Thursday, May 10, 2007

Physical World Connection Used In Fight Against Terror

Makes sense why Google bought NevenVision

From USA Today Face recognition next in terror fight

Homeland Security leaders are exploring futuristic and possibly privacy-invading technology aimed at finding terrorists and criminals by using digital surveillance photos that analyze facial characteristics.

The government is paying for some of the most advanced research into controversial face-recognition technology, which converts photos into numerical sequences that can be instantly compared with millions of photos in a database.

Scanning a photo/image (machine readable identifier) that has been linked to an online database, is physical world connection.

The ability to establish quick identities will "turbocharge video surveillance," ACLU privacy expert Jay Stanley warns. "It turns 'dumb' camera lenses into 'smart' observers that not only capture images but attach an identity to the image. That could increase the attractiveness of surveillance cameras."

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