South Koreans Using Kinect To Monitor DMZ
Nerval's Lobster writes "The South Korean government is reportedly using Microsoft's Kinect motion-based game controller to monitor the heavily guarded DMZ (Demilitarized Zone) that separates the country from North Korea. The brainchild of freelance South Korean developer Jae Kwan Ko, the system is reportedly capable of differentiating between people and animals. (Hat tip to Kotaku, which originally ferreted out the story from South Korean publication Hankooki .) That makes it superior to the infrared systems already in use along the DMZ, which have a harder time determining whether a moving object is human. The Kinect-based system can send alerts of suspicious activity to the nearest military outpost. While the South Korean government reportedly installed the hardware at select portions of the DMZ last year, news about it is only emerging now—and details are relatively scarce, considering how this is a military project. Despite that secrecy, the South Korean government is playing up Jae Kwan Ko's contributions, highlighting him in the local media as an example of innovation and creative drive. Largely self-taught, he makes money by building apps for various mobile platforms—most of which, presumably, have nothing to do with detecting military threats."
Dress in your bear costume and slip across undetected...
Witness describe a hoard of armed men running through the DMZ yelling "Xbox OFF!"
will the south koreans now see lines of north koreans on their borders dancing in front of the kinect sensors?
My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.
When the kinect won't shut up about 2 people being in front of it or won't switch primary users, we just build a small fort around ourselves with couch cushions and tada, complete invisibility. I hope the Koreans haven't developed couch cushion technology.
I thought South Korea mostly welcomed people who were defecting from the north. If the North was trying to launch an attack of any significance I wouldn't expect the IR system would have a hard time identifying it.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
It wasn't "necessary" for the past 50 years, it just makes the terrible cold war the Koreas are in a little easier by means of technology.
Why would we want to stop the influx of Undocumented Democrats?
I suspect the simple answer is that we have a constitution that forbids it(not that that stopped the NSA, but losing one battle doesn't mean we should surrender on the other)
Video monitoring at a Colo is pretty standard these days.
Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
We do? Which part?
What are people insects or vegetables?
Did we ever not? Or are you just generally sad?
Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
microsoft not responsible for war
You must not have heard that borders and areas within 100 miles are "constitution free zones". I find it extremely convenient that these areas happen to correspond with 80% of the national population.
Forbids what? Protecting the national border? Or forbids the federal government from having an immigration policy? Just generally.. wha?
Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
For years people have complained about how much of an idiot security guards have to be for Solid Snake to be able to sneak around under their noses by hiding in a cardboard box.
Now someone's actually built a system that would make it completely effective ... and they used video game controlers to do it. Coincidence?
(conspiracy theorists can now discuss the probability that Konami paid them to it)
Build it, and they will come^Hplain.
I think that is what it is up north.
Forbids government monitoring of every person in the area without warrant.
Play "patrol the boarder" on Xbox Live for just $19.95 per month! See how many illegal border crossings you can catch!
Get a web developer
"Turn off!"
So say we all
1. Find a way to crash Kinect, a Microsoft product. 2. Invade North Korea undetected. ...This is obviously an attempt to have the south koreans and americans laugh themselves to death.
Time flies when you don't know what you're doing
The easy answer:
1) the liberals hope they'll vote for them because they tend to be poor.
2) the Republicans hope they'll vote for them because they tend to be Catholic and anti-abortion.
The real answer:
X) the corporations hope they'll work for them at sub-market wages because they're entitled to cheap labor.
It's telling that back when Bush Jr was governor here, he'd talk a big talk about cracking down on immigrants, then he'd be called into a meeting of the Chamber of Commerce, and he'd tone it down after that. He got to be president and his puppet masters had to make him come down against the Minutemen militia, despite the fact that no matter what your opinion of the second amendment is, just about every interpretation of it supports a regulated militia for the defense of our borders from invasion.
If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
It wasn't "necessary" for the past 50 years, it just makes the terrible cold war the Koreas are in a little easier by means of technology.
How about those massive tunnels under the DMZ? The North continues to labor under the belief they will one day liberate the people of the south from evil, vampyric capitalists.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
The tragic flaw being that the North Koreans won't wave to tell Kinect to recognize them.
Play "patrol the boarder" on Xbox Live for just $19.95 per month! See how many illegal border crossings you can catch!
I think they were spending more than that on beer alone.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
I hadn't thought of this with the Kinect controllers becoming available but with this application it appears we can now build the Marine Automatic Machine Gun from Aliens!, the UA-571C! Should I just Kickstart it or what?
Just what I need to keep those pesky kids off my lawn!
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
What about monitoring the border like that violates the Constitution?
I'm very adamant about the 4th and privacy, but monitoring the stretch of the border with at most 100ft resolution does not seem to create mass violations of privacy.
We should be protecting our border.
Aside from this particular piece of tech, there are the Constitution Free Zones. That is a much bigger problem than some Kinect's looking for human shapes along side the border. I would choose the Kinect's at the border or over the Totalitarianism Zones in the US.
At least the border is small and doesn't directly affect over 70% of the population of the US.
You must not have seen the Obama voters in Chicago rioting to celebrate Obama's victory.
Come on, now. There's a lot more than 20 Koreans, you know.
Dancing is for decadent westerners.
Citizens of the glorious Peoples Republic do not engage in such degenerate nonsense.
Who, exactly, is an insurgent?
I mean, I'd place my argument, but it honestly sounds like you posted this just to be an easily destroyed straw-man, and I don't want to contribute to trolling.
I give you the Samsung SGR-A1
http://www.mobilemag.com/wp-co...
Maybe because the Mexicans haven't sent commandos to assassinate our President or have an uneasy truce with the US?
Or because the Democrats view Mexicans as future voters, and the Republicans look at them as cheap labor?
It's a job for the Ananthropomorphic Infiltration Suit: http://i.imgur.com/ilwyj.jpg
This post contains no rudeness or derision of any kind. All arguments are friendly. Terms and exclusions may apply.
Well, I'm not assuming that so much as I am asserting that it could be construed to be a violation of privacy depending on deployment(while leaving that crucial context out of my original post like an ass).
As the Korean military justifies buying video games for all their lounges.
"En, yeah, they are in the DMZ, yeah that's right, monitoring for incursions! Oh you want to see them, well I guess you could, they are surrounded by several million landmines, but go right ahead, I am sure accounting will appreciate your diligence..."
The constitution forbits government intrusion into personal effects without a warrant, not public information / video.
When youre in public, you're fair game-- get over it.
I wonder how long until they can connect it to a gun and have it automatically neutralize threats?
It's not hard to imagine a network of sensors and guns that can be used to automatically target infiltrators and neutralize them.
And why isn't the US using this on our southern border?
Because Predator Drones, that's why.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
The constitution forbits government intrusion into personal effects without a warrant, not public information / video.
When youre in public, you're fair game-- get over it.
You realize that's bullshit, right?
"Personal Effects" == "the shit you have in your pockets, right now."
This ain't NYC, they can't make you bunny-ear your pockets just because you're walking down a sidewalk.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Homeland Security can beat the shit out of you and violate you in any way they want within 100 miles of the border without any recourse on your part. You have no say and you cant do a damn thing.
All to protect "Merica" from the boogymen.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
You are an insurgent if you are not a member of homeland security or the united states military.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Life.
Let's see, USA has America's Army, PRC has The Glorious Mission, what does ROK call their war recruitment game?
"Who Wants To Eat Something?"
what they are using is based on the same recognition semantics that the Kinect uses. bottom line: it's software that is inspired by how the Kinect works what uses their existing hardware thus saving oodles of money.
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
Then the north will just arm their animals as a work-around.
You know, the Right to Arm Bears.
Table-ized A.I.
Forbids government monitoring of every person in the area without warrant.
First, the idea that a camera pointed at a border is somehow forbidden -- wouldn't want to monitor every person in an area without a warrant, now would we -- is silly. Someone call DOT and have them take down the freeway cams.
That said, we already employ vibration, and magnetic remote sensors, as well as cameras in both visible and infrared, plus software that helps determine if an event is human, animal or other in watching our borders (Canada and Mexico). It seems like a Kinect-based system would do even better. It'd stop CBP officers from responding to wolves tripping sensors.
http://www.policechiefmagazine...
But are they actually using Microsoft Windows to monitor the Kinnects? That could bring a whole new meaning to the phrase "Blue Screen of Death".
Well, Only 20 North Koreans can afford an X-Box....
Actually, because they only use this new "system" on part of the DMZ, I figured they didn't use very many of them. Haven't a clue how many they actually used.
"File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
Forbids government monitoring of every person in the area without warrant.
I don't think there is any such restriction on general monitoring. Police cars have license plate scanners, for instance, and government buildings have surveillance cameras. They are monitoring every person in the area without a warrant. Scanners like these wouldn't even identify people, they would just indicate that there is a person there. I don't think there's anything illegal about that.
"Our two-party system is like a bowl of shit looking at itself in a mirror." - Lewis Black
The 4th Amendment protects the rights of citizens to not have their things searched or siezed without a judicially sanctioned warrant based upon probable cause
And here I thought it protected people. Lets see,
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Yep, no mention of citizens, just people. Of course too many Americans seem to consider people to only consist of American citizens.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism
From the technical side what kind of range can the kinetic have? It is designed for a home use so 15 to 20 feet?
If that is the case then how can they be using them in the DMZ when you would want to detect people further out then that.
Are you nuts? Not ANY area. Of course, the government can monitor the border. It is charged with protecting the border. Anything else wouldn't be just wrong. It's would be insane. Just plain and simple lunacy.
Any guest worker system is indistinguishable from indentured servitude.
Let's see, USA has America's Army, PRC has The Glorious Mission, what does ROK call their war recruitment game?
"Who Wants To Eat Something?"
That would be the DPRK's version.
You must not have heard that borders and areas within 100 miles are "constitution free zones".
There is no such thing as a "constitution free zone". The constitution is the ultimate law of the land. Congress is incapable of lawfully making any exemptions to it.
It applies anywhere that the US congress, president, or other state or federal government personnel or officials exert any authority.
Citizens of the North trying to go South do it through China, the Yalu River being a much easier, safer crossing. Only soldiers work the heavily mined and observed DMZ. Crossing the intra-Korean border is a really good way to get shot by either/both sides.
Luke, help me take this mask off
Does anyone have any more info on what they're actually doing with these? Because it makes absolutely no sense to me. The Kinect's depth sensor has a maximum range of 6 meters, after that it's no better than a VGA webcam, and I'm pretty sure the things they'll want to identify are more than 6m away...
Stuff in your pockets isnt "public", and I wasnt saying otherwise.
Stuff in your pockets isnt "public", and I wasnt saying otherwise.
Then you probably should have used a different phrasing than, "When youre in public, you're fair game."
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
"The" people (citizens) are protected. The second amendment states that the right to bear arms shall not be infringed. So if an undocumented person walked across the border with an AK 47 strapped to his back you would be OK with that? It is reasonable to search and detain criminals. Just because you made it one foot across the border you don't gain all the rights of a citizen.
While obviously someone illegally entering the country is breaking a law and subject to arrest and once officially arrested (here you have to be touched and informed that you are under arrest) can be searched, that is not what I'm talking about. What about if I legally cross the border for vacation reasons, once legally in the country (past the border) I can be legally searched since I'm not a citizen? How about people with a green card? Or my wife who theoretically can cross the border anywhere, carrying a backpack full of stuff and carrying a rifle and get most of the benefits of being a USA citizen including working etc due to treaties that America signed in the latter 18th century and reaffirmed in a treaty in 1814 or so? According to the American Constitution, treaties are the second highest law in the land, trumping everything except the Constitution.
My countries Constitution specifically says that all people in the country get all rights excepting some mobility rights and voting. (yes voting is a right here)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inverted_totalitarianism