Futurismic

Since 9/11, the government’s use of video surveillance on the public has increased dramatically (this opens a new window with a .pdf). While the vast majority of this surveillance has been implemented to “protect the country from another 9/11-style attack”, it has been used in other arenas as well, namely in attempts to catch wanted criminals. It’s effectiveness in such a capacity is questionable at times, and the effects of such surveillance on society is noteworthy [photo courtesy of kafka4prez].

However, companies like 3VR - one of the largest surveillance software and video-analysis producers in the world - have begun development of increased-privacy software that would seek to protect innocent people from being falsely targeted by authorities. Their software is hoping to visible blur every face in video surveillance unless an investigation requires that the people in the video be identified. It seems like a small step in the right direction to counter the immense violations by the NSA not too long ago, but at least it’s something.

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This month’s story comes from Kristin Janz, who took a rather different approach to narrative structure; “Veritas Nos Liberabit” is a story told in emails about how emails can tell stories.

So read on, and don’t forget to leave Kristin some feedback in the comments at the bottom. Enjoy!

Veritas Nos Liberabit

by Kristin Janz

From: jess hentzchel <jessicahentzchel@gmail.com>
Sent: August 1, 20__ (12:42 a.m., EDT)
To: Amy Pearson <apearson@eslpharm.com>
Subject: Dancing bear - kind of funny (fwd)
Attachments: dancingbear.gif

Amy - Check out the dancing bear, it’s sort of cute.

#

From: Amy Pearson <apearson@eslpharm.com>
Sent: August 1, 20__ (9:23 a.m., EDT)
To: jess hentzchel <jessicahentzchel@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Dancing bear - kind of funny (fwd)

This isn’t like you, Jess. Forwarding cute animated graphics of anthropomorphic predators? What next, angel poetry penned by senile old ladies in the Midwest? Or - heaven forbid - “Footprints”?

So it’s official. David is getting divorced. I overheard him telling Vikram in the cafeteria this morning.

Amy

#

From: Jonathan Lu <jlu@eslpharm.com>
Sent: August 1, 20__ (9:31 a.m., EDT)
To: Amy Pearson <apearson@eslpharm.com>
CC: Medicinal Chemistry
Subject: Re: Dancing bear - kind of funny (fwd)

> Jonathan - Check out the dancing bear, it’s sort of cute.

Amy, why you send this to me? I don’t know what it means, Veritas Nos Liberabit. It is French?

#

Continue reading “VERITAS NOS LIBERABIT by Kristin Janz”

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Researchers at the University of Washington are curious to see what effects RFID technology could have on social networking. To see what happens when the tags become ubiquitous, they installed two hundred antennae in and around a campus building and gave tags to twelve researchers. The results? Their every move is recorded by computer. [image by akaalias]

If that sounds sinister, that’s the entire point. The experiment is designed to see if the negative implications for privacy can be balanced by the more positive functions. [via Roland Piquepaille]

It’s good to see these sort of implications being considered in public … maybe we’ve started to learn from our mistakes and keep an eye on the road ahead?

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The ever-illuminating Charles Stross talks about plans for MI5 to have access to the databases for Oyster, the wireless card that regular users of the London Underground swipe instead of paper tickets. He discusses the possible ramifications of intelligence agencies being able to track your movements across the capital.

The news stories about Oyster pose good questions about the future of RFID: with cracks in the encryption beginning to be found, what are the risks of having everything wirelessly connected? Is the added convenience going to expose us to a new breed of hackers? Expect this to appear in the next series of Spooks, for sure.

[via Charles Stross, image by Mirka23]

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Wired has given David Brin some rebuttal space to defend his Transparent Society concept in response to Bruce Schneier’s recent criticisms (as covered earlier here on Futurismic):

“How did we get the freedom we already have, becoming the first civilization in history to (somewhat) defy ancient patterns? Yes, it’s imperfect, always under threat. We swim against hard currents of human nature. But reciprocal accountability is the innovation that lets us even try.

Schneier claims that The Transparent Society doesn’t address “the inherent value of privacy.” But several chapters do, and I conclude that privacy is an inherent human need, too important to leave in the hands of state elites, who are themselves following ornate information-control rules written by other elites — rules, by the way, that never work. (Robert Heinlein said “‘privacy laws’ only make the bugs smaller.”)”

Going back and reading Schneier’s piece again, it does seem like he’s arguing a similar point from a different direction - they’re both opposed to top-heavy hierarchies of control. It would be great if Wired could arrange some sort of formal public debate between Schneier and Brin - the topic has never been more relevant, after all, and as Cory Doctorow points out, talking about these issues is the best way to ensure things don’t get any worse. [image by David de Groot]

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From the annals of incredibly stupid things to do comes this one from the UK.  Evidently someone (a junior official who’s probably been sacked by now) from the Revenue & Customs office thought it’d be a good idea to burn their database of people to a couple compact discs and send it off by unregistered post to the National Audit Office.  The CDs contain personal records, “including their dates of birth, addresses, bank accounts and national insurance numbers“.  The link also has video of the Chancellor speaking.

This points to a lot of concerns people have about their private data.  Similar things have happened in the US - my parents were sent a letter by their mortgage company a few years back saying that a box of data reels containing more than one million entries on loans had been ‘lost.’  My folks were given ONE free credit check and then told to closely monitor their accounts for the next seven years.

An update tells us that the R&C thought it would be too expensive to remove the personal details not needed by the NAO.

(image from mutednarayan)

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New technologies have a tendency to develop unintended side effects, for both good or ill–just look at how automobiles changed society. Satellite imaging gave us better weather forecasts and more accurate military surveillance–and now, stronger sales leads for home contractors!

A company called Geosemble is using artificial intelligence combined with satellite imagery to direct companies toward local residents whose houses and grounds are in need of repair. The National Science Foundation in the U.S. has given them a Phase I grant to further develop the process.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I’ll go wrap my house in aluminum foil.

(Via Gizmag.)

(Photo from Gizmag, too.)

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While the governments of the United States and Britain continue to deploy surveillance cameras at a startling pace, researchers in top universities and private laboratories are developing the next generation of surveillance technology.

The BBC recently published an article title “Big Brother is Watching Us All,” in which they highlight some of these new technologies:

Gait DNA, for example, is creating an individual code for the way I walk. [The] goal is to invent a system whereby a facial image can be matched to your gait, your height, your weight and other elements, so a computer will be able to identify instantly who you are.

And if being able to instantly identify an individual in a public crowd wasn’t enough, the same article reports on a tool under development that can look through walls and determine your emotional state:

Using radio waves, you point it a wall and it tells you if anyone is on the other side … and it turns out that the human body gives off such sensitive radio signals, that it can even pick up breathing and heart rates … “it will also show whether someone inside a house is looking to harm you, because if they are, their heart rate will be raised. And 10 years from now, the technology will be much smarter. We’ll scan a person with one of these things and tell what they’re actually thinking.” 

With this level of surveillance available within a decade, I can imagine whole industries springing up that will protect an individual’s privacy while in public and private spaces.  This begs two questions.  One, will governments allow such privacy protection products and services? And two, if you try to protect your privacy, will this just engender more surveillance of you because the government will assume you have something to hide?

[Via KurzweilAI.net]

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