• Security cameras to be installed at all DC metro stops

    In response to a rash of crimes near Washington, D.C.’s metro stations, local authorities recently announced plans to install security cameras outside all eight-six train stations; the Metro Board’s Safety and Security Committee released a report several weeks ago that found that last year the number of thefts and robberies had hit five-year highs; the Board has purchased 153 color cameras thanks to a $2.8 million DHS grant; with violent crimes around the Metro on the rise, more residents have begun to push for the installation of security cameras

  • China clamps down further on Internet to prevent unrest

    The Chinese government has eyed the protests sweeping across the Middle East and North Africa with growing unease; to quash the prospect of wide spread protests at home, the government has increasingly clamped down on the Internet and other forms of communication; access to Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter have been blocked while government agents are more carefully monitoring cellphone calls, electronic messages, and emails; residents say they have never seen such high levels of censorship before

  • DigiSensory cameras predict crime before it happens

    With DigiSensory Technologies’ sophisticated cameras and sensor systems, law enforcement agencies and transportation departments across the United States are now able to proactively monitor and respond to crimes or accidents as they unfold; the company’s Avista sensors process the images that its 3.2 megapixel high-resolution camera records in real time and can automatically detect when a crime is occurring; when it senses something it will alert law enforcement officials instantly; the sensors can also assist transportation departments in analyzing traffic patterns in real time; the system could allow officials to change one way streets, design real time traffic signals, and multiple speed limits to make traffic flow more smoothly

  • Lockheed developing autonomous and covert rover

    A surveillance robot aims to operate around humans without being detected by them; the machine uses a laser scanner to builds a 3D computer model of its surroundings and uses a set of acoustic sensors to distinguish the proximity and direction of footsteps

  • TSA considering "identity-based" screening

    TSA does not call it “profiling,” but “identity-based screening”; the department is asking for public comments on the proposed system; “Physical screening will likely never go away completely, but the idea of adding identity-based security makes good sense and it’s an idea we’re actively exploring,” the department says

  • Precision parachute system for pin-point delivery of sensitive loads

    Military units often operate behind enemy lines, and disasters often sever transportation links; in both cases, the provision of supplies — military or humanitarian — is a major issue; now there is a solution; the manufacturer says that the precision air-cargo parachute — classified as a UAV becasue of its navigation capabilities — is the only commercially available system in the world that can ensure the pin-point delivery of sensitive mission equipment, humanitarian aid, and supplies fully automatically from the air without damage

  • Israeli military intelligence to monitor groups critical of Israel

    Israel believes that at least some of the organizations criticizing its policies pursue a broader agenda: the delegitimization of Israel; in response, Israel’s Military Intelligence several months ago created a unit within its research division, dedicated to monitoring left-wing groups; the new MI unit will monitor Western groups involved in boycotting Israel, divesting from it, or imposing sanctions on it; the unit will also collect information about groups that attempt to bring war crime or other charges against high-ranking Israeli officials, and examine possible links between such organizations and terror groups

  • Ex-CIA head praises drone warfare

    More than forty people were killed in Pakistan last week in a U.S. drone attack near the Afghan border; despite the controversial use of drones, ex-CIA director Michael Hayden says they are winning the war; ten years after 9/11, al Qaeda’s leadership no longer enjoys sanctuary in the tribal areas of Pakistan where for many years, it has been able to plot and train its recruits

  • Surveillance tech developers capture Breakthru venture capital

    Three academics from the University of New Brunswick were awarded $285,000 in cash, the richest entrepreneurship competition in Canada, to continue developing better surveillance camera technology

  • Jails turning to full body scanners

    Cook County Jail in Chicago recently installed four full-body scanners to help improve security; officials say that the body scanners have enabled officers to better detect contraband items, hidden away in body cavities, and reduced the need for strip searches; the machines are located in the jail’s two maximum security areas as well as the initial processing area; officials say they plan to begin using body scanners at the Cook County courthouse to scan detainees before they enter the courtroom

  • Society over-reliant on vulnerable satnav systems

    A new report warns that society has become “dangerously over-reliant” on satellite navigation systems, just two weeks after such a system was declared safe for guiding aircraft from space; the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) works through a network of forty ground stations that gather positional data from the U.S.-run Global Positioning System (GPS) and beams that up to transponders aboard three satellites in geostationary orbits over Europe (part of the planned Galileo system); the more precise, amalgamated data is then sent back down to receivers aboard aircraft or other vehicles

  • Beijing to track individual movement through cell phones

    Beijing could soon track the daily movements of seventeen million residents by tapping into their cell phones; authorities have proposed a program designed to help ease traffic congestion by providing up to the minute data on an individual’s movements; critics say that this is an attempt by authorities to prevent large crowds from forming; the proposed plan comes as Chinese officials have grown increasingly worried about domestic unrest in light of the mass protests sweeping across the Middle East; Chinese police forces turned out in full force after anonymous calls for mass protests were posted online; the government has also placed more than eighty activists under house arrest while others have gone missing

  • Video Surveillance Clock keeps watch

    If you want to keep an eye on the goings-on in your home or office while you are away, you may want to consider the Video Surveillance Clock; the small (2 3/4″ Diam. x 3/4″ D ) analog clock has a built-in, motion-activated video surveillance camera that records both audio and video and takes photographs too

  • Officials say unified government-wide databases with shared access is the future

    Federal agencies are looking to reduce the “stove piping” of information by using a “person-centric view” to open proprietary databases that store information within a particular agencies to allow state, local, and federal agencies to access it and share information; these databases depend on developing common identification and access systems where employees would use a single credential to access information; the Department of Justice and the FBI have rolled out programs that embrace this philosophy; N-DEx is a database that collects criminal case files, past histories, and other pertinent information and makes it available to investigators at all levels

  • Using location-based services to protect infrastructure

    Location-based services (LBS) have enabled marketing firms to alert mobile phone users of nearest coffee shops and eateries as well as help phone owners find their geographical location on hand-held mapping devices; now, location based service enabled phones can help protect critical infrastructure facilities by alerting authorities about threats and giving them time to apprehend intruders