Privacy and Surveillance Blog: December 2004 Archives

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December 19, 2004

Jeff Harrow on "Surveillance Mesh"

In an analogy that should put a chill into the hearts of privacy advocates, technology analyst wonders if personal privacy is "going the way of the buggy whip." The buggy whip is often conjured up as a great example of a technology that is passé, no longer needed because no one has a buggy any more. (A buggy, for those of you born since the 1950s, is a small cart pulled by a horse.) In this case, the convergence of a number of technologies seems to be bringing us to a state where no one has personal privacy any more. It is just plain old fashioned to even think of it. See the rest of his post for details. Personal Privacy - Going the Way of the Buggy Whip? ===================================================

Email: Jeff@TheHarrowGroup.com

http://www.TheHarrowGroup.com

(Read the original here: http://www.theharrowgroup.com/articles/20041220/20041220.htm#_Toc90960528) We've touched before on the continuing erosions of personal privacy (http://www.futurebrief.com/jeffharrowprivacy.asp). They're not only the result of governmental database intrusion (although that certainly bears watching), but they're also occurring due to technological innovations that -could- lead to a time when everybody is watching, and recording, everyone else. Now it's time for an update.

Surveillance technologies already seem to be an accepted norm, although currently they're principally used by businesses and by governments who place cameras and sensors in stores and on public ways. Whether we're driving along an expressway or motorway, passing through a toll booth, driving or walking downtown, being stopped by a police car, or shopping in a retail store, we're very likely "on-camera," and on-tape.

But this is generally a one-way street (the occasional Rodney King incidents excepted) -- the commercial and governmental monitors have the advantage on us. For example, if someone shoplifts, they (appropriately) run a high risk of being caught, with the tape going to the prosecutor. And I expect that a "jury of our peers" would be hard-pressed to ignore a TV show of the theft, staring the perpetrator.

Turning The Tables.

But suppose someone steals something from US; which might likely happen beyond the gaze of today's surveillance cameras -- it's often "our word against theirs." Or consider if a Rodney King type incident were to happen to us "behind" a squad car's camera. Or, in one personal case on the Champs-Elysees, consider that my wife wasn't even aware that she had been professionally pickpocketed until well after the fact. We don't have the advantage of a record of what actually happened (or, generally, even have access to the images from a nearby surveillance camera that might have recorded the event).

That's the state of things -- but only "so far." Because as technology continues to evolve, tech companies, including the 500 pound gorilla, are starting the process that may turn each of us (who are willing) into elements of a wide-reaching surveillance mesh.

Enter The Hardware.

One early hardware prototype that might enable us to keep a personal record of our day comes from a research project within Microsoft, called the "SenseCam." As described and shown in the June 15, 2004 BBCnews (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/3797581.stm), this is a specialized camera (which would get far smaller before it might be commercialized) that uses a 132-degree fish eye lens to capture a large swath of the world in front of us.

Currently, the prototype stores 2,000 images which are triggered by its built-in accelerometers, passive infrared detectors, and sensors for environmental conditions such as light level and temperature (and later, I'm sure, GPS information and the "direction of gaze" from an electronic compass.) And reminiscent of the "enhanced" Six-Million Dollar Man, this camera can record into the infrared range, providing more information on playback then our on-site eyes could glean.

Periodically, the camera's contents would be transferred to an "off-person" database (perhaps wirelessly throughout the day) where, through a special application, the data and pictures could be searched and presented in any number of ways, such as in a timeline or as a "fly-through."

The Power Of The Network.

Of course my SenseCam might not have recorded my wife's pocket being picked; I might have been looking the wrong way to "see" the pickpocket. But imagine if a non-trivial number of people began wearing such devices. Then, assume that these folks were willing to automatically add the time, date, location, and "direction of gaze" of each of their images (but not the images themselves) to a public database. Even if my SenseCam did not capture the crime on the Champs-Elysees, I might have been able to check the database for others who have recorded the scene, and then sent each of them a digital call for help. A 'coalition of the willing' might then choose to send me their specific pictures of the pick pocketing event, which might help the police identify the "perps." And that's just one example.

The primary intent of this prototype is not for surveillance. In the words of researcher Lyndsay Williams, it's "like a black box for the human body," referring to the "black boxes" (which are actually orange) in commercial aircraft that record the "life" of a flight, including aircraft performance data and cockpit conversations, that can be used to reconstruct events leading up to a crash.

For humans though, these personal "black boxes" would record "our lives," which could be helpful to a diverse set of people in many ways. Consider the cases of an aging population's general memory malaise, or people with specific memory or cognitive diseases; these records might help them maintain a "visual diary" that they could peruse to refresh their memories. (And a killer mainstream software application that has access to this data might be to help us all to better remember names and faces!) Similarly, if audio were also recorded and the software was smart enough to categorize and summarize the images, sounds, and environmental data, the practice of taking notes at meetings might become an ancient custom.

Also, "tourism" could be enhanced with a detailed "home movie" record of vacations, etc. I can imagine that professional tour guides or travel agencies might make their records of trips available to prospective clients to entice them to take the trip. And more...

Always With Two Faces.

As with most of what technology brings us, there is also a dark side. With the likelihood that other than in our homes (and NannyCams could even remove this exception), someone, somewhere might well have a record of our locations and actions and associates. (I can imagine any number of scenarios where this could be, shall we say, uncomfortable.) Not only that, but if people choose to store their records online, then a hacker or Agency might be able to stitch together a comprehensive view of our days.

There's also the issue that historically, the courts have defined numerous guidelines as to where people have (and don't have) a reasonable expectation of privacy. Yet if the population takes to SenseCam-like devices in a big way, the current legal presumptions of privacy might have little meaning.

Think...

Surveillance of this depth is not going to happen in the near future. On the other hand, cell phone cameras which can record still and moving images, and sound, are making significant inroads into pockets. Which is a telling first step.

Technology is going to continue to march forward, and it will yield and refine many new devices that will intentionally, or as a byproduct of their intended uses, further erode our privacy. Which places us at a juncture where we, as a society, should be deciding just how much we value our privacy. If the concept of personal privacy is no longer significant in the context of our changing world, then these technological developments may be cherished. On the other hand, if we continue to treasure our privacy, we may wish to strengthen controls on who can record what, where, and when.

This issue is far from black and white; there are legitimate desires and concerns on both sides of the privacy fence. But in societies where individuals' rights and freedoms are held in high esteem, it's a debate that's worth having. And we have to have the debate early, or else the inevitable creep of technology will invisibly make the choices for us.

We will, after all, have to live in the world that we create (or allow to be created for us). Let's be sure that it's the world that we collectively want.

Posted by Richard Smith at 12:04 PM

December 05, 2004

Mobile Carriers to Keep Text Message Records

So you send a text message - it is a private message from you to the person you send it to, right? Do you imagine that it is being stored on some telephone company's computer? Well, it may be. See this story from Korea...

textually.org writes: Mobile Carriers to Keep Text Message Records
Contradicting their previous position which was not to preserve text messages, The Korea Times reports today that wireless operators are coming around and will be keeping text message records - a move which came after the police and prosecution stressed the unique role telecommunications have had in the current investigation into cheating in the college entrance exam.

Posted by Richard Smith at 05:11 PM

December 04, 2004

Personal Identity Verification (PIV) Project

Even in this day and age, much of science relies on the movement of people - visiting scientists, graduate students, conferences, and paper presentations. With the restrictions growing in America on the movement of people and concerns about safety, one of the casualties is this flow of ideas.

Some colleagues of mine, at the University of Miami, used to have large numbers of Egyptian graduate students in their Engineering program (Engineering rarely attracts American PhD's). Now they have none, as it is too hard to get a student visa.

In the linked website, which I found a pointer to on Slashdot, we read about new biometric ID cards required at national institutes of science and technology. Will this further constrain the movement of people? Will "safety" be the winner and new ideas the loser?

It seems to me that this sort of stultifying climate is the antithesis of real safety. This sort of 'safety' is merely an ossified collection of what was, not what we could become. I think I prefer the latter more than the former. What about you?

writes: Personal Identity Verification (PIV) Project
In response to HSPD-12, the NIST Computer Security Division has initiated a new project for Personal Identity Verification (PIV) of Federal employees and contractors. A set of Federal Information Processing standards, guidelines, recommendations, and/or technical specifications has been identified as being needed to: properly protect the personal privacy of all subscribers of the PIV system; authenticate identity source documents to obtain the correct legal name of the person applying for a PIV "card"; electronically obtain and store appropriate biometric data (e.g., fingerprints, facial images) from the PIV system subscriber; create a PIV "card" that is "personalized" with data needed by the PIV system to later grant access to the subscriber to Federal facilities and information systems; assure appropriate levels of security for all applicable Federal applications; and provide interoperability among Federal organizations using the standards.

Posted by Richard Smith at 07:10 PM

December 02, 2004

Jury sees tape of alleged killer buying ax

It doesn't get more clear than this, does it?

Detroit Free Press writes: Jury sees tape of alleged killer buying ax
Surveillance cameras caught Nancy Seaman, 52, walking straight to the hatchet department of a Home Depot in Commerce Township, minutes after fighting with her husband. The videotape shows her picking up a hefty ax, taking it to the checkout counter and buying it with a credit card. Prosecutors contend she then returned home and bludgeoned husband Robert Seaman, 57, to death.

Posted by Richard Smith at 12:54 PM

USATODAY.com - Baltimore expands use of surveillance cameras

writes: USATODAY.com - Baltimore expands use of surveillance cameras
The city's network of 24-hour surveillance cameras monitoring the Inner Harbor will be expanded to cover three high-crime areas and the Canton waterfront, officials said Wednesday.

Baltimore expands use of surveillance cameras

BALTIMORE (AP) — The city's network of 24-hour surveillance cameras monitoring the Inner Harbor will be expanded to cover three high-crime areas and the Canton waterfront, officials said Wednesday.

The cameras are part of a regional homeland security initiative announced in June. They eventually will be part of a surveillance network spanning five counties and stretching from the Inner Harbor to the Bay Bridge.

The $3 million addition that the city Board of Estimates announced Wednesday is aimed more at criminals than at terrorists and is being financed mostly by proceeds seized from drug dealers and not by homeland security grants.

But when the patchwork of cameras and monitoring rooms is linked, the proposed Baltimore regional system could be one of the most extensive surveillance systems in the nation, according to officials at the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

The American Civil Liberties Union opposes the Baltimore network, saying the camera system infringes on privacy rights and is ineffective in fighting crime or terrorism.

"Americans have a real strong sense of privacy rights and are really offended by efforts to breach those rights," said Stacey Mink, a spokeswoman for ACLU of Maryland. "The money would be better spent on police on the streets."

City officials say the cameras will monitor only public spaces.

Once the terms of a deal are negotiated, Tele-Tector of Maryland will install 74 cameras that will provide 24-hour surveillance in three high-crime neighborhoods. Each system will be monitored by light-duty officers and community volunteers at police districts. A separate contract needs to be negotiated for the Canton camera system.

"We're talking about 20 square blocks that account for 6% of the total violent crime in the city," acting Police Commissioner Leonard D. Hamm said.

The Downtown Partnership's network of 80 cameras, which are reviewed periodically but not monitored, led to a 25% reduction in crime from 2001 to 2002, the most recent years that data were available, spokesman Mike Evitts said.

Community activist Naomi Hines said she welcomes the cameras in her Park Heights neighborhood, which she said is overrun by drug dealers.

"They might just go on the side streets to deal," said Hines, who has lived in the area for 33 years. "You run them from one place, and they go to another place."

But, she added, "It's worth trying."

In June, the city announced that it was building a network of about 80 cameras in downtown's west side and in the Inner Harbor that would be able to connect to the state's system of closed-circuit cameras that monitor highways. Eventually, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford and Howard counties and Annapolis would plug their systems into the city's hub.

Posted by Richard Smith at 12:51 PM

December 01, 2004

Waiting for the Gun

So much surveillance up to now has been silent, in part because of the extremely restrictive legal code that governs audio recording (e.g., "wiretap" laws). A new generation of surveillance experts are using sound in new ways, as a guide to the video.

writes: Waiting for the Gun
A USC biomedical engineer's pioneering brain cell research has led directly to a patented system that is now being rolled out to stem gun violence on the streets of Chicago and Los Angeles. The engineer is Theodore Berger, director of the USC Center for Neural Engineering, whose life's work has deciphered the way in which nerve cells code messages to each other. Berger is also a key researcher in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering's Biomimetic MicroElectronic Systems Engineering Research Center. A microphone surveillance system now is using his insights to recognize - instantly, and with high accuracy - the sound of a gunshot within a two-block radius. The system can then locate, precisely, where the shot was fired, turn a camera to center the shooter in the camera viewfinder and make a 911 call to a central police station.

Posted by Richard Smith at 10:23 PM