| From: | The Powerhouse <P.C.Steele@*********.AC.UK> |
|---|---|
| Subject: | More on Big Brother in Shadowrun |
| Date: | Mon, 21 Mar 1994 18:52:28 +0000 |
In the same forum where I got the article on the FBI telephony proposal there
was also this article. It briefly describes a method of identification using
thermographic imaging that does not require the active participation of the
user. Now imagine corp X using this system in it's security, anyone that walks
past a thermo camera and doesn't match sets off an alarm. Careful positioning
of cameras could also keep track of employees on a corporate facility with all
data feeding directly to the computers.
The most worrying thought though is that the city authorities would install
such cameras in public places. Here in Newcastle we have CCTV cameras
monitoring certain public areas that are prone to drunken trouble on a Friday
and Saturday night. Now if these cameras were thermo <admittedly today's
technology will have to be improved to get the resolution and magnification
that will be necessary> they could in theory identify most of the crowd in a
matter of seconds leading to a big brother style of watching.
In the world of shadowrun this has probably already happened with Lonestar's
computers constantly monitoring the crowds looking for suspected and wanted
felons...
Did life just become a little bit more paranoid ?
Phill.
--
Phillip Steele - Email address P.C.Steele@***.ac.uk | Fighting against
Department Of Electrical & Electronic Engineering | Political Correctness !
University Of Newcastle Upon Tyne, England |
Land of the mad Geordies | The Powerhouse
< Included article follows >
From: Paul Robinson <PAUL@***.COM>
Subject: 'We {Will} Find you...'
In an article on the cover of the February 10, 1994 {Washington Technology}
magazine of the same name, talks about a specialized use of biometrical
information (specific details unique to a person like size, etc.) to identify
them.
The idea behind this is that in an airport, an infrared camera is mounted near
the arriving passengers section, taking pictures of every person who is
passing through the facility. This captures the 'aura' or underlying facial
vascular system (pattern of blood vessels and such). In 1/30 of one second,
it captures the data and forwards it via high-speed data lines to an FBI
database that has stored auras of the worlds most-wanted criminals and
terrorists, then matches generate an order to nab a suspect, supposedly
producing "a piece of evidence that is as rock-solid as any presented to a
court."
Currently, infrared cameras are being attached to desktop computers to create
digitized thermograms of people's faces in 1/30 of a second. The company that
is working on this technology, Betae Corp, an Alexandria, VA government
contractor, claims that the aura is unique for every single person. The
photos in the front of the article show two clearly different thermographic
images that are claimed to be from identical twins.
The facial print does not change over time (and would allegedly require very
deep plastic surgery to change it), retains the same basic patterns regardless
of the person's health, and can be captured without the person's
participation. The technology will have to show it is a better choice than
current biometric techniques such as retinagrams (eye photographs, voice
prints and the digital fingerprint.
A Publicity-Shy Reston, VA company called Mikos holds the patent for certain
technology uses of this concept. Dave Evans of Betac who has obtained certain
"non exclusive" rights in the technology claims that "thermograms are the
only
technology he has seen in his more than two decades of security work that meet
the five major criteria of an ideal identification system: They are unique for
every individual, including identical twins; they identify individuals without
their knowing participation; they perform IDs on the fly; they are
invulnerable to counterfeiting or disguises; they remain reliable no matter
the subject's health or age," the article said. Only retinal photos are
equivalent, but potential assassins aren't likely to cooperate in using them.
Right now it takes about 2-4K per thermograph, (it says '2-4K of computer
memory' but I suspect they mean disk space) and that's not really a problem
for a PC-Based system of 2000 or so people going to and from a building; it's
another magnitude of hardware to handle millions of aircraft travelers in
airports. Also, infrared cameras are not cheap, in the $35,000 to $70,000
range, which, for the moment is likely to keep small law enforcement
facilities from thermographing all persons arrested the way all persons
arrested are routinely fingerprinted. But we can expect the price to come
down in the future.
The writer apparently had to agree with Evans not to raise privacy and
security issues in the article, it says, since first they have to show the
technology works. But even it raised questions:
- The technology could be a powerful weapon in a "big brother" arsenal,
with cameras in front of many stores and street corners, scanning for
criminals or anyone on the government's watch list?
- Does the government have the right to randomly photograph people for
matching them against a criminal database?
- What guarantees do we have that thermographs are actually unique for
every person, or that the system is foolproof?
- What is the potential for blackmail, with thermographs to prove people
were in compromising places and positions?
There are also my own points.
- While this can be used to protect nuclear power plants against
infiltration by terrorists (as one example it gives), what is to stop it,
for example, to be used to find (and silence or eliminate) critics and
dissidents? I wouldn't give China 30 seconds before it would use
something like this to capture critics such as the victims of Tianamen
Square.
- Long history indicates that better technology is not used to improve
capture of criminals who violate the lives and property of other private
parties, it is used to go after whatever group the government opposes.
That's why people who defend themselves with guns against armed
criminals in places where gun controls are in effect, can expect to
be treated harsher than the criminal would have been. Existence of
criminals supports the need for more police and more police-state laws;
defending oneself against criminals shows the ineffectiveness of those
laws.
Paul Robinson - Paul@***.COM
