Aum Gung
Ganapathaye Namah
Namo tassa bhagavato arahato samma-sambuddhassa
Homage to The Blessed One, Accomplished and
Fully Enlightened
In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most
Merciful
Spy Devices
A Collection of Articles, Notes and References
References
(Revised: Thursday, February 22, 2007)
References Edited by
An Indian Yogi
What’s in a name? That
which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet.
- William Shakespeare
Copyright © 2002-2010 An
Indian Yogi
The following educational writings are STRICTLY for
academic research purposes ONLY.
Should NOT be used for commercial, political or any
other purposes.
(The following notes are subject to update and
revision)
For free distribution only.
You may print copies of this work for free
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You may re-format and redistribute this work
for use on computers and computer networks, provided that you charge no fees for its
distribution or use.
Otherwise, all rights reserved.
8 "... Freely you received, freely give”.
- Matthew 10:8 :: New American
Standard Bible (NASB)
1 “But mark this: There
will be terrible times in the last days.
2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their
parents, ungrateful, unholy,
3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good,
4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather
than lovers of God—
5 having a form of
godliness but denying its
power. Have nothing to do with them.
6 They are the kind who worm their way into homes and gain control over weak-willed women, who are loaded down with sins and are swayed by all
kinds of evil desires,
7 always
learning but never able
to acknowledge the truth.
8 Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses,
so also these men oppose the
truth--men of
depraved minds, who, as far as
the faith is concerned, are rejected.
9 But they will not get very far because, as in the case of those
men, their folly
will be clear to everyone.”
- 2 Timothy 3:1-9 ::
New International Version (NIV)
6 As
he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.
- Hebrews 5:6 :: King James
Version (KJV)
Therefore, I say:
Know your
enemy and know yourself;
in a hundred
battles, you will never be defeated.
When you
are ignorant of the enemy but know yourself,
your chances of
winning or losing are equal.
If ignorant both of your
enemy and of yourself,
you are sure to be defeated in every battle.
-- Sun Tzu, The Art of War, c. 500bc
There are two ends not to
be served by a wanderer. What are these two? The pursuit of desires and of the pleasure which springs from desire,
which is base, common, leading to rebirth, ignoble, and unprofitable; and the pursuit of pain and
hardship, which is grievous, ignoble, and unprofitable.
- The Blessed One, Lord Buddha
Contents
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A Brief Word on Copyright
References
Educational
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A
Brief Word on Copyright
Many of
the articles whose educational copies are given below are copyrighted by their
respective authors as well as the respective publishers. Some contain messages
of warning, as follows:
Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are
expressly prohibited
without the written consent of “so and so”.
According
to the concept of “fair use” in US copyright Law,
The reproduction, redistribution
and/or exploitation of any materials and/or content (data, text, images, marks
or logos) for personal or commercial gain is not
permitted. Provided the source is
cited, personal, educational and non-commercial use (as
defined by fair use in US copyright law) is permitted.
Moreover,
- This is a religious educational website.
- In the name of the Lord, with the
invisible Lord as the witness.
- No commercial/business/political use of
the following material.
- Just like
student notes for research purposes, the writings of the other children of
the Lord, are given as it is, with student highlights and coloring. Proper
respects and due referencing are attributed to the relevant
authors/publishers.
I
believe that satisfies the conditions for copyright and non-plagiarism.
- Also, from observation, any material
published on the internet naturally gets read/copied
even if conditions are maintained. If somebody is too strict with
copyright and hold on to knowledge, then it is better not to publish
“openly” onto the internet or put the article under “pay to refer” scheme.
- I came across the articles “freely”. So I
publish them freely with added student notes and review with due
referencing to the parent link, without any personal monetary gain. My
purpose is only to educate other children of the Lord on certain concepts,
which I believe are beneficial for “Oneness”.
References
Some of
the links may not be active (de-activated) due to various reasons, like removal of the
concerned information from the source database. So an educational copy is also
provided, along with the link.
If the
link is active, do cross-check/validate/confirm the educational copy of the
article provided along.
- If the link is not active, then try to
procure a hard copy of the article, if possible, based on the reference
citation provided, from a nearest library or where-ever, for
cross-checking/validation/confirmation.
References
AAP. (Wednesday, March 24, 2004) New spying gadgets for police.
http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,9061583%5E15306,00.html
Amanda Iacone. (Saturday,
February 10, 2007) Allen
parolees to test GPS monitoring.
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/16667911.htm
Annysa Johnson. (Sunday,
November 12, 2006) Internet cameras let police peek into businesses: Tosa experiments with system, offers assurances on privacy
concerns.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=530093
Associated
Press. (Thursday,
February 06, 2003)
Stalkers Use GPS to Track Victims.
http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,57576,00.html
Bergstein, Brian. (Wednesday, August 11, 2004) Biometric technology getting more action in
consumer applications.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/computing/20040811-0735-biometricsemerging.html
Bowman, Lisa. (Sunday,
February 07, 1999)
Is GPS tracking you?
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-11-513626.html?legacy=zdnn
Chip Johnson. (Friday, November 10, 2006) Brown wants to expand GPS monitoring beyond
tracking sex offenders.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/11/10/BAGF7MA7DB1.DTL
Denholm, Andrew. (Monday,
November 17, 2003)
Tagging scheme aims to cut re-offending.
http://www.news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=307&id=1269172003
Dotinga, Randy. (Friday,
January 03, 2003)
Spying on Snookums With GPS.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,56537,00.html
Ferrari, Alicia. (Wednesday,
December 10, 2003)
Camera Phones Fire A Warning Shot.
http://www.forbes.com/2003/12/10/cx_af_1210camera.html
Fielding, Nick and Burke, Michael. (Sunday,
August 20, 2000) Satellites give nosy neighbors their big break.
http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2000/08/20/stinwenws01011.html
http://philologos.org/bprdigests/2000/aug/082200.htm (Alternate link)
Hudson, Audrey. (Sunday,
December 14, 2003)
Bug devices track officials at summit.
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20031214-011754-1280r.htm
Hulme, George V. (Thursday, November 20, 2003) Feds' Cybercrime
Crackdown Yields 125 Arrests.
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=16400073
Ingersoll, Brenda. (Monday,
November 17, 2003)
YMCA bans cell phones in locker rooms.
http://www.madison.com/wisconsinstatejournal/local/61468.php
Keyser, Jason. (Thursday,
January 01, 2004) Digital warfare system
hunts
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3855079/
Lisa Rossi. (Sunday, November 19, 2006) Professors devise way to detect secret data in
photos
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061119/NEWS02/611190339/-1/SPORTS07
Marc Benjamin (Thursday, November 09, 2006) Panel works to improve tracking of sex offenders
http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/12114.html
Mattson, Marcia. (Wednesday, September 18, 2002) Spies
like us.
http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/091802/tec_20020918040.shtml
Morgan, Helen. (Saturday,
December 06, 2003)
Notepads for neighbours to cut
crime.
http://www.news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=307&id=1339242003
National Law Enforcement and
Corrections Technology Center.(NLECTC) (Spring 1998) TechBeat:
Dedicated to Reporting Developments in Technology for Law Enforcement,
Corrections, and Forensics.
http://www.nlectc.org/pdffiles/94213-9.pdf
Nutter, Ron. (Monday,
February 16, 2004)
Passwords vs. biometric login.
http://www.nwfusion.com/columnists/2004/0216nutter.html
Sharma, Jyoti. (Wednesday,
November 26, 2003)
In today’s world, the spy is the limit!
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/319297.cms
Sniffen, Michael J. (Sunday, February 22, 2004)
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=519&u=/ap/20040222/ap_on_re_us/terror_privacy_3
Strassmann, Mark. (Monday,
November 17, 2003)
Cameras Trace Students' Every Move.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/11/17/eveningnews/main584085.shtml
Teutsch, Danielle. (Sunday,
October 05, 2003)
Spying on your teens via satellite for $600.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/10/04/1064988452313.html?from=storyrhs
Thompson, Tanya. (Monday,
December 08, 2003) Satellite tracking for child sex abusers.
http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=1345582003
Tomkins, Paddy.
(Monday, October 27,
2003) Cameras just part of bigger picture.
http://www.news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=307&id=1185922003
UPI. (Saturday, March 20, 2004) Spy
phone can secretly eavesdrop on owner.
http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20040319-083718-8137r.htm
Cameras
can read text at 100 yards. (Wednesday,
August 16, 2000)
http://countdown.org/end/big_brother_11.htm
Cybercafes spy on bank deals. (Sunday,
May 23, 2004)
http://www.deccan.com/city/cityNews.asp?#Cybercafes%20spy%20on%20bank%20deals
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/gps-03zu.html
Introduction to Photogrammetry
http://www.univie.ac.at/Luftbildarchiv/wgv/intro.htm
Swimmers'
modesty to be preserved.
(Saturday, July 24, 2004)
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20040724a3.htm
Additional Reference
Use of Spy Cameras and
Snooping Devices in India: A Victim’s Experiences -
References
http://www.geocities.com/notesofacybervictim/spydevices/refer.html
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Educational
Copy of Some of the References
FOR
EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY
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Reference
AAP. (Wednesday, March 24, 2004) New spying gadgets for police.
http://news.com.au/common/story_page/0,4057,9061583%5E15306,00.html
New spying gadgets for police
March 24, 2004
POLICE could soon have access to more spy devices to
help them keep a step ahead of criminals under proposed new laws introduced to
parliament today.
The government's Surveillance Devices Bill 2004 allows police
investigating crimes under commonwealth laws to use optical, data
and tracking surveillance devices.
Currently, they are only allowed to
use listening devices.
The new laws will help
Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said the new
legislation was needed because current surveillance device laws were not up to
the job of policing in the 21st century.
"To restrict commonwealth law
enforcement to the use of devices which are only capable of recording spoken
words is simply not adequate," he told parliament.
"As criminal and terrorist groups
make use of sophisticated technology, our police must be able to match and
better them."
Mr Ruddock said the bill would
also expand the range of offences police could obtain a surveillance device
warrant for, such as terrorism, people trafficking and child sex tourism.
Police investigating people who fail to declare the
import or export of $10,000 or more, people operating a bank
accounts using a false name and officers protecting
However they will have to get a warrant or authorisation from a senior officer.
Police using tracking devices not involving
entering private property or the inside of a suspect's vehicle will only have to obtain
permission from a senior officer rather than get a court warrant.
Police will also be able to use
devices without obtaining a warrant in emergency situations such as terrorism, serious
drug offences and if there is an imminent threat to a person's safety.
Also
for the first time, Australian
police will be able to obtain warrants here to use surveillance devices
overseas in limited circumstances.
Debate on the new bill was adjourned.
AAP
(Reference: AAP. (Wednesday, March 24, 2004) New spying gadgets for police.
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Reference
Amanda Iacone. (Saturday,
February 10, 2007) Allen
parolees to test GPS monitoring.
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/16667911.htm
Posted
on Sat, Feb. 10, 2007
Allen
parolees to test GPS monitoring
By
Amanda Iacone
The
Journal Gazette
The
state Department of Correction is using
The
Allen County Commissioners approved an agreement Friday to allow the year-long
pilot program, which will be paid for by the state. The program will allow the state to test the
GPS system, which would eventually monitor all sex and
violent offenders on parole as required by state law.
Lawmakers
mandated last year that all violent and sex offenders released from state
prison on parole be
constantly monitored. Existing monitoring systems use radio
frequencies, however, and community corrections staff can detect only
when the offender enters or leaves his or her home, said Sheila Hudson,
Community corrections monitors offenders who are sentenced to home detention
instead of time in prison. The
department also administers a program called
New GPS technology can track
an offender’s every move and can
alert the offender if he or she enters an “exclusion zone.” The
zones could surround a local park or a victim’s home, work or school, said Stan Pflueger,
Staff
members monitoring offenders’ movement can send law enforcement to check on the
offender if he or she doesn’t leave the area, Pflueger
said.
Participants
in the pilot program must have a
telephone line in their home, and other
adults in the home must allow
police to search the home periodically.
The parolees will also participate in case management through community
corrections.
The
state will pay a
The
state will also pay
Community corrections has already hired additional staff to monitor the 50
new offenders and plans to hire a few more, Pflueger
said. Currently
three people work in the monitoring area each shift.
More people are needed to monitor the vast amounts of information the
GPS trackers will provide. Community
corrections will likely move toward using GPS tracking for the home-detention
and
On the whole, the GPS tracking will be good for the community, he said.
“For
years people like this have been in the community,” Pflueger
said. “Technology
has not allowed us to monitor them at this level of intensity.”
The
commissioners were concerned that the pilot program would bring more sex
offenders into
In
the future, community corrections could provide monitoring for offenders in other counties, she said.
The
county has about a third of the equipment needed for the pilot program. The
Division of Parole Services, part of the Department of Correction, still must
recommend the 50 offenders, Pflueger said.
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Reference
Annysa Johnson. (Sunday,
November 12, 2006) Internet cameras let police peek into businesses: Tosa experiments with system, offers assurances on privacy
concerns.
http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=530093
...
A global positioning, or GPS, mapping system lets dispatchers see where squads are and what officers
are working on when a call comes in, or zero in on a file photo of a building that can be viewed from all sides.
...
Details
of camera
The
Internet-based camera is just the latest capability being tested by the
department.
Like
the cameras that will be mounted in the squad cars come January, the camera
available to businesses features a so-called "pre-event recording"
function. Though the cameras
are always viewing, they save images only when prompted, and the pre-event recording allows them to go
back in time 90 seconds before a critical moment.
That's
the difference between seeing a squad pull over a speeding car and seeing it go
through the red light. Or, in a local business, seeing a robber flee from the
store and watching him pull a gun.
The
camera system costs about $800 installed, money well-spent for a business
owner, says bookstore owner Burg, who thinks it's
"fantastic."
One
of her employees was reticent, seeing it as "a little Big Brother-ish," she said.
But
Reit allays that concern,
saying the Police
Department won't be monitoring the images except in an emergency.
"No one has the time or desire to sit and monitor day-to-day
activities in businesses and the schools,"
Reit said. "Our only
interest is in public safety."
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Reference
Associated
Press. (Thursday,
February 06, 2003)
Stalkers Use GPS to Track Victims.
http://www.wired.com/news/wireless/0,1382,57576,00.html
Stalkers Use GPS to Track Victims
Associated Press Page 1 of 1
08:46 AM Feb. 06, 2003 PT
He would follow her as she drove to work or ran
errands. He would inexplicably pull up next to her at stoplights and once tried
to run her off the highway, authorities said.
When he showed up at a bar she was visiting for the
first time, on a date,
He wasn't. Seidler had
installed a satellite tracking device in Adams' car, according to police in
Kenosha, Wisconsin, 30 miles south of
"He told me no matter where I went or what I
did, he would know where I was,"
Police say
Just as the global satellite positioning system can
help save lives, so can its abuse endanger them, advocates of stalking victims
say.
"As technology advances, it's going to be
almost impossible for victims to flee and get to safety," said Cindy Southworth, director of technology at the National Network
to End Domestic Violence in
In the
Adams does not want to speak to reporters about the
case, said Susan Karaskiewicz, a
Police say Seidler put a
global positioning tracking device between the radiator and grill of
Trucking companies use GPS systems to track
hazardous cargo and monitor drivers. Corrections authorities use them to
monitor sex offenders. Hikers, boaters and motorists use GPS devices to keep
from getting lost. GPS technology is also being built into cell phones to help
emergency dispatchers find 911 callers. They're also being used to prevent car
theft.
Southworth trains victims advocates,
law enforcement and prosecutors on stalkers' use of the technology, which she
says is only just beginning to be abused.
The
In it, a
GPS is not the first technology to be misused by
stalkers -- who have also employed the Internet, microchip-sized cameras and
even caller identification, said Southworth -- though
it is the most dangerous to date.
Just as she once taught victims how to block caller
ID when they use the phone, Southworth now suggests
victims occasionally check under their car's hood.
Police are also finding GPS devices useful. Marla
Wagner, sales manager at LAS Systems, the same McHenry, Illinois, company that
made Seidler's device, said the company has sold GPS
systems to about 10 police departments during the last year. The Kenosha Police
Department is also buying a system from LAS.
Tracy Bahm, the Stalking
Resource Center's director, said some states are working to update their
stalking statutes to include the high-tech variety.
The center typically advises states to keep their
statutes broad enough to include technologies that don't yet exist.
"As society and technology evolve, stalkers
will always find new ways to harass their victims," Bahm
said.
(Reference: Associated
Press. (Thursday,
February 06, 2003)
Stalkers Use
GPS to Track Victims.
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Reference
Bergstein, Brian. (Wednesday, August 11, 2004) Biometric technology getting more action in consumer
applications.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/computing/20040811-0735-biometricsemerging.html
Biometric technology getting more action in consumer
applications
By Brian Bergstein
ASSOCIATED PRESS
7:35 a.m. August 11, 2004
Photo
Associated Press
But at the Statue of
"It's easy," Taiwanese visitor Yu-Sheng Lee, 26, said after stowing a bag. "I think it's
good. I don't have to worry about a key or something like that."
Like nearly every other tourist at the statue that
day, this was Lee's first experience with biometrics – the identification of an
individual based on personal characteristics like fingerprints, facial features
or iris patterns.
While the technology is not new, having seen use for
years to restrict access in corporate and military settings, it is only now
creeping into everyday life. Over the next few years, people currently
unfamiliar with the technology will be asked to use it in everything from
travel settings to financial transactions.
The Nine Zero, an upscale hotel in Boston, recently
began letting guests in its $3,000-a-night Cloud Nine suite enter and exit by
looking into a camera that analyzes their iris patterns. Piggly
Wiggly Co. grocery stores in the South just launched a pay-by-fingerprint
system, though pilot tests elsewhere have had lukewarm results.
"All these customer-facing applications,
they're emerging," said Joseph Kim, a consultant with the International
Biometric Group, which follows the industry. "We'll be seeing a lot more
very, very soon. Whether that sticks or not depends on how customers feel about
it."
Feelings seemed mixed about the lockers at the
Statue of
Some people were befuddled by the system and had to
put their fingers on the reader several times before a scan was properly made.
Others forgot their locker number upon their return, or didn't remember which
finger they had used to check it out. One young woman accidentally put her
ticket to the statue in the locker, requiring her to open it and then
re-register it all over again with another finger scan.
With all the confusion, lines at the three touchscreen kiosks that control the bank of 170 lockers
frequently stretched six or seven people deep, requiring a five-minute wait.
"I think it's overly complicated. It takes too
much time," said Stephen Chemsak, 26, who lives
in
The lockers were made necessary by new security
measures at the statue that include a ban on large packages. Brad Hill, whose
family business, Evelyn Hill Inc., has run the island's concessions for 73
years, decided that the usual public lockers would be problematic because
people often lose the keys. And that seemed to become even more likely now that
tourists have to empty their pockets for a metal detector on their way into the
statue.
"Biometrics seemed the most logical
choice," he said. After all, he added with a laugh, people "don't
lose their finger."
Hill expects visitors will find the lockers easier
once they get used to them. Representatives from the locker maker, Smarte Carte Inc., say the biometric aspect often requires
a fair amount of coaching, especially for people who aren't very familiar with
computers.
Smarte Carte's
fingerprint lockers were introduced two years ago at the Minneapolis-St. Paul
airport, and also can be found in Chicago's Union Station and the Universal
Studios and Islands of Adventure theme parks in Florida.
The company adopted the biometric system for the
airport lockers to assure the Transportation Security Administration that the
bins could not be rented by one person then opened by someone else.
Fingerprint biometric systems
generally work by reducing the image of a print to a template, a mathematic
algorithm that gets stored in a database and can be checked when the person
returns for later scans. In applications like the biometric lockers, the print
itself is not stored or sent to authorities.
However, prints are being run through terrorist
watch lists in the biggest deployment of biometrics yet – the federal
government's new system for tracking foreign travelers.
Now in its early stages, the program, known as
US-VISIT, calls for visitors to go through biometric scans to ensure that they
are who their visa or passport says they are. Passports issued by the
Separately, iris-scanning systems have cropped up in
European airports as a way to speed immigration controls.
But you won't have to be a jet-setter to encounter
biometrics more and more. For one, it's increasingly being used to
control access to computers.
And scattered grocery stores have tested systems
that let consumers check out with a touch of a fingerprint scanner. Piggly Wiggly
recently installed such a system at four South Carolina stores and expects to
expand it to 116 other outlets, saying it offers speed, convenience and protection
against credit card theft.
Other pay-by-fingerprint systems, including one
tested several years ago at a McDonald's in
But that could change now that credit card
fraud and identity theft have emerged as bigger problems, said Dean Douglas, a
services vice president at IBM Corp., which is handling the back-end technology
for Piggly Wiggly's
finger-scanning system.
"Within the next five to 10
years,"
On the Net:
http://www.biometricgroup.com/
(Reference: Bergstein, Brian. (Wednesday, August 11, 2004) Biometric technology getting more action in consumer applications.
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Reference
Bowman, Lisa. (Sunday,
February 07, 1999)
Is GPS tracking you?
http://zdnet.com.com/2100-11-513626.html?legacy=zdnn
Is GPS tracking you?
By Lisa Bowman
ZDNet News
February 7, 1999, 4:00 PM PT
It's 10 p.m. -- Do you know where your
children are? How about your pet? Or your spouse who claims to be "working
late"?
Global Positioning System technology, more commonly
known as GPS, is making it easier than ever to find stolen cars or track down Fido when he gets lost.
But the system also can monitor people, a move
privacy experts fear could go too far.
"The control of GPS tracking
information will be a
significant public policy issue several years from now," Phil Agre, an associate professor of information studies at UCLA
and a member of the board of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "Everyone
should be aware of the dangers before the it becomes
locked in."
So far, GPS has been an invaluable tool for tracking
endangered salmon, monitoring train schedules and even drawing up maps.
Companies such as Troy, Michigan-based Onstar and
Microsoft have developed GPS systems for cars that send directions to drivers
based on their locations. Some even call the owner when a car
"thinks" it's been stolen.
In
"Maybe these are benign uses, but where does it
stop?" asked Agre.
Agre and other privacy experts
worry about misuse of the information by groups ranging from insurance
companies to the FBI.
Scary scenarios
Among the scenarios feared by privacy watchdogs:
Insurance companies could refuse to insure you, or
charge you higher rates, unless you install a tracking system on your car. They
could then tell if you drive over 55 or spend time in shady neighborhoods where
your car has a greater chance of being stolen.
FBI and local police
officials could have access to your whereabouts by simply logging onto a
database attached to a cell phone, tollbooth or GPS tracker. New York transportation
authorities have turned over records of its E-Z Pass toll, a wireless system
that lets people drive through without stopping, to police during a criminal
investigation. What if it turned the same information over to a local
restaurant, so it knew you drove by it every day?
Private investigators could get their hands on
geographic tracking data to trap a spouse suspected of straying. Gotcha! -- if toll bridge records showed you driving when you were
supposed to be at work.
Follow the data trail
Privacy advocates fear agencies that aren't used to
handling private information, such as transit authorities, will become the
keepers of personal facts and figures that people don't necessarily want to be
in the public domain.
But other
privacy experts said such worries are simply alarmist. "A lot of the
privacy stuff I think is a little overblown," International Data Corp. analyst Chris
Christiansen said.
Currently, the systems are too expensive to be
prevalent at the consumer level -- plus many of the cheaper consumer devices
are hindered by heavy rain, trees and tall buildings, he said.
Originally developed to help the military track
wayward sailors, GPS is made up of 24 satellites, each with a clock, positioned
so that three are always above the horizon. Earthbound receivers can determine
the position of a person, place or thing by measuring the amount of time it
takes for a signal to arrive from three of the satellites.
Tracking people by GPS is not even prevalent enough
for the ACLU -- known for jumping on a cause at the slightest sign of injustice
-- to take a stand. Carrie Moss of the ACLUU of
Matter of control
Kanwar Chadha,
founder of GPS company SiRF Technology Inc., said the
issue comes down to who controls the information in a GPS system.
"GPS by itself only tells you where you are,"
said Chadha, whose company makes GPS-based
chipsets that can be embedded in cell phones, automobile systems and handheld
computers. "It's really when you
combine GPS with some kind of wireless system that privacy becomes an
issue."
For example, Chadha said
users of SiRF's products must push a button on their
GPS device if they want to transmit their whereabouts. Under this system,
companies or organizations can't track users without their permission.
However, privacy concerns could arise under a model
where control is shifted back to the network -- as it would be with systems
used to monitor groups like Alzheimer's patients or children.
"Privacy is always an issue when you have a
system that allows you track somebody," Chadha
said.
Chadha predicts consumers will
protect their own privacy, by refusing to deal with companies that threaten to
violate it. Already, privacy groups have pressured Intel
Corp. to back away from shipping chips that
automatically identify a computer to a network.
For geographic tracking systems, Chadha
said privacy isn't an issue, as long as users control the transmission of their
own location information.
"But
it's an issue if somebody else plants the device on you," Chadha
said. "That's what I
would call a misuse of the technology."
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Reference
Chip Johnson. (Friday, November 10, 2006) Brown wants to expand GPS monitoring beyond
tracking sex offenders.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2006/11/10/BAGF7MA7DB1.DTL
...
Given
Brown's penchant for innovation and his viewpoint that GPS technology should be
used for more than high-risk sex offenders, it's a good bet that he'll make
such tracking efforts a priority when he takes over as
"I
think parole supervision is inadequate given the 70 percent recidivism
rate," Brown said. "In
Ex-offenders
are part of the "culture of violence" in
Underscoring
that notion, Sarna, the police lieutenant, said only about 20 percent of the city's ex-cons
are actually located at the address they provide when they are released from
prison.
It
seems likely -- some legal experts say it's inevitable -- that the growth and expansion of electronic tethers
to monitor and restrict society's most-violent offenders is the future of crime
and punishment.
"In 100 years, I think we'll look back at the prison system in roughly
the same way we now regard public executions -- barbaric," said Malcolm Feeley, a
law professor at UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of
Law, who specializes in the criminal process. "I think electronic monitoring is just in its
infancy.
"And
I think that, in the
future, people who are charged with controlling some segment of the population
will come up with an
alternative to incarceration and it will involve some GPS technology and a
virtual prison."
"There
are interagency agreements around the county going on right now, and
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Reference
Denholm, Andrew. (Monday,
November 17, 2003)
Tagging scheme aims to cut re-offending.
http://www.news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=307&id=1269172003
Mon 17 Nov 2003
Tagging scheme aims to cut re-offending
ANDREW DENHOLM
PRISONERS at risk of committing further crime after
their release could be electronically tagged under a radical scheme to reduce
re-offending.
Cathy Jamieson, the justice minister, said the plan
was part of a range of measures to reform the behaviour
of hardened criminals.
Latest figures show more than seven
out of ten prisoners re-offend within four years of being released.
Ms Jamieson said she wanted to see monitoring of
prisoners "beefed up".
However, opposition politicians attacked the scheme
claiming it had not been thought through.
And John Scott, chairman of the Scottish Human
Rights Centre, said the new policy could be illegal under the European
Convention on Human Rights.
"The Executive has been badly advised on its
criminal justice policy. The current system of risk assessment is not good
enough and people will end up being tagged when they do not need to be. There could be significant
human rights issues," he said.
However, Doug Keil, the
general secretary of the Scottish Police Federation, backed the scheme stating:
"We support these schemes, we think they are a
good idea. The only concern is resources.
"Checking these tagging orders requires
considerable police time."
Unveiling the scheme, Ms Jamieson said: "In
some instances, it might be the right thing to do if there is a significant
concern about that person’s movements.
"It could be part of a package of intensive
support and supervision."
The minister said there were already stringent
measures to supervise offenders when they returned to the community.
"However, this would give local communities and
the judiciary much more confidence," she said.
Earlier this year, ministers unveiled plans to tag
dangerous criminals, young offenders and reluctant witnesses.
The Executive will launch a consultation in the New
Year on plans to overhaul the prison system and criminal justice social work
services.
The coalition deal struck between Labour and the Lib Dems contains
plans for a single body to deliver custodial and non-custodial sentences - the
so-called Correctional Agency.
However, the plans have provoked controversy with
COSLA, the umbrella organisation for local
authorities, claiming that there is no evidence to support the need for such a
body.
(Reference: Denholm, Andrew. (Monday, November 17, 2003) Tagging
scheme aims to cut re-offending.
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Reference
Dotinga, Randy. (Friday,
January 03, 2003)
Spying on Snookums With GPS.
http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,56537,00.html
Spying on Snookums With GPS
By Randy Dotinga | Also by this reporter Page 1 of 1
02:00 AM Jan. 03, 2003 PT
In a rambling building that overlooks a freeway in
Using GPS software, the computers also track cars
for seven police agencies. Some of the vehicles are waiting to be stolen, while
others are driven by unsuspecting suspects who are under surveillance.
And then there are the private citizens, some 5,000
of them, whose cars are tracked night and day. Finding their latitude and
longitude is as easy as logging on to the Internet, typing in a password and
looking at a computerized map. It's impossible, however, to find out how many
of the customers track their spouses or partners without telling them.
"It does happen," admits John Phillips,
president and CEO of Satellite Security Systems, a location-tracking company.
"We don't promote it. We hope it's used more for safety for wives and
husbands than spying on them."
But the company doesn't ask questions. And its
tracking systems are so inexpensive and easily hidden that they may even tempt
a suspicious spouse who pinches pennies. It costs just $600 to $700 to outfit a
car or truck with a master control device, which is about the size of a compact
disc case and an inch thick. It's connected by a wire to a matchbook-size GPS
sensor.
While the
Courts may be sympathetic to snooping citizens
because someone's driving patterns aren't a secret, Grossman said. "Common
sense tells you that if I want to follow you in your car, there's no law
against that. If I want to videotape where you're driving, that's fine,
although it could cross the line into stalking."
But Douglas Crewse, a
private investigator in the Dallas suburb of Flower Mound, Texas, said tracking
devices could still leave private users open to charges of invasion of privacy,
especially if state law is strict. What if a device tracks an errant spouse
onto private property where trespassing is outlawed? What if hackers gain
access to tracking data?
"I wouldn't touch a tracking
device with a 10-foot pole," Crewse said. "Once you
get caught, you're going to get nailed in civil court."
Or the consequences could be even worse. As attorney
Lee Tien of the Electronic Freedom Foundation pointed
out, tracking data could be subpoenaed.
If you drive your spouse's car,
that could reveal something pretty sensitive -- your own travels in
recent days.
(Reference: Dotinga, Randy. (Friday, January 03, 2003) Spying on Snookums With GPS.
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Reference
Ferrari, Alicia. (Wednesday,
December 10, 2003)
Camera Phones Fire A Warning Shot.
http://www.forbes.com/2003/12/10/cx_af_1210camera.html
Consumer Electronics
Camera Phones Fire A
Warning Shot
Alicia Ferrari, 12.10.03, 10:15 AM ET
Photo
A dangerous weapon?
Two tiny
It may be quite a challenge to sell technology that
inhibits camera phones to the very makers of those gadgets, such as Nokia (nyse: NOK - news - people ),
Siemens (nyse: SI - news - people ) and Sony
Ericsson, a joint venture between Sony (nyse: SNE -
news - people ) and Ericsson (nasdaq: ERICY - news -
people ).
More likely to gain prevalence are camera phones
that make some kind of noise to alert bystanders of the possibility that their
photo is being taken. In November, the South Korean government ordered
manufacturers to install beeping sounds of at least 65 decibels on camera
phones made and sold there, after officials received a flood of complaints
about camera phone-wielding peeping toms. Samsung and LG Electronics, two of
Korea's largest such manufacturers, have begun to do so.
While noisy camera phones may never be mandated by
law in the
Indeed, Japanese manufacturers such as NEC (nasdaq: NIPNY - news - people )
and Panasonic's Matsushita (nyse: MC - news - people
) are voluntarily offering camera phones with sounds to cut down on voyeurism
and "digital shoplifting," or the illicit photography of pages in
books and magazines. Those alerts range from a recorded message that says
"Say cheese!" to a numerical countdown before a picture is snapped.
But, for the most part, camera phones are still
enough of a novelty in the
Some industry leaders see the recent flare-up of
privacy concerns as the kind of anxiety that comes with any new technology.
"Their risks have been a bit overhyped,"
says Neil Mawston, senior analyst, global wireless
practice, Strategy Analytics.
But as camera phone technology improves, the devices
will likely bring greater privacy threats. Currently many camera phones have a
resolution of about one-third of a megapixel, but
some have one megapixel, and camera phones will soon
have as many as five megapixels. Many can now also
record video.
Say Mawston:
"Better-quality photos are going to be an attraction for people likely to
misuse them."
(Reference: Ferrari,
Alicia. (Wednesday,
December 10, 2003)
Camera Phones
Fire A Warning Shot.
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Reference
Fielding, Nick and Burke, Michael. (Sunday,
August 20, 2000) Satellites give nosy neighbors their big break.
http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2000/08/20/stinwenws01011.html
http://philologos.org/bprdigests/2000/aug/082200.htm
(Alternate link)
Satellites give
nosy neighbours their big break
Nick Fielding and
Michael Burke
Scientists are
offering to replace the twitch of the net curtain next door with a satellite
surveillance system that will provide the ultimate way to snoop
over the garden fence.
For less than
£100, people will be able to spy on their neighbors using
cameras in the sky that beam live pictures to their internet screen.
The system, using
up to 12 satellites orbiting Earth, will enable subscribers
to look at anything from the house next door to a nudist colony or a terrorist
training camp in
While it might
tell you if the folk next door have dug a swimming pool, keeping up
with what the Joneses are not wearing while sunbathing will not be so easy. The
maximum resolution will be about 2.5 meters.
The spy system has
been christened, rather darkly, Orwell. Its inventors insist it is not named after
the author, whose own vision of Big Brother in the book 1984, first published in 1948,
predated the Channel 4 version by more than half a century. Instead, it is
supposed to be an acronym for Observing Radar for Whole Earth Low-cost
Looking.
Because it operates by radar, it is unaffected
by cloud or darkness. "If you wanted a system that could take a radar picture of any
spot, at any time, then you would, of course, need many more satellites than in
the Orwell constellation," said Dr Stephen Hobbs, head of aerospace design
at Cranfield University, who has led the project
team.
"But when you
know exactly where you want the image taken, say the centre of
The radar-based
system's main advantage over existing satellites is that it will offer
constantly updated pictures of the Earth's surface every two hours.
Uses
could include checking that your holiday caravan on the coast has not blown
away in a gale, or making sure that a garage has started work on your car.
Commodity brokers
on the futures market could check the progress of crops on the other side of
the globe, owners of trawler fleets could use it to monitor where plankton, the
tiny organisms that fish feed on, are gathered, and insurance firms could
evaluate the risk of flooding to houses in low-lying areas.
Orwell's main
backer is a European consortium including companies from Britain, Spain and the
Netherlands, which has been given a European Union
grant to take the research towards a fully commissioned system. Several
commercial organisations and a government research
laboratory have also backed the research at Cranfield.
Scientists there hope to launch the system by 2005.
At present anyone
can pay for a picture from space showing almost any spot on Earth, but by the
time it is received it is likely to be several weeks old. If the weather is
poor, optical systems cannot take pictures at all.
(Reference: Fielding,
Nick and Burke, Michael. (Sunday, August 20, 2000) Satellites
give nosy neighbors their big break.
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Reference
Hudson, Audrey. (Sunday,
December 14, 2003)
Bug devices track officials at summit.
http://washingtontimes.com/national/20031214-011754-1280r.htm
December 14, 2003
Bug devices track officials at summit
By Audrey Hudson
THE
Officials
who attended a world Internet and technology summit in
Badges
assigned to attendees of the World
The trio's
report said they were able to obtain the official badges with fraudulent
identification only to be stunned when they found RFID chips — a contentious
issue among privacy advocates in the
Researchers questioned summit officials about the use of the chips and
how long information would be stored but were not given answers.
The
three-day WSIS forum focused on Internet governance and access, security,
intellectual-property rights and privacy. The
RFID chips
track a person's movement in "real time."
Mr. Escudero-Pascual is a researcher in
computer security and privacy at the Royal Institute of Technology in
"During the course of our investigation, we were able to register
for the summit and obtain an official pass by just showing a fake plastic
identity card and being photographed via a Web cam with no other document or
registration number required to obtain the pass," the researchers said.
The
researchers chose names for the fake identification cards from a list printed
on the summit's Web site of attendees.
The hidden
chips communicate information via radio frequency when close to sensors that
can be placed anywhere "from vending machines to the entrance of a
specific meeting room, allowing the remote identification and tracking of
participants, or groups of participants, attending the event," the report
said.
The
photograph of the person and other personal details are not stored on the chip
but in a centralized database that monitors the movement. Researchers said they
are concerned that database will be used for future events, including the next
summit to be hosted by Tunisian authorities.
"During the registration process, we requested information about
the future use of the picture and other information that was taken, and the
built-in functionalities of the seemingly innocent plastic badge. No public
information or privacy policy was available upon our demands that could
indicate the purpose, processing or retention periods for the data collected.
The registration personnel were obviously not properly informed and trained," the report said.
The lack
of security procedures violates the Swiss Federal Law on Data Protection of
June 1992, the European Union Data Protection Directive, and United Nations'
guidelines concerning computerized personal-data files adopted by the General
Assembly in 1990, the researchers said.
"The
big problem is that system also fails to guarantee the promised high levels of
security while introducing the possibility of constant surveillance of the
representatives of civil society, many of whom are critical of certain
governments and regimes,"
the report said.
"Sharing this data with any third party would be putting
civil-society participants at risk, but this threat is made concrete in the
context of WSIS by considering the potential impact of sharing the data
collected with the Tunisian government in charge of organizing the event in
2005," it said.
The
organization Reporters Without Borders was banned from
attending the summit and launched a pirate radio broadcast to protest the ban
and detail press-freedom violations by some countries attending the meetings,
including
"Our
organization defends freedom of expression on the Internet on a daily basis.
Our voice should therefore be heard during this event, despite this outrageous
ban," said Robert Menard, secretary general of Reporters Without Borders.
Tunisia is among several countries Reporters Without Borders has accused of censoring the Internet,
intercepting e-mails and jailing cyber-dissidents.
(Reference: Hudson,
Audrey. (Sunday,
December 14, 2003)
Bug
devices track officials at summit.
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Reference
Hulme, George V. (Thursday, November 20, 2003) Feds' Cybercrime
Crackdown Yields 125 Arrests.
http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=16400073
Feds' Cybercrime Crackdown
Yields 125 Arrests Nov. 20, 2003
Cybercrooks go 'phishing,'
but it's law enforcement that nets some big catches.
By George V. Hulme
A crackdown on Internet fraud schemes dubbed
Operation Cyber Sweep has netted 125 arrests or convictions and more than 70
indictments, federal law-enforcement officials say.
The operation began Oct. 1 and involved more than
125,000 victims with losses estimated to exceed $100 million. Department of
Justice officials said Thursday that more than 90 search-and-seizure warrants
were conducted.
Operation Cyber Sweep targeted some of the most
common online fraud schemes, including identity theft, international money
laundering, theft of business trade secrets, auction fraud,
Web-site-spoofing schemes, and cyberextortion. The
operation was a coordinated effort among 34 U.S. attorneys, the FBI, the
Federal Trade Commission, the Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Secret
Service, and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as
other local, state, and foreign law-enforcement authorities.
The criminal charges stemming from Operation Cyber
Sweep include a man in California who pleaded guilty to charges involving
unauthorized use of access devices and conspiracy to possess counterfeit checks and a woman in
Virginia who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess unauthorized access devices who allegedly sent fake
E-mails to America Online subscribers telling them that they needed to update
their personal and credit-card information on file with AOL, a scam known as
"phishing."
Through September, the
According to FTC statistics, more than half of the
218,000 fraud complaints in received in 2002 were Internet-related.
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Reference
Ingersoll, Brenda. (Monday,
November 17, 2003)
YMCA bans cell phones in locker rooms.
http://www.madison.com/wisconsinstatejournal/local/61468.php
YMCA bans cell phones in locker rooms
11:15 PM 11/17/03
Members of the YMCA of
Wireless phones with built-in cameras
are the latest technology fad, prompting health clubs across the nation to ban
them. The YMCA
put up warning notices last week. "As a result of new technology, cell
phones and other electronic devices provide a video image," the notices read.
"To protect the privacy of our YMCA patrons, the use of all cell phones
and electronic devices is prohibited in all locker rooms and rest rooms."
Some YMCA members said the ban was reasonable.
"It's getting to the point where
everywhere you go, you can't use cell phones, but with the way things are, with so many perverts,
when I bring my kids and family here, I want to protect them," Sylvester
Phillips, 43, said Monday as he left the YMCA East after working out.
"It's a good idea for privacy," said YMCA
member Jill Kerwin, 63, of
The YMCA's ban on cell phones follows an advisory
from the national YMCA organization, said Mary Lee Steinmuller,
executive director of the YMCA East. "We haven't gotten any feedback yet,
but we're hoping it's positive because it's for the safety and privacy of our
members," she said.
Dan Foley, vice president of operations for the YMCA
of Dane County, said there have been no member complaints about camera phones,
"but we wanted to be proactive. You can't tell which cell phone has a
video component and which doesn't."
Camera phones "are
a hot seller," said salesman Ralph Stitely of
Dane County District Attorney Brian Blanchard said there is no
state law that criminalizes the use of camera phones in locker rooms, but a recently passed law
makes it a criminal misdemeanor to look into private places, including
showers and dressing rooms, for
sexual arousal or gratification. "Someone who creeps around a health club with
a cell phone and takes pictures would need to be aware of that criminal
law," Blanchard said.
Photographing people in a locker room
without their consent could give rise to an invasion of privacy lawsuit, if the
photographs are shown or sent to others, UW-Madison law professor Frank Tuerkheimer
said. "Taking a picture per se is not actionable, but
disseminating them would be," he said.
Prairie Athletic Club general manager Mary Kay von Allmen said the Sun Prairie health club was the first Dane
County club to institute such a ban, about one month ago.
"We're trying to make our members feel
comfortable so they're not violated by having pictures taken of them without
any clothing,"
she said. "We don't check people's bags, but we put up signs in the locker
room areas saying, please don't use your cell phones. We hope our members
understand, and our members are kind of policing each other."
There are no cell phone bans at Harbor Athletic
Club, Ford's Gym or at the
At Harbor Athletic Club, "We're watching the
situation," said marketing director Sara Ernst. "We've always had in
our rules no photography or film making inside the club."
UW-Madison spokeswoman Amy Toburen
said there are no policies barring cell phones in campus gyms like the
Southeast Recreational Facility and the Natatorium.
"It is on the radar screen," Toburen said, noting officials have been discussing the
issue, with no decision reached yet and no reported problems.
Karen Rivedal of the State
Journal contributed to this report.
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Reference
Keyser, Jason. (Thursday,
January 01, 2004) Digital warfare system
hunts
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3855079/
International News
Digital warfare system hunts
But soldiers say dust, heat can thwart
computers
Photo
Gregorio Borgia / AP
U.S. Army Spc.
Michael Scott, from Michigan, of the 1st Battalion 22nd Regiment 4th infantry
division, sitting inside his humvee checks a map on a
computer screen, in Tikrit, Iraq, Wednesday, Dec. 31,
2003.
By Jason Keyser
The Associated Press
Updated: 3:39 p.m. ET Jan. 01, 2004TIKRIT,
Iraq - On
mud-spattered computer screens in their Humvees,
American soldiers scan
digital street maps, monitor enemy positions, zoom in on individual buildings
through satellite imagery and
download instructions from commanders.
Back on base, senior officers watch raids
unfold on large screens showing
real-time footage from aerial drones and displaying maps with moving icons for ground and air forces. Their locations are tracked by global
positioning satellites.
The two dozen components making up this
high-tech digital warfare system are known as Army
The technology has allowed commanders to plan
complicated raids and organize battle gear and hundreds of soldiers within two
hours. That speed, they say, played an important part in capturing Saddam
Hussein and other fugitives.
Only 4th Infantry has it
The Army’s 4th Infantry Division,
headquartered in one of Saddam’s palace complexes in his hometown beside the
muddy Tigris River, is the only unit outfitted with the system, and it is being
used in combat for the first time.
“No longer do you have guys on a map putting
little stickers where things are at,” said Capt. Lou Morales, a division
training officer. “It’s digitally done. ... It allows commanders to move more
rapidly, more decisively, more violently.”
In
Each military vehicle is
tracked by satellite and appears as a moving
blue icon on computer screens inside Humvees, tanks
and other craft, and on monitors back at command headquarters.
Red icons represent known enemy positions —
insurgents laying an ambush, fugitives’ hideouts or the locations of known
roadside bombs.
Each soldier using the touch-screen monitor
can place an icon on the map and have it appear on screens throughout the
system.
Reducing friendly fire
deaths
With that battlefield
view, a commander can watch his forces surround the home of a suspect and know
when they are all in place. The system
also is credited with reducing the number of friendly fire incidents.
However, some ground forces complain that the
vehicle consoles are too complicated to use and frequently break down under
desert wear and tear. Links between pieces of the network sometimes crash and,
because the system is unique, replacement parts are slow to arrive.
Some soldiers are not using the system because
of the problems, he said.
“These guys are busy. They don’t have time to
troubleshoot a hard drive,” Saul said.
Although the traditional method of gathering intelligence — using tips from
Iraqi informants, seized documents and interrogations of detainees — still plays a central role, commanders say the
computer system has been a crucial tool for orchestrating raids that often change
course in mid-operation.
For example, if a
reconnaissance team spots a suspect leaving for another location, commanders in
a matter of seconds can redirect pursuing forces with an e-mail via the
system’s “tactical Internet.”
“That’s pretty much in the realm of
incredible,” said Lt. Col. Ted Martin, the division’s chief of operations.
“This is a bunch of infantry men. Their main job is to kick a door down and
throw a hand grenade in a room.
“But they’re sitting there on a computer
screen at night, moving through a town, getting a new order, making a turn and
looking at satellite imagery.”
Unmannned aircraft also help
The system also includes eight “Shadow”
unmanned aerial vehicles — pilotless drones that
observe the homes of suspects or the locations of rebel mortar crews. The
drones, the only ones being used in
Beside one of Saddam’s ransacked palaces at
the 4th Infantry Division’s headquarters, leaders oversee military operations
from a small fold-out mobile command center on the back of a flatbed truck.
Recently, three large screens illuminated the
room with color images from a drone flying above local towns and farms. The
aircraft banked west, showing a sunset over the
Martin said the system has given military planners so much
confidence they even skip
time-consuming rehearsals and contingency plans.
“It gives me the confidence I need to speed up
the tempo and outmaneuver these guys,” he said.
© 2003 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved.
(Reference: Keyser, Jason. (Thursday,
January 01, 2004) Digital warfare system hunts Iraq
rebels.
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Reference
Lisa Rossi. (Sunday, November 19, 2006) Professors devise way to detect secret data in
photos
http://desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061119/NEWS02/611190339/-1/SPORTS07
...
Mike
Morris, a special agent supervisor with the Iowa Division of Criminal
Investigations Internet Crimes Against Children's Task
Force, said he has asked the ISU professors to review a file for him as he
waits for the technology to become more widely available.
He
said he wants the option to examine suspicious photos.
Morris
said investigators have asked the ISU professors to also find a way to modify the tool so it can scan
an entire computer drive or folder for pictures with hidden images.
"There
are a network of people who deal with
pornography," he said. "It would be easy to hide an illegal image within a legal image."
A
digital photograph is made up of thousands of tiny dots, or pixels. Each pixel
has a number, or value, attached that determines its color, among other things.
Bergman has said criminals
can hide data by changing the values of those pixels.
"If
you change those numbers slightly, that change contains the hidden data,"
he said.
Criminals can download free software to embed secret files, which are
also known as payload. The software also can be used to view the hidden files
or images.
Bergman
said he believes the trick
is one that could also be used by terrorists,
a suspicion that is shared by officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
"The
FBI knows the importance of looking at the possibility there are encrypted
messages in some way and it could be used as a means of communications,"
said FBI spokesman Paul Bresson. "That would
include all rogue elements; that could include terrorists. We have no reason to believe terrorists or
criminals wouldn't want to use or disguise their message in some way shape or
form."
Bergman
and Davidson trained the existing software to detect the presence of secret
data by embedding hidden images into 1,200 pictures in different ways until
they had 10,000 images with different data embedded.
Then,
they presented the huge database of images to the software, so it could learn the difference between a clean and a doctored
image.
Now
it can apply that knowledge to unknown data and determine which images have
hidden messages and which don't. The program is unable to reveal the hidden
picture itself, the professors said.
The art of embedding pictures or messages in other media for secret
communication, called steganography,
dates back to ancient times.
Bergman
pointed to anecdotes of leaders in
ancient Greece who sent instructions to their armies across enemy lines by
shaving the head of a slave, tattooing a message on that person's skull, and
waiting for the hair to grow back before sending him out.
The academic study of steganography
accelerated in the mid-1990s as the Internet gained popularity and security
needs became more pressing, Bergman
said.
In recent times, criminals used the technique to hide spreadsheets or
details from illicit financial transactions within a photo, Davidson said.
Anyone can accidentally download a picture with hidden data onto a
personal Web site, if the person doesn't know the content or origin of the
picture, Davidson said. She said hidden data have also been passed via spam
e-mail, when spammers slip a virus into a photo.
"It's a devious way to get into someone's
computer," she said.
ISU's
new technique should provide a more accessible and reliable way for law
enforcement to detect whether or not a picture has a hidden image. Currently, commercial software exists for such
applications, but it is expensive and difficult to study, as the technology
used is a trade secret, Bergman and Davidson
said.
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Reference
Marc Benjamin (Thursday, November 09, 2006) Panel works to improve tracking of sex offenders
http://www.fresnobee.com/263/story/12114.html
...
The
task force, created six months ago by Gov. Schwarzenegger, is developing
recommendations on notifying residents about sexual offenders and
"sexually violent predators" moving into their neighborhoods,
providing housing for sexual offenders when they leave state custody and
supervision and monitoring them once they are released.
The
state Department of Corrections supervises 10,000 sex offenders, about 3,200 of whom are considered high-risk
offenders.
Once
they finish their sentences, they must be released.
The
task force has recommended creating a program to assess the risk an offender
will pose within 120 days of prison release; improving communication with local
law enforcement and victims; monitoring all high-risk offenders with Global
Positioning System units; and upgrading the Megan's Law Web site to alert
communities when an offender is being monitored.
The
task force Wednesday reported its major recommendations during the meeting.
The
one person who testified Wednesday was Grier Weeks, director of the National
Association to Protect Children, based in
He
suggested intensive supervision for 10 years or longer, reduced caseloads for
parole agents and specialized, well-trained agents who can monitor sex
offenders on global positioning units.
"The community assumes they are under meaningful supervision and
court-ordered restrictions," he
said. "I
think you and I know that's not always so."
He
also said his organization will work with lawmakers to add parole agents.
Shortages
of parole agents make it more difficult to keep up with the number of sex
offenders being released, said task force member Suzanne Brown-McBride,
executive director of the
"Long and meaningful supervision is the most important thing we
can do," she said.
In
The so-called Jessica's Law prohibits registered sex offenders from
living within 2,000 feet of a school or park — effectively prohibiting parolees
from living in many of
It
also would require
lifetime satellite tracking
for paroled rapists, child molesters and other felony sex criminals upon their
release from prison. It would increase sentences and parole terms for
violent and habitual sex offenders,
and make more sexually
violent predators eligible for indefinite commitments to state mental
hospitals.
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Reference
Mattson, Marcia. (Wednesday, September 18, 2002) Spies
like us.
http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/091802/tec_20020918040.shtml
TECH NEWS
Story last updated at 9:11 p.m. on Tuesday,
September 17, 2002
Spies like us
Gadgets make it easy for us to keep tabs on each
other
By Marcia Mattson
Morris News Service
Photo
Kelly Fromm, owner of The Spy Store in
northeastern Florida, is a retired Army counterintelligence agent, spy gear
manufacturer and wholesaler. From left, the bear is a wireless nanny cam, then
there's the store's top seller: the hidden video/audio bug detector, third is a cybertract or covert vehicle tracker, and far right is a computer
used as a digital video recorder for viewing video remotely.
Crista Jeremiason/Morris
News Service
You dress
and head to work, driving away in the car your husband tuned up last night.
At the
office, you notice a new smoke detector on the break room ceiling. Maybe the
boss is worried the microwave will catch fire.
Or maybe he
-- like your husband and neighbor -- is spyying on you. Spy gadgets
are cheaper and easier to get than ever, thanks to the Internet and a growing
number of retail stores.
So
your neighbor may be watching and videotaping your bedroom activities through a
spy camera
built into that clock-radio.
Your spouse
may have attached a tiny global positioning system (GPS) device to your car so he
can track your whereabouts via satellite from his computer.
And your
boss may be observing you in the break room from a monitor in his office, courtesy of a tiny camera
in that fake smoke detector.
Paranoid yet?
Kelly Fromm sells each of those spy devices and dozens more at
The Spy Store, nestled in a strip mall in northeastern Florida between an eye
doctor's office and a Honey Baked Ham store.
Photo
A long range
wireless spy camera is another gadget sold by Fromm.
Crista Jeremiason/Morris
News Service
Fromm said he's a retired Army
counterintelligence agent, spy gear manufacturer and wholesaler who only got
into the commercial spy business five years ago. Like most spy gadget
companies, his does most of its business online at www.thespymasters.com. But
he already owns two more stores in
''The technology's been around for 30 or 40 years,'' Fromm
said. ''But it's only become affordable and available to consumers in
the last five years.''
A reliable
spy camera is now less than $200, and a GPS tracker costs about $700.
Some
mainstream stores are carrying surveillance items, too.
For
example, Radio Shack's stores and on-line site now sell binoculars
with a built-in digital camera that allow you to take pictures of what you are
observing.
Radio Shack's Web site bills the binoculars, priced at $99.99, as ''great for
sporting events, concerts and wildlife activities such as hunting or
bird-watching.''
The spy
business is a $3 billion a year industry in the United States, and spouses are
leading the way, employing a range of techniques to catch their mates at
adultery.
''With the divorce rate in this country, you can see how busy we are,'' said Dick Dwyer, a
Dwyer
recently was hired to place a tracking device on the vehicle of a woman
suspected of adultery. Dwyer used a GPS device to locate her
car at an Orlando, Fla., hotel. Then Dwyer traveled there and took
photographs of the woman spending the weekend with a male companion.
The most
popular items remain telephone ''bugs'' that record all conversations. Fromm pointed to a sign in his store warning it's illegal
in
But do most people follow the
law? ''Quite candidly, I say no,'' Fromm said.
''I'm
a capitalist,''
he added, unabashedly defending his right to sell the devices. ''It's my
requirement to inform them of the letter of the law.''
Dwyer said spouses have a right to know if
their mates are cheating. For one thing, adultery puts them at risk for a sexually-transmitted disease like HIV. He once followed a married
man for four days and ''all he did was go up and down (the road) and pick up
prostitutes.''
Police
departments are the other big purchasers of spy gear. The courts require close
supervision of police wiretap operations. But police can use some types of
tracking devices, like the GPS system, without getting a court order first.
That and other technology isn't new, just more affordable to police and
consumers.
Susan Wilson
of
The Cold
War may be over, but foreign nations are still spying on American businesses,
looking to steal research and development secrets, Fromm
said.
Meanwhile,
Dwyer had this piece of advice guaranteed to generate paranoia and customers: Don't trust anybody.
Published in the
(Reference: Mattson, Marcia. (Wednesday,
September 18, 2002) Spies
like us.
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Reference
Morgan, Helen. (Saturday,
December 06, 2003)
Notepads for neighbours to cut
crime.
http://www.news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=307&id=1339242003
Sat 6 Dec 2003
Notepads for neighbours to
cut crime
HELEN MORGAN
POLICE are encouraging nosy neighbours
to become amateur detectives by providing them with notepads.
More than 2,000 pads have been distributed to
residents in Aberdeenshire to help them to record
suspicious activities.
Grampian Police are hoping the unusual scheme, the
first of its kind in
Crime Prevention Officer Constable Andrew Jamieson
said: "We have had a fantastic response."
He explained: "The notepad encourages people to
report suspicious persons or vehicles to the police at the time, allowing us to
search the area and trace the thief before they find a house to target.
"It will be especially effective in the run-up
to Christmas, when criminals will be targeting houses more, on the look-out for
expensive presents.
"People are really getting into the spirit of
things and writing down vital information. I think it
helps them feel they are working to help to protect the community in their own
way."
The idea, being trialled
in the Kincardine area, was introduced after a series
of thefts. Officers said that it has already helped to thwart some criminal activity.
The scheme has been funded by neighbourhood
watch groups and is available to the public for free.
However, some residents believe the
scheme is a waste of time and will just encourage disputes between feuding neighbours.
John Davies, 46, a taxi driver, said: "People
who use the notepads are generally just busybodies with nothing better to
do. It
will just give people an excuse to spy on their neighbours.
It should be the police themselves who are chasing criminals, not ordinary
people.
"This scheme will just attract
nosy neighbours."
But Denise Downey, 34, a shopworker
from Portlethen, said: "This is a good idea. I
could fill one of these pads in a day.
"We have had a lot of stuff stolen from here,
and because we probably see the intruders first hand, we are in a great
position to help the police.
"I will definitely be using the pad. Hopefully,
it will help me to catch a few criminals."
PC Jamieson added: "It will make our jobs a
lot easier if people have their pads handy at all times and record anything worth reporting.
"They
can keep the pads in their homes or vehicles to act as a prompt to record
details or suspicious activity or any unknown callers to the door.
"We also encourage the passing of
this information on to police as soon as possible."
A spokeswoman for Grampian Police added: "If
people have a hunch about something being wrong or out of place it can
generally turn out to be a great help to us.
"If people make a note of these
things in their pad they can then pass the details on to us.
"Even if their suspicions prove
to be unfounded, the exercise is still worthwhile because it gets the public
thinking about safety."
(Reference: Morgan, Helen. (Saturday,
December 06, 2003)
Notepads for neighbours to cut crime.
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Reference
National Law
Enforcement and
http://www.nlectc.org/pdffiles/94213-9.pdf
Page 1
Is There a Doctor in the House?
According to Wilkinson, telemedicine allows ODRC to
provide remote medical services to prisoners. From the prison’s clinic, a
health care professional presents the patient and operates the scopes and
cameras that transmit the video images in real-time to a doctor at another
location.
The advantages of telemedicine, Wilkinson says, are
many. Prisoners receive care without incurring the cost of escorted hospital
visits.
Telemedicine gives the prison access to a wider range of outside medical
sources and specialized doctors. And, telemedicine provides a visual record of
the visit, ensures the safety of the doctors, and reduces the potential for
escape. This is
important, he notes, since it was recently reported that more than 50
escape attempts occurred in this country from offsite medical facilities in one
12-month period.
“We can do consultations, post-operative medical
reviews, and routine doctor’s visits. We
can read x-rays, or zero in and
magnify certain areas of the body so the doctor can get a very clear picture. We can
actually hear the heartbeat of a person through the system,” Wilkinson says.
Page 2
Those consultations, Wilkinson notes, include a
successful foray into telepsychiatry, something to which the
inmates have responded well. He says, “It totally debunks the myth that you
have to be in a room and on a couch to address your problems. The prisoners have been
extremely responsive. They’ve answered questions and are not intimidated by the
equipment at all.”
...
“We bring in vendors who sell various products and
then review the applicability of those
products to determine if they are
something that might be beneficial for us. We have a large database of
information on all of the latest technology, from devices that
let us listen for a heartbeat in the trunk of a car, to other types of
sound-monitoring and personnel-location devices. We haven’t bought everything we’ve seen,
but we’ve exposed ourselves to an awful lot,” Wilkinson says.
...
Another database tracks gang members. It enables corrections
personnel to instantly tell which prisoners are
gang members,
information readily shared with law enforcement. The Intranet system is accessible
only to prison personnel.
The ODRC’s Internet site is equally sophisticated, allowing the
public to keep up with parole information or track the movements of a specific prisoner.
Footnote
TechBeat is the flagship publication
of the National Law Enforcement and
Reproduction of any part of this
publication is encouraged
by NLECTC unless otherwise indicated.
Page 3
More Fire Power for Bomb and Arson
Investigation
Develop a restricted-access electronic library for
forensic and law enforcement professionals. This library will link to databases
of other organizations and associations to provide a
comprehensive source of expertise and research materials. It will be accessible to
lab personnel and to crime scene technicians, who can tap into it from onsite laptop computers.
This online access will include procedural guidelines, information on
unfamiliar types of evidence, and contact names of individuals with indepth
experience in a particular area.
...
“We met extensively with representatives from the
Federal laboratories, including the FBI [Federal Bureau of Investigation] and
ATF [Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms], to make sure there wouldn’t be
any project overlap,”
Dr. Cunningham says. “We now have some of their top people on our board. We’ll use the working
groups and our advisory board to direct our research and training initiatives .
. . no
point in us duplicating research that is being done by the ATF or the
FBI. They already
do superb research in these areas,” he says.
Dr. Cunningham notes that a World Wide
Web site is already in place, and work on the center’s electronic library is under way.
There is even a newsletter, appropriately titled Debris. Center staff
also are developing new training courses for crime lab and law
enforcement professionals. In the future, he says, the center will partner with
the university’s
“We believe in strength in numbers and in a strong
partnership between government, industry, and academe,” says Marilyn Cobb Croach, UCF’s director of Federal
relations.
“We have an amazing research base here, with the
Simulation Training and
Instrumentation Command, the
Page 4
We
Got You Covered
The idea of using science and
technology to combat crime has long sparked the imaginations of the criminal justice
community as well as the general public. Beginning in the 1890s, Sir Arthur
Conan Doyle, through his Sherlock Holmes stories, fascinated readers with techniques such as
cataloging tobacco ashes to identify suspects’ brands of choice. Real life soon
found it was able to imitate fiction, when in 1891 the idea of tracing and identifying
an individual typewriter by peculiarities of the type first appeared in the
Sherlock Holmes’ tale “A Case of Identity.” Three years later, such a process
was invented to help authorities authenticate typewritten documents. Doyle was
later called upon to assist in the investigation of
Despite strong interest, development and adoption of
criminal justice technology has been a slow process. There were scattered early
attempts to update police technology. An early example of police technology was
the
construction of the first modern polygraph in 1921 by a medical student and a
police officer.
However, it wasn’t until the explosion of technology during and after World War II that law
enforcement agencies were able to learn from developments in other organizations,
particularly the military. Radio equipment and surveillance aircraft found their way onto
some larger police departments. But few devices were conceived and developed specifically for
law enforcement applications. It was with this in mind that the U.S. Government
began in the 1960s to assemble the resources to provide specific technical
assistance to the Nation’s law enforcement—and later corrections and forensic
science—communities.
REGIONAL FACILITIES
NLECTC–National
Phone: 800–248–2742 • Fax: 301–519–5149 E-mail: [email protected]
• Voluntary public safety equipment standards and testing
program management,
including testing of body armor, metallic handcuffs, shotguns, and police
vehicles and tires.
• Consumer product lists, testing bulletins, and
equipment performance reports.
• NLECTC system Web site, JUSTNET.
• Equipment, technology, and research information
hotline.
• NLECTC system newsletter, TechBeat.
NLECTC–Northeast
26 Electronic Parkway •
Phone: 888–338–0584 • Fax: 315–330–4315 E-mail: [email protected].mil
• Concealed weapons detection technology.
• Contraband detection technology.
• Audio processing technology.
• Timeline analysis.
• Through-the-wall sensors technology.
• Distributed wireless communications.
NLECTC–West
c/o The Aerospace Corporation •
Phone: 888–548–1618 Fax: 310–336–2227 • E-mail: [email protected]
• Audio enhancement technology.
• Image enhancement technology.
• Vehicle-stopping technology.
• Computer crime technology.
• Trace evidence technology.
Phone: 800–416–8086 or 303–871–2522 in the
E-mail: [email protected]
• Public safety communications.
• Weapons and ballistics systems.
• Crime mapping and analysis training and technical
assistance.
• Corrections and law enforcement outreach support.
• Explosives detection and neutralization
technology.
RELATED FACILITIES
Office of Law Enforcement
Technology Commercialization (OLETC)
Phone: 888–306–5382 • Fax: 304–243–2131 E-mail: [email protected]
• Location and evaluation of technologies for
commercialization
into the criminal justice field.
• Technology assessments, market and financial
analyses, intellectual property evaluations, capital access information, manufacturer
profiling and selection,
and commercialization/business plans.
• Informational technology showcases and
commercialization opportunity programs that connect the criminal justice community with
manufacturers and technology developers.
Border Research and
225 Broadway,
Phone: 888–656–BRTC (2782) • Fax: 888–660–BRTC
(2782) • E-mail: [email protected]
• Border crossing interdiction technology.
• Mobile radio interoperability technology.
• Contraband detection technology.
• Base station/repeaters technology.
• Infrared/night vision technology.
Page 1, 5
Nighttime Eyes
With a new generation of night vision devices that
see in the dark by detecting heat, there is no more hiding in dark corners,
crawling under bushes, or crossing borders on a moonless night. No more tossing
out evidence, ditching weapons, or stashing the drugs. Serving as test beds for these
lightweight, handheld thermal-imaging devices, 10
Developed by Raytheon Corporation and supplied by
the National Institute of Justice (NIJ), these thermal imagers resemble a
typical palm-sized camcorder, but with a much wider lens. They also can be linked
to video recording systems for review of a police pursuit, crime scene investigation, or
surveillance. But because these devices detect heat (infrared
radiation) instead of
visible light, they allow officers to “see” any
heat-emitting object, even one hidden in total darkness. Officers can, for example, spot a suspect
hiding behind or underneath bushes simply by panning the area or locate
recently discarded evidence or weapons that still retain the heat of the suspect’s hands. Because of the heat
emanating from the engine,
even a
parking lot full of cars can be scanned to find a recently driven vehicle.
“You can also use these cameras for search and
rescue, to find people in the woods,” says NIJ program manager Tom Coty. “Infrared
cameras used by fire departments have saved lives. In one city, firefighters
used an infrared camera to scan a smokefilled room. They found an elderly
woman and saved her life,” he says. Because these devices detect images through temperature
contrast, they
also can
be used in the daytime.
Thermal imaging, or infrared
technology, is not new, Coty says. It has been used by the
military for many years and
increasingly sophisticated, long-range
thermal imagers
are used
by the
“There are many uses for infrared technology,” Coty
says. “Officers can use them while searching darkened buildings or houses . . . without using
a flashlight
that would give the suspect an unwanted advantage. They can also use them to pick out
vehicles that have been recently driven. In one case, an officer with an infrared unit
mounted on the patrol car found a hit-and-run suspect’s car parked on a
residential street. Its warm engine made it stand out among the other ‘cold’ cars. Additionally, officers will
be able
to spot recently made tire skid marks, detect the warm-water trail of a swimmer, or find recently
discarded evidence by
the
heat it retains from the suspect’s hands,” he adds.
Coty says the project is actually a two-pronged
effort. Through
the
to install the
thermal imagers,
train operators, and determine how long it takes before the agency is effectively
using the devices.
In the second phase, the university will study the use and effectiveness of the
devices and compare the information to data from a control
group of agencies that did
not receive them.
Coty notes that most of the departments and agencies
receiving the thermal imagers will act as test beds and attempt to find new ways to use the technology. Some of the
other agencies,
however, have more specific plans: The Dallas County Sheriff’s Department will use
the devices for warrant serving; the Grayson County Sheriff’s Department will
use them in water rescue, marina and resort area surveillance, and in counterdrug operations; and the Texas Rangers plan to use
the devices at murder scene investigations and during manhunts.
The cost of the thermal imager together with video
recorders and other accessories can run over $10,000. But according to Coty, “Law enforcement
agencies should see a reduction in the cost of the sensors if a Department of Defense
program is successful in reducing the manufacturing costs of the core
infrared sensor components.” Assisting NIJ in monitoring this grant is the Border Research
and
Page 6
Body Armor–A Common Sense Guide
...
The guide will also provide a history of
the body armor program,
which was created in the early 1970s when E.I du Pont
de Nemours & Co. developed Kevlar®, a material the company intended as a replacement
for the steel belting in radial tires. An NIJ scientist’s musing over whether Kevlar was
also strong enough to stop bullets was the spark that started it all. Shortly thereafter, NIJ
distributed 5,000 vests for field testing to law enforcement agencies
throughout the country. Within 6 months, this new technology—which was originally
met with great skepticism—saved
a police officer’s life.
New Publications
Preventing
In-Custody Deaths. This informational
videotape,
targeted to the many smaller county municipal jail facilities throughout the
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Personal Note
1. Movie: Silence of the Lambs
One of
2. Yogic books on Pranayama
The role of fresh air...in controlling
the mind...to calm down...the human body...
Written around 0502 a.m. Saturday,
November 04, 2006
Revised around 0751 a.m. Saturday,
November 04, 2006
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Page 7
NLECTC Is Online www.nlectc.org
...
To receive future issues of the TechBeat newsletter at no charge,
call 800–248–2742 or e-mail [email protected].
...
NIJ SPONSORS TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE
...
National Institute of Justice (NIJ)...
...
Last August, 19 mid-level managers from law
enforcement agencies across the
Page 8
I’ve Seen
Your Face Before!
...
“We have addressed the fundamental problem of all
two-dimensional systems,
which is that mug shots only have a front and a profile view. But most of the
time people are captured on tape at an angled view,” Eraslan
says. “None of the existing methods can capture that to match it because the human head
is three dimensional.”
Eraslan knew a three-dimensional
problem required a three-dimensional solution.
...
The program also will be equipped with an automatic
composite builder, which will allow the investigator to build a
face while the victim describes the suspect. The investigator will be able to rotate
the head to different angles and change the lighting to recreate the conditions that existed when
the crime occurred.
In addition, the software program will let investigators convert
existing two-dimensional mug shots to three dimensional.
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Reference
Nutter, Ron. (Monday,
February 16, 2004)
Passwords vs. biometric login.
http://www.nwfusion.com/columnists/2004/0216nutter.html
Passwords vs. biometric login
By
Ron Nutter
Network World,
02/16/04
Management just funded an IS audit of the
company. One of the things it picked apart was our password policy (or lack of
one). With some of the projects we work with, auditors suggested we look to
implement
biometric login devices
that would replace the use of a user-entered password. What should we look to
do? - Via the Internet
Depending on what you're using for the server OS,
there are several things the operating system may be able to help with. First
you must require unique passwords. This means that at a basic
level common passwords such as names or dates should be automatically
rejected when the user tries to change them. Something else this step should do
is track a certain number of passwords. This keeps your more
"inventive" employees from continually entering a series of random
passwords to get past the counter to where they can reuse their
"standard" password. Requiring the use of a least one punctuation
mark and possibly at least one capital letter will help the users come up with
a password that will present a challenge for others to try to break. A good way
to test this is to use some of the readily available tools you can download
from the Internet, such as John the
Ripper and others, that run a series of attacks against your login names to
see if the passwords can be easily guessed or broken. Check with your server OS
vendor to see what type of best practice documents it has to further help you
devise a good password policy.
As to biometric, this can get costly depending on
the type of system you choose. A finger scanner can run around $100 depending
on the product; retinal scanners will cost even more. This doesn't even cover
the card reader devices that require you to swipe a card through a reader or a
proximity card that will "unlock" a PC when you're within a certain
distance of the PC. For those who really have to know who's logging in and to
make that even harder, you can use a combination of devices that could require
a finger scan and a badge to be swiped to access some files/projects and just a
finger scan for general access. Although this gives a potentially higher level
of security, this also means the level of administration and troubleshooting
will probably go up as well. Make sure that management understands the
flexibility of this option but just as importantly the costs of implementing
and maintaining a sophisticated login system like this.
RELATED LINKS
Ron Nutter, a Master Certified Novell Engineer and
Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer in the Lexington, Ky., area, tracks down
the answers to your questions. Send your questions to [email protected].
Dr. Internet
Our other helpful columnist.
Help Desk Forum
Post and answer networking questions.
Biometrics
for small business
Network World, 05/19/03
Is biometrics
ready to bust out?
Network World, 10/07/02
Authentication
gets smart
Network World, 12/02/02
Giving
your computer the finger
Network World Technology Executive Newsletter, 06/30/03
(Reference: Nutter, Ron. (Monday,
February 16, 2004)
Passwords vs. biometric login.
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Reference
Sharma, Jyoti. (Wednesday,
November 26, 2003)
In today’s world, the spy is the limit!
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/319297.cms
In today’s world, the spy is the limit!
JYOTI SHARMA
TIMES NEWS NETWORK[
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2003 02:05:59 AM ]
Case I: A ready-to-use solution is sprayed on an
envelope. A few seconds later, the paper becomes translucent and allows one to
see the contents inside.
This technique is being used to sniff out letter bombs.
Case II: After accepting a bouquet, the MD of a
finance corporation discusses the company’s future plan of action with board
members. Meanwhile, rivals of the company sitting far away are privy to these
details thanks to the micro-camera-cum-phone nestling in the bouquet.
If Case II reminds one of a recent imbroglio
involving a political heavyweight, the resemblance is more than coincidental.
For, spying is no longer about peering under oversized hats. ‘‘The meat and
potatoes of our business are intelligence equipment. All I can say is that this
equipment is rather like tiny James Bond-type gadgets,’’ points out Samir Khanna of Law Enforcement
Associates, manufacturers of hi-tech spying devices.
Scientific know how has given birth to spy-cams,
with Tokyo, Singapore and Hong Kong being the major markets for these gadgets costing
between Rs 60,000 and Rs 5 lakh.
And with everything from key-hole cameras to electronic gun cameras with antennae available, spying was
never so sophisticated as it is now. So much so, sunglasses fitted with fibre-optic video cameras
are on the prowl.
The latest in spy cameras are those triggered by
motion detectors. The size of a pea and easily fitted onto a mattress spring,
the X 10 camera is wireless and can be monitored via computer. ‘‘Simultaneously,
there is a rising demand for the truth phone, which includes a micro-cassette
recorder and a lie detector in a cell phone,’’ says Khanna.
Of course, that’s not all. Spying in today’s time
includes bullet-proof umbrellas; shirt buttons which are actually surveillance
microphones; and pens which activate tiny tape recorders.
But whatever happened to the good old bug? ‘‘It is
very much around —but the bug has certainly become supersensitive. Moreover,
due to their puny size, surveillance bugs can be anywhere — from the coffee cup
to the pack of cigarettes. There might be scores of such bugs in a room, but
they are difficult to find even after close perusal,’’ says Khanna.
Generally, Swedish and Japanese gadgets rule the roost in the field of bugs.
What was created for professional
spies is now available over-the-counter. ‘‘The uncertainty of what lies
ahead has bred paranoia like never before,’’ says Marsha Pearl, marketing
director for CCS, which deals in covert surveillance gadgets. Adds Khanna, ‘‘The bulk of sales feed
off concerns
at home and the workplace that the people
around us are not trustworthy.’’ As Sherlock Holmes would say, it’s
elementary —-the little things in life can spell big trouble for those in the
line of spy ware.
(Reference: Sharma, Jyoti. (Wednesday, November 26, 2003) In today’s
world, the spy is the limit!
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Reference
Sniffen, Michael J. (Sunday, February 22, 2004)
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=519&u=/ap/20040222/ap_on_re_us/terror_privacy_3
Sun Feb 22, 2:27 PM ET
By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Despite an
outcry over privacy implications, the government is pressing ahead with
research to create powerful tools to mine millions of public and private
records for information about terrorists.
AP Photo
Congress eliminated a Pentagon (news - web sites)
office that had been developing this terrorist-tracking technology because of
fears it might ensnare innocent Americans.
Still, some projects from retired Adm. John
Poindexter's Total Information Awareness effort were transferred to
In addition, Congress left undisturbed a separate
but similar $64 million research program run by a little-known office called the Advanced
Research and Development Activity, or ARDA, that has used some of the same researchers as
Poindexter's program.
"The whole congressional action looks like a
shell game," said Steve Aftergood of the
Federation of American Scientists, which tracks work by
Poindexter aimed to predict terrorist attacks by
identifying telltale patterns of activity in arrests, passport applications,
visas, work permits, driver's licenses, car rentals and airline ticket buys as
well as credit transactions and education, medical and housing records.
The research created a political uproar because such
reviews of millions of transactions could put innocent Americans under
suspicion. One of Poindexter's own researchers, David D. Jensen at the
Disturbed by the privacy implications, Congress last
fall closed Poindexter's office, part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency, and barred the agency from continuing most of his research. Poindexter
quit the government and complained that his work had been misunderstood.
The work, however, did not die.
In killing Poindexter's office,
Congress quietly agreed to continue paying to develop highly specialized
software to gather foreign intelligence on terrorists.
In a classified section summarized publicly,
Congress added money for this software research to the "National Foreign
Intelligence Program," without identifying openly which intelligence
agency would do the work.
It said, for the time being, products of this
research could only be used overseas or against non-U.S. citizens in this
country, not against Americans on
Congressional officials would not say which
Poindexter programs were killed and which were transferred. People with direct
knowledge of the contracts told the AP that the surviving programs included some
of 18 data-mining projects known in Poindexter's research as Evidence
Extraction and Link Discovery.
Poindexter's office described that research as "technology
not only for `connecting the dots' that enable the
Ted Senator, who managed that research for
Poindexter, told government contractors that mining data to identify terrorists
"is much harder than simply finding needles in a haystack."
"Our task is akin to finding dangerous groups
of needles hidden in stacks of needle pieces," he said. "We must
track all the needle pieces all of the time."
Among Senator's 18 projects, the work by researcher
Jensen shows how flexible such powerful software can be. Jensen used two online
databases, the Physics Preprint Archive and the Internet Movie Database, to
develop tools that would identify authoritative physics authors and would
predict whether a movie would gross more than $2 million its opening weekend.
Jensen said in an interview that Poindexter's staff
liked his research because the data involved "people and organizations
and events ...
like the data in counterterrorism."
At the
Privacy advocates feared that if such
powerful tools were developed without limits from Congress, government agents
could use them on any database.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., who fought to restrict
Poindexter's office, is trying to force the executive branch to tell Congress
about all its data-mining projects. He recently pleaded with a Pentagon
advisory panel to propose rules on reviewing data that Congress could turn into
laws.
ARDA, the research and development office, sponsors
corporate and university research on information technology for
The office said it has given researchers no
government or private data and obeys privacy laws.
The project is part of its effort "to help
the nation avoid strategic surprise ... events critical to national security
... such as
those of Sept. 11, 2001," the office said.
Poindexter had envisioned software that could
quickly analyze "multiple petabytes" of
data. The Library of Congress (news - web sites) has space for 18 million
books, and one petabyte of data would fill it more
than 50 times. One petabyte could hold 40 pages of
text for each of the world's more than 6.2 billion people.
ARDA said its software would have to
deal with "typically a petabyte or more" of
data. It noted
that some
intelligence data sources "grow at the rate of four petabytes
per month."
Experts said those probably are files with satellite surveillance images and
electronic eavesdropping results.
The Poindexter and ARDA projects are vastly more
powerful than other data-mining projects such as the Homeland Security
Department's CAPPS II program to classify air travelers or the six-state,
Matrix anti-crime system financed by the Justice Department (news - web sites).
In September 2002, ARDA awarded $64 million in
contracts covering 3 1/2 years. The contracts went to more than a dozen
companies and university researchers, including at least six who also had
worked on Poindexter's program.
Congress threw these researchers into turmoil. Doug Lenat, the president of Cycorp
Corp. in Austin, Texas, will not discuss his work but said he had an
"enormous seven-figure deficit in our budget" because Congress shut
down Poindexter's office.
Like many critics, James Dempsey of the Center for
Democracy and Technology sees a role for properly regulated data-mining in evaluating
the
vast, underanalyzed data the government already
collects.
Expansions of data mining, however,
increase "the risk of an innocent person being in the wrong place at the
wrong time, of having rented the wrong apartment ... or having a name similar
to the name of some bad guy," he said.
___
On the Net:
DARPA: http://www.darpa.mil/
ARDA: http://www.ic-arda.org/
(Reference: Sniffen, Michael J. (Sunday, February 22, 2004) U.S.
Pressing for High-Tech Spy Tools.
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Reference
Strassmann, Mark. (Monday,
November 17, 2003)
Cameras Trace Students' Every Move.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/11/17/eveningnews/main584085.shtml
Cameras Trace Students' Every Move
(Photo: AP / CBS)
"It's like a second set of eyes watching them.
It's like a second teacher in the classroom." Amy Thibodeaux, teacher
(CBS) When an
On-board cameras showed it all.
In a
For better or worse, as CBS News
Correspondent Mark Strassmann reports, in American
schools security cameras are now almost as routine as
backpacks.
And what really goes on during the
school day is becoming an open book.
Walk into any classroom in
At
"It's like a second set of eyes watching
them," says teacher Amy Thibodeaux. "It's like a second teacher in
the classroom."
Now, in classrooms, in hallways and
outside the school, most student behavior here even meets the standards of
principal Pam
Manners.
Manners can check in on any classroom,
any time. When students know they're being watched, she says, they act as
their own monitors.
"I am able to deal more with the business of
learning, and not the business of behavior," says Manners.
Critics say it's constant
scrutiny that gives students the wrong lesson.
"Keeping a camera on them every day of the week
is teaching them that being watched is OK and possibly Big Brother is
good," says Jill Farrell, of the Free Congress Foundation.
But parent Janet Pugh believes school cameras help
protect her daughter Emily - protection from trouble Roy Balentine
wishes he had.
"I was of the mindset that this won't happen
here," says Balentine.
Balentine was principal at
There were no cameras at
Would they have helped?
"I can't say that they would have prevented the
situation from happening, but I think there are certainly situations now that we have seen where cameras
very possibly could help prevent a situation," says Balentine.
Or help preserve a situation on
videotape.
Sometimes with a warning as
clear as a school bell.
© MMIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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Reference
Teutsch, Danielle. (Sunday,
October 05, 2003)
Spying on your teens via satellite for $600.
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/10/04/1064988452313.html?from=storyrhs
Spying on your teens via satellite for $600
By Danielle Teutsch
October 5, 2003
The Sun-Herald
Tracking units to monitor children and teenagers -
disguised as watches, mobile phones and belts - have hit
The latest in spy gadgets available in
They include a computer device and software that can
record email and chatroom conversations and a clothing
spray that can tell if teens are having sex.
Australian company Internav's
mobile phone-sized Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking device has emergency alarm button
and software so parents can zoom in on
a child's whereabouts using a home computer. It costs $895.
Managing director Graham Thomas said he expected the
main buyers to be parents of teenage girls.
"Teenage girls going out at night who go home
on a bus or by taxi - this is really for the peace of mind of their
parents," he said.
Geoff Day from Kid Safe System Locators, said his
GPS devices, which will be in stores by Christmas, would help find children in
cases of abduction or accidents such as drowning. They can be hidden in
watches, belts and jewellery and cost from $600 to
$700.
Mr Day, who founded the
Hug-Ur-Kids Organisation after his stepchildren were
abducted by their biological father, said: "Parents can rest assured that,
if their child goes missing, they will be able to pinpoint where they are
straight away."
Mr Day said
Parents are also the targets for a new computer
gadget, the KeyKatcher, which records emails, chatroom conversations and websites.
The $199 battery-sized device is being marketed as
an "extra set of eyes" to give parents "peace of mind".
But NSW Council for Civil Liberties president
Cameron Murphy said the tracking devices and other gadgets designed to spy on
children were "expensive gimmicks" that would break down
trust in families.
"Part of a child's growth is learning
responsibility," he said.
"I don't think anyone should be spying on
anyone else."
NSW Commissioner for Children and Young People
Gillian Calvert said parents had a false perception that
In 2002, she said, 39 reports were made to the
police about abducted children under the age of nine, many of them involving
custody disputes.
"I think parents are more fearful of the
community," she said. "We see that in the declining number of
children walking to school. But the fact is,
Superintendent Kim McKay, commander of the Child
Protection and Sex Crimes Squad, said statistics showed that children were more
likely to be assaulted by someone they knew than a stranger.
"The chance of being hurt by a stranger is
quite low," she said. "The problem is at home. That's the
reality."
She said it was more important for parents to check
who their child was with, rather than tracking their every movement.
NSW Federation of Parents and Citizens Associations
president Sharryn Brownlee said the tracking devices
played on parental anxiety.
She said busy parents who worked were often worried
about their children because they could not monitor them as closely as parents
who were full-time carers.
"There is no evidence to show our country is
less safe," she said.
"But there is more money, and there are more
cars around.
"Parents worry about binge drinking, driving
and partying."
Concern about safety has also led the drive for
mobile phone ownership among children and teens.
Quantum Market Research's YouthSCAN
survey shows 31 per cent of 10- to 14-year-olds have a mobile.
And a report by market research
company RedSheriff on youth and technology
found 89 per cent of parents felt safer knowing their child had a mobile phone;
while 90 per cent were paying for their child's mobile phone.
(Reference: Teutsch, Danielle. (Sunday, October 05, 2003) Spying on your teens via satellite for $600.
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Reference
Thompson, Tanya. (Monday,
December 08, 2003) Satellite tracking for child sex abusers.
http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=1345582003
Mon 8 Dec 2003
Satellite tracking for child sex abusers
TANYA THOMPSON HOME AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT
SEX offenders will be tracked using satellite
surveillance upon their release from prison, under controversial plans being
drawn up by the Scottish Executive.
Supporters say the state-of-the-art technology, which will
electronically tag paedophiles and other dangerous
former convicts, will act as a "silent witness" in the field
of crime prevention.
The Scotsman has learned that trials are to
start in
MSPs are currently seeking advice from security
consultants and experts in the field of criminal justice before rolling out a programme in
"This technology
will give us greater surveillance of sex offenders and violent offenders who
disappear from view," said an
insider.
"Every day, serious sex offenders are
released from prison who, we all know, are a risk. Let’s have some control over them."
The move represents the latest application of electronic
monitoring technology, which is now assuming a central role in the government’s
attempt to cut crime.
Paedophiles, violent criminals and sex offenders will be
tagged with tracking devices capable
of checking their every move. The devices, which, unlike normal tags, use satellite-positioning
technology to pinpoint their location, will contain built-in electronic diaries
that can be downloaded to provide a minute-by-minute record of where the
offender has been.
Clive Fairweather,
the former chief inspector of Scotland’s prisons, said the devices’ ability to
track dangerous criminals, such as the sex offender John Cronin, is
significant.
He said: "I was always worried that there
was nothing available to check sex offenders on their release. They come out and the victims have no
protection. The majority of them will be released ... and this technology
provides a safety net for the public."
Cronin carried out a brutal attack and serious
sexual assault on Judy X, a Tory party activist, at her home in Edinburgh in
May 1992. He was initially jailed for life but the
Since his release in 1996, Cronin has been in
and out of jail, often for attempting to target women. As he has been so
closely watched, he has not had the opportunity to commit another serious
assault, but it has cost
Lothian and Borders Police hundreds of thousands of pounds to give him such
intense scrutiny.
Critics say the new tracking technology will
cost about £1.5 million to test, and there are concerns that it should be used only in conjunction with
rehabilitation treatment.
Last night, a spokeswoman for the Scottish
Human Rights Centre said there had
to be a balance between public protection and the offender’s right to privacy.
She said: "Tagging is not an end in itself and it must be used with rehabilitation
of prisoners. People have the right to a fair hearing and the right to privacy.
There would need to be clear conditions about when the monitoring was used and
why."
New advances mean an
offender can wear an electronic tag around his ankle and carry a hi-tech mobile
phone fitted with a "super-chip" that can detect where the offender
is anywhere around the UK to within three metres.
The developments have been greeted favourably by child protection campaigners, who have long
called for the obligatory tagging of paedophiles.
Sandra Brown, the director of the Moira
Anderson Foundation, a children’s charity, said: "You can never be 100 per
cent sure about technology, but this is an additional safeguard. paedophiles should forfeit their
rights and civil liberties.
"These checks will
help give victims some peace of mind."
The cost of tagging is
about £4,000 over six months, compared to £18,000 to keep a prisoner in jail.
Until now, the technology
available to tag offenders has not allowed instant communication with them. The
devices, linked by satellite, will be connected to a call centre with a voice
recognition system to identify the offender. If the person is in an area out of
bounds to them - near a school, for example - they will receive a call warning
them to move away or the police will be alerted.
An Executive spokeswoman said they were in
touch with the Home
Office on development of
the new technologies. Editorial
comment, Page 17
(Reference: Thompson, Tanya. (Monday, December 08, 2003) Satellite
tracking for child sex abusers.
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Reference
Tomkins, Paddy.
(Monday, October 27, 2003) Cameras just part of bigger picture.
http://www.news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=307&id=1185922003
Mon 27 Oct 2003
Cameras just part of bigger picture
PADDY TOMKINS
THE
Many of you will be familiar with the City in
View project that links CCTV cameras throughout the Capital.
We are presently building a new force
communications centre which will be able to use a feed from the 400 or so
cameras operated by the five local authorities in the police areas.
The capabilities of CCTV systems have improved
at the same rate as their popularity.
Most systems now have all-weather and
low-light capabilities. The more sophisticated systems have the ability to
track a selected "target" - passing from camera to camera as the
target moves through a given area - and are linked to facial recognition
systems which can identify, for example, known shoplifters in shopping malls or
large stores, or car thieves in large car parks such as those at airports.
CCTV is a response to the perception of the
urban landscape, in particular the city or town centre, as a "dangerous
place".
In the mid-80s, more than 60 per cent of the
public interviewed for the British Crime Survey feared that "they or
members of their household might become victims of crime".
By the end of the 80s, 25 per cent of those
surveyed said they regarded law and order as "today’s most important
political issue".
This focus and level of concern has diminished
only slightly in Scotland in recent years, according to the Scottish Crime
Survey, but the political will to impact upon crime, especially in urban areas,
needed no further impetus and the appearance and continued popularity of CCTV
systems suitable for use in public places seems assured.
The advent of CCTV in public areas has
effectively filled the spaces between the relatively secure and comprehensively
observed private areas, such as shopping malls, thus reducing accessibility for
citizens without their coming under surveillance.
A commensurate growth in the securing of
sufficiently wealthy residential areas behind stout fences, electronic access
gates and private CCTV systems has produced a situation whereby public space
has shrunk.
CONVERSELY, poor housing areas and estates
have become increasingly isolated as their residents cannot afford security
measures, local authorities run out of money for crime prevention measures, and
the police become more thinly spread as demand for their services exceeds
increases in resources.
These areas represent the shrinking spaces
between areas under surveillance on the urban map.
The fact that it is often the residents of
these areas whom others have installed surveillance
systems to secure themselves against, indicates a developing trend whereby
individuals are more easily identified and are effectively excluded from a
growing number of areas as "having no business there".
This exclusion or differentiation is
exacerbated by the understandable drive of the privatised
and regionally fragmented utility companies in the UK to target reliable and
lucrative customers at the expense of unprofitable customers, accompanied by a
withdrawal from areas, especially large rural areas and the inner cities, with
poor levels of prospective return and high operational costs deterring new
investment.
The rather slow roll-out of broadband beyond
the conurbations is an example.
In this respect, CCTV is only one element in a
range of electronic measures typified by customer databases, pay-access
services and subscription cable services.
The potential for linking CCTV to road
transport informatics (RTI), and geographic information systems such as utility
networks, credit rating databases and crime pattern analysis applications to
further combat crime, offers a utopian vision of benevolent social control for
some, but a dystopian nightmare of commercialised
segregation into urban fortresses for others.
Despite these analyses, perhaps the most
striking thing about CCTV systems, and one which cuts to the heart of modern
notions of individual freedom and privacy, is the degree to which they enjoy
overwhelming public support - largely, critics will say, motivated by fear of
crime.
A recent survey in Glasgow showed that 90 per
cent of people supported one of the largest schemes in the UK, 66 per cent
believed the system made the city centre a better place, and 40 per cent said
it would encourage them to visit the city more regularly.
Surveys showing public approbation for CCTV
should, however, be treated with caution.
There is strong evidence to show that young
people, and young black men in particular, are suspicious of the systems
because they have found they have attracted disproportionate attention from
private security guards operating the systems in private malls and other places
to which the public have access, where an emphasis is placed on the exclusion
of perceived disruptive or undesirable elements of society.
MOST of the undeniably strong support for CCTV
schemes proceeds from belief in their effectiveness in reducing crime.
While I do not pretend to assess the efficacy
of CCTV as a "technical fix" for urban crime, it is noteworthy that
studies carried out by the Home Office in
In Newcastle, the incidence of street robbery
showed no decrease six months after the cameras were installed; burglary, car
theft and criminal damage fell faster than in the Northumbria
Police area as a whole, but no faster than in those parts of Newcastle city
centre not covered by cameras.
Many analysts suggest that CCTV has the effect
of displacing, rather than reducing crime, and is dangerous if regarded as a
panacea rather than as one element of a wider strategy incorporating land use, housing,
transport policies and measures which encourage natural - people looking out
for each other - rather than simply mechanised
surveillance.
CCTV thus needs to be part of a much more
sophisticated and complex answer to the problem of crime.
Paddy Tomkins is
chief constable of Lothian and Borders Police
(Reference: Tomkins, Paddy.
(Monday, October 27,
2003) Cameras
just part of bigger picture.
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Reference
UPI. (Saturday, March 20, 2004) Spy
phone can secretly eavesdrop on owner.
http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/20040319-083718-8137r.htm
March 20, 2004
Spy phone can secretly eavesdrop on owner
HONG KONG, March 19 (UPI) --
Special
chips can turn cell phones into so-called spy phones, eavesdropping devices
that can secretly and suddenly turn into microphones.
The spy phones are sold worldwide, with the main
customers being wealthy wives in
A special chip is inserted into an
ordinary cellphone, and the phone's software is
altered so that when the phone is called from a certain number, it will answer
automatically without ringing, vibrating or lighting up, turning the phone into
a bugging device that picks up any nearby sound.
Some European spy phone vendors have touted the
phones as a way to monitor teenagers.
What is remarkable about the spy phone
is that it can be turned on virtually anytime and anyplace, as long as the
phone is on and the battery is charged.
The Chinese market for the phones is growing though
they are both expensive and illegal -- anyone caught with one could be
imprisoned for up to three years. They are also illegal in the
(Reference: UPI. (Saturday, March 20, 2004) Spy
phone can secretly eavesdrop on owner.
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Reference
Cameras
can read text at 100 yards. (Wednesday,
August 16, 2000)
http://countdown.org/end/big_brother_11.htm (Alternate link)
Those
who claim to sell safer streets now have a new product on the market—it is a
high-tech video surveillance camera. Today's purveyors of safety are claiming
to clean up the streets but it's at a price, and the price is our right to
privacy.
Today's
high-tech entrepreneurs are selling new and improved equipment to spy on people—people walking on the street, passengers
on trains or even students going
to their high school lockers. This is not the stationary video camera you've
grown accustomed to at your local 7-Eleven store. What is being marketed now,
as the fix-all solution to crime, are cameras that are able to
zoom in from more than 100 yards away and read the print on political flyers
being distributed on the public sidewalk, even if it's dark outside. These are
cameras that also tape your conversation, even if you're whispering. Indeed,
the new video cameras have the capability of peering through the windows of
private homes and businesses.
No other technique can record in such graphic detail personal and
private behavior. Yet this technique is not explicitly controlled by any law. Laws are needed to protect us from
the dangerous and watchful eye of Big Brother, as the new technology creates an
almost Orwellian potential for surveillance and invites abuse.
(Reference: Cameras can read text at 100
yards. (Wednesday,
August 16, 2000)
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Reference
Cybercafes spy on bank deals. (Sunday,
May 23, 2004)
http://www.deccan.com/city/cityNews.asp?#Cybercafes%20spy%20on%20bank%20deals
Cybercafes spy on bank deals
Sub-Inspector P Ravi Kiran told Deccan Chronicle that
the Cyber Crime Police had been receiving complaints that login and
transaction passwords of some bank account holders had been “hijacked” in cyber
cafes. Most
banks offer internet banking as a free service. There are two types of
transactions in e-banking, financial and non financial. Financial
transactions include funds transfer, demand draft and bankers’ cheque requests and non-financial transactions include
checking account balance status and downloading statements. “Even
non-financial transactions should not be made in cafes,” said the police officer.
In one case, police received a complaint from a software professional who was operating his account from
at cyber cafe at Panjagutta. While rebooting the
system, he found an IOPUS spy tool. When he checked the network, he found that Keyloggers was installed. With that software, the cyber
cafe operators can know whatever the user types on his system in any cabin of the cafe. “We are probing into the complaint
and will raid the cafe,” said
“In most cases, e-banking passwords are used for
online purchasing as there is less scope for identification,” said a police
officer. Transaction passwords will enable any user to operate the
account. Cyber
Crime SP Shivanand Reddy is monitoring the cases.
(Reference: Cybercafes spy on bank deals.
(Sunday, May 23, 2004)
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Reference
http://www.spacedaily.com/news/gps-03zu.html
GPS NEWS
India and the European Union will sign two
agreements to boost trade and investment at the fourth India-EU summit this
week during a visit by Italian Prime Minister Silvio
Berlusconi, European diplomats said.
One agreement is on customs co-operation to
facilitate trade, while the other is to improve maritime ties, aimed at
reducing shipping times and costs, said the ambassador of the European
Commission (news - web sites) Francisco da Camera
Gomes.
The centrepiece of the one-day
summit on Saturday will be
Galileo, due to be operational by
2008, will feature 30 satellites capable of tracking everything from aircraft
to cars. Both
"The Galileo declaration is not yet a final
agreement. Negotiations are in the early phases ... what remains to be
negotiated is the practical technicalities," Gomes said.
Italy's ambassador to India, Bennetto
Amari, whose country currently holds the presidency
of the EU, said the summit would send out a series of messages to the
international community.
"The first would be a renewed engagement of the
EU and India for strengthening the United Nations (news - web sites) and a
reconfirmation of our efforts to make a the United Nations central to
international life,"
Amari said.
The EU will also "recognise"
Another message from the summit would be that
terrorism has no place or justification, can hit everybody, every country and
needs a collective response, he said.
Both sides would review regional crises -- in
On
Italy, along with Britain and Spain, has been
supportive of US action in Iraq, while the EU's two
biggest members, France and Germany, have been bitter critics of Washington's
policies.
Amari said
All rights reserved. © 2003 Agence France-Presse.
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(Reference: India, EU To Sign Agreements During Italian PM's Visit. (Tuesday,
November 25, 2003)
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Reference
Introduction to Photogrammetry
http://www.univie.ac.at/Luftbildarchiv/wgv/intro.htm
...
The first analytical plotters were
introduced in 1957.
From the 1970ies on, they became commonly available on the market. The idea is
still the same as with analogue instruments. But here, a computer
manages the relationship between image- and real-world coordinates.
...
The main difference to the former analogue plotting
process is that the plotter doesn´t plot any more
directly onto the map but onto the monitors screen or into the database of the
computer.
The analytical plotter uses the computer to
calculate the real-world coordinates, which can be
stored as an ASCII file or transferred on-line into CAD-programs. In that way,
3D drawings are created, which can be stored digitally, combined with other
data and plotted later at any scale.
Digital
Digital techniques have become widely
available during the last decade. Here, the images are not on film but digitally
stored on tape or disc. Each picture element (pixel) has its known position and
measured intensity value, only one for black/white,
several such values for colour or multispectral
images.
3.2.3. Mapping from several
photographs
This kind of restitution, which can be done in 3D,
has only become possible by analytical and digital photogrammetry.
Since the required hard-
and software is steadily getting cheaper, it´s
application fields grow from day to day.
Here, mostly more than two photographs are used. 3D objects are
photographed from several positions. These are located around the object, where any object-point
should be visible on at least two, better three photographs. The photographs
can be taken with different cameras (even ”amateur”
cameras) and at different times (if the object does not move).
* technique
As mentioned above, only analytical or digital
techniques can be used.
During all methods, first a bundle adjustment has to
be calculated. Using control points and triangulation points the geometry of
the whole block of photographs is reconstructed with high pecision.
Then the image coordinates of any desired object-point measured in at least two
photographs can be intersected. The result are the
coordinates of the required points.
In that way, the whole 3D object is digitally
reconstructed.
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Reference
Swimmers'
modesty to be preserved.
(Saturday, July 24, 2004)
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20040724a3.htm
Swimmers' modesty to be preserved
The material will be used by Japanese swimmers at
the
The material, dubbed Video Proof, will be used as lining in
swimwear and is intended to ease concerns by female swimmers over being shot by
infrared
cameras, which can make regular swimwear appear transparent, the Osaka-based sportswear
company said.
"Since there are some competitive swimmers who can't concentrate on swimming (due to the situation), with their results adversely affected in the competition, we hope to back them up as much as possible (with the new
material)," a company official said.
Seven swimmers including Junko Onishi,
a bronze medalist at the
Video Proof swimwear remains opaque
even when filmed by infrared cameras by absorbing infrared rays in wavelengths
used by cameras currently on the market, according to the company.
Descente will use the material as lining for some
130,000 swimsuits for competition to be launched under the brand name arena in
December.
It also plans to use the new material
as underwear for swimmers and competitors in other sports, including track and
field, and volleyball,
the company said.
The
(Reference: Swimmers'
modesty to be preserved.
(Saturday, July 24, 2004)
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Published on internet: Monday, November 24, 2003
Revised:
Thursday, February 22, 2007
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“Thou belongest
to That Which Is
Undying, and not merely to time alone,” murmured the Sphinx, breaking its muteness at last. “Thou art
eternal, and not merely
of the vanishing flesh. The soul in man cannot be killed, cannot die. It waits, shroud-wrapped,
in thy heart, as I waited,
sand-wrapped, in thy world. Know thyself, O mortal! For there is One within thee, as in all men, that comes and stands at the bar and bears witness that there IS a God!”
(Reference: Brunton, Paul. (1962)
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