Surveillance

More opposition in Europe to Galileo
Growing opposition in Europe to the Galileo Project, Europe’s response to the U.S. GPS network; behind schedule and over budget, many ask whether the benefits of the system would outweigh its costs
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Former spooks run intelligence gathering and analysis outfit
Erik Prince’s security empire has an outfit called Total Intelligence Solutions which collects intelligence about natural disasters, business-friendly governments, overseas regulations, and global political developments for clients in industry and government
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UAV-fired missile kills five militants in Pakistan's North-West territory
U.S. deployed weapons-carrying UAVs to Iraq and Afghanistan; the administration plans to rely more heavily on these systems in hunting down and killing al Qaeda operatives now operating freely in Pakistan’s lawless North-West Territories
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Combining RFID tags with sensors
RFID tags are also in use to track the location of items to which they are attached; a German research institute develops RFID sensors to continuously monitor moisture, temperature, light, and acceleration; new tags will keep a closer eye items throughout the supply chain, and may be used to secure cargo containers
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Wilkes-Barre installs CCTVs
This is not yet U.K.-like CCTV coverage, but more and more American cities install CCTVs to monitor their streets
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Maryland State Police to gather critical infrastructure data from air
Johns Hopkins’s APL develops new technology which allows officers to monitor critical infrastructure facilities digitally from the air and quickly locate, inspect important structures during patrols
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Belgian police employ blind officers to analyze wiretap recordings
As wiretapping of potential criminal and terrorist-related activity in Belgium grows, so is the need of the Belgian police for individuals with acute and sensitive hearing to analyze wiretaps; police found that some blind individuals have that extra sensitivity to sounds which allows them better to analyze wiretaps
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Coast Guard to beef up Arctic mission
As global warming melts the ice around the Northern Pole, neighboring nations are eager to stake a claim to the heretofore frozen region’s natural reaches; the melting will also allow a route for ships from Europe to Asia which is 4,000 miles shorter than the route through the Panama Canal; the U.S. Cost Guard wants to keep an eye on all this
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Questions raised about effectiveness of terror watch-list
There are now about 755,000 names on the U.S. terror watch list; since 2004, about 200,000 names have been added to the list each year; legislators, security experts say it has become unwieldy
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Canada to use UAVs to patrol the arctic circle
Canada plans on buying a fleet of UAV to patrol the arctic ice and water; move but the latest sign of countries bordering the arctic claiming stake to portions of it
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All users of Toronto transit system to be photographed
By June 2008, every person using Toronto’s transit system — there are 1.5 million of them daily — will be photographed; 12,000 minicameras are being installed on every bus, streetcar, subway car, and at each station
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A drone able to carry out a long range flight of more than ten hours
South Korean researchrs build a UAV which uses hydrogen fuel cell to stay a loft for more than ten hours; drone relies on sodium borohydride rather than compressed hydrogen gas
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House passes 911 bill
Bill facilitates migration from today’s 911 system to a IP-based 911 system to enable the public to access 911 from anywhere, anytime, and from any device
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DARPA works on equipping insects with reconnaissance gear
DARPA hopes cyborg insects with embedded microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) will run remotely controlled reconnaissance missions for the military and law enforcement
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Army researchers develop IED-detecting radar
Researchers at the Army Research Lab develop new low-frequency, ultra-wideband radar which detects IEDs, senses through walls, and supports robotic ground vehicles
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