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Legal Eagle: Who owns surveillance video?
An ATM robbery prompts the question after the bank refuses to show surveillance footage to the aggrieved customer; Ken Kirschenbaum urges companies to comply with law enforcement requests; in most cases, no harm can come of sharing footage, so long as the company is not worried about what the tapes might show about their own procedures
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Integrian buys Signal Innovations Group
Deal expands Integrian’s mobile surveillance and analytics business; SIG known for data modeling and algorithm design for defense applications; acquisition the third in two years for Integrian
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Texas virtual border patrol goes on-line
After a one-month stress test, state proclaims effort a success; more than 200,000 register to watch for illegal immigrants on their desktops; one major arrest reported; technological and contracting issues hamper full $5 million roll-out
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Trace Systems eyes growing wireless sensor network market
The wireless sensor network market is growing by leaps and bounds, and this Virginia-based company wants to be a major player in it
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Military technologies fight elephant poaching
Dual and triple-use technology adds value to a homeland security portfolio; sensors designed to locate enemy soldiers now helps track down illegal hunters; magnetometer detects guns; Cornell adds gunshot locating application to elephant monitoring system
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Aurora Flight Sciences to test new Goldeneye 80 UAV
Federal government hopes for success in effort to encourage UAVs to run on standard diesel fuel; procurement efficiency at issue; Goldeneye 80 goes up against Honeywell UAV for DARPA funding, and both move forward into Phase 3 testing; winning UAV will support small units on tactical missions
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New catadioptric lens a major improvement on the fisheye
Old, distortion-prone lenses to sleep with the fishes; Korean researcher the first to create a commercially-viable wide-angle system using both a catopric and dioptic lens; indoor surveillance prime market
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Oxford City outfits housing employees with tracking and recording badges
New technology allows rent collectors to quietly raise the alarm during a confrontation; push a button and an open channel is created; conversations are recorded for legal purposes; Connexion2, Vodafone, and Identicom provide the technology
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IBM gives Cook County a boost with cruiser-linked infrastructure surveillance
Cameras from Panasonic and Pelco are wirelessly connected to in-car screens and DVRs; Project Shield aims to protect 126 sites at a cost of only $900,000
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IBM considers snatching up Verint
Moving into the analytics market, IBM eyes a nice prize; Verint has strong software, but Comverse’s ownership is depressing stock price
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UK Ministry of Defense launches urban warfare technology contest
The MoD Challenge asks professionals and tinkerers alike to help improve communications and intelligence for British soldiers fighting in city environments; winner will receive an MoD contract; draft requirements now available on the Web
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OASIS to promote standardized semantic search and content analytics
Semantic searches and contents analytics have become more popular — and necessary — as communcation through the Internet, e-mail, cellular phones, but also by audio and video means, has grown exponentially; OASIS steps in to establish standards in such searches
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Daryl Gates to be appointed president of Global ePoint
Company, a manufacturer of digital surveillance and detection solutions, chooses the fomer LAPD chief as its new head
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Smarter Security Systems launches new outdoor DVR line
Temperature-hardened and weatherproof SmarterDVRs are designed for remote, outdoor use in such rugged locales as oil fields — and even underwater; system sports motion-based recording and internet connectivity; lower power consumption a critical feature
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The long view
Outsourcing Surveillance: A Cost-Effective Strategy to Maintain Maritime Supremacy
Persistent surveillance is one of the most valuable types of surveillance missions. But, Josh Portzer and Aaron Stein write, “Persistent surveillance is a challenging problem for two reasons: capacity and cost. In today’s budgetary climate, “simply increasing U.S. military capacity is not tenable. [But] by increasing the number of sensors globally, the Department of Defense would not only gain valuable, near-persistent surveillance data in areas of interest at (relatively) affordable prices, but also would enjoy the option of gray-zone operations given the strategic ambiguity that outsourcing provides.”
Abuse-Resistant Digital Surveillance
Digital surveillance of suspects must be silent so as not to alert them. However, systems currently in use lack stringent technical mechanisms to ensure the legality of these measures. Security protocols to make legally required monitoring of digital communications more resistant to misuse and mass surveillance.