• FBI asks U.K., other countries to participate in U.S. terror database

    The FBI’s Server in the Sky project would allow countries to search and swap biometric data on some of the world’s most wanted criminals; project is similar to the EU’s Prüm Treaty

  • Metro Group, IBM lead Europe's largest RFID rollout

    IBM, German retailer Metro Group — the world’s fourth largest retailer — roll out Europe’s largest RFID project, using IBM technology; suppliers from China and Vietnam are already participating; health experts argue that implementing similar systems throughout the food supply chain would improve health and safety and protect consumers from tainted food; business analysts say RFID would increase efficiency and allow better management of inventories

  • Thales to develop autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV)

    Thales, in collaboration with seven partners, will develop a fully autonomous underwater vehicle dedicated to maritime surveillance and security; specifications call for high levels of energy and decision-making autonomy

  • Storage offers investors intriguing opportunities

    More and more surveillance cameras are placed around critical infrastructure facilities, above city streets, and long highways; these cameras generate mountains of visual material — and there is a need to store all this material; storage solutions will be a major business in the coming years

  • U.S., U.K., China, and Russia are "endemic surveillance societies"

    Respected annual report ranking countries on privacy protection gave the four nations the lowest possible rating; concern over terrorism, immigration, and border control continue to erode privacy and increase surveillance

  • DARPA selects Goodrich for next-generation night vision technology

    Company to develop next-generation night vision sensor technology for helmet-mounted and micro vehicle applications based on its indium gallium arsenide-night vision (InGaAs-NV) SWIR sensors

  • Terrorists in Europe more difficult to track

    As intelligence services and law enforcement use ever-more-sophisticated technology to monitor and track terrorists, al Qaeda operatives and sympathizers are countering by using different measures to avoid detection; they avoid places that they assume are bugged or monitored, such as mosques and Islamic bookshops, use more sophisticated codes, and more

  • Preventing bicycle theft -- and public safety

    A graduate engineering student at Leeds University develops a clever video analytic tool to help cut down the number of bicycles being stolen in the U.K. every year (currently, 500,000 bicycles); tool can also be used for other public safety missions

  • TSA places behavior observation teams in more airports

    TSA behavior observers now operate in more than fifty U.S. airports; since January 2006, behavior-detection officers have referred about 70,000 people for secondary screening; of those, about 600 to 700 were arrested on a variety of charges

  • U.S. grounds 39 Lockheed P-3C surveillance planes

    The U.S. Navy says that structural fatigue has caused the grounding of 39 out of the Navy’s 161 P-3C Orion surveillance planes; Orions used heavily in post-9/11 operations, including in Iraq and Afghanistan

  • Motorola invests in RFID maker

    Santa Clara-based Intelleflex raises $15.5 million from Motorola, Arcapita Ventures; the move may signal a change of attitude by VCs, who have so far failed to warm up to the technology; another RFID maker, Colorado-based SkyeTek, raised $10 million in July

  • AT&T shows RFID solution for schools

    RFID-GPS solution will allow school district to monitor schools buses, but also school equipment, students and teachers, and visitors; it will also help in disaster response

  • Enjoying the benefits of GPS technology without giving up on privacy

    The proliferation of location-based services raises the specter of an Orwellian Big Brother society in which a citizen’s every move is monitored and tracked; two computer scientists offer a way to enjoy the benefits of location-based services, while avoiding the more sinister aspects of the technology

  • Maker of small UAV raises $25 million

    Insitu makes small, light UAVs aiming to tip soldiers off to an impending ambush or track the car of a terrorism suspect; company raises $25 million in fourth round; UAV market will expand from the current $3.4 billion per year worldwide to $7.3 billion within ten years

  • Another milestone for SBSS

    Boeing successfully tests the visible sensor, payload electronics, and high speed gimbal of the Space Based Space Surveillance (SBSS) system