
Flying is noisy, uncomfortable, irritating, you get overcharged, patronised, lied to and sometimes they lose your luggage. you get delayed, people try to sell you lottery tickets and alcohol (on a plane ffs). The food is inedible. the seating is awkward and has no legroom.
Plus it fucks up the environment.
Sleeper Trains FTW.
DRM-free indie games for the PC and Mac: Positech Games
"I think it's perfectly reasonable that such a face cam could flag some terrorists, even if it doesn't flag them all. From that limited perspective, it's an effective tool. "
Due to cheer numbers, the false positive rate will generate more people than the positive identification rate, and that is not even counting the possible false negative rate. To give you an example let us say you have 99.99% effectiveness, that is 0.01% false positive. Out of 1 million pax, this is 100 pax. Now let us say you have a 10% false negative (guy trained to not sweat even knowing he will die) which is quite reasonable. If you have 10 terrorist out of 1 million pax, that means you will have 100 false negative, 9 correct, 1 false negative. And that is even really counted in FAVOR of this system. Knowing the number of pax transported by year, and the potential number of terrorist, I would dare say it is more like 100.000 false positive, 9 correct a false negative. In other word a UTTER money waste.
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This is the problem. They force all manner of bullshit on us and set up laws to make it illegal to have a low tolerance to their bullshit. Then, the rest of the sheep who don't even notice that there's a problem enforce your punishment. It sucks. I just cannot get across how much it sucks. All of it.
Requiem for the American Dream
OK, we're in mid-air, I take the gun, that I slipped through customs, from wherever I hid it and start walking towards the cockpit.
What, at this point, is the idea behind the camera?
Last time I flew UK-Malaysia on Emirates, I enjoyed the flat panel screen in the headrest in front of me for a few hours, then turned it off to get some sleep. After a couple of hours stopover at Dubai, right when I should have been deepest asleep, we boarded another plane for the rest of the journey. The flat panels could be switched off, but were switched back on every ten minutes or so for advertisements. I tore the cover off the inflight magazine and shoved it into the gap between the screen and the headrest at the top, so that it hung completely over the screen. Bliss! On second thoughts, maybe this new system would interpret my actions as 'fabricating a device to interrupt aeroplane function'. Maybe it's not the right time to add this to instructables.com...