Ride the Lightning
Cybersecurity and Future of Law Practice Blog
by Sharon D. Nelson Esq., President of Sensei Enterprises, Inc.
Boston Bombers: Video Surveillance and the "Smart City"
April 22, 2013
No one who followed the Boston Bombers story could fail to notice the use of videos during the investigation. But pull the curtain aside and there's a lot of technology coming at us that cuts both ways - a boon for investigations and a threat to our privacy.
As Information Week reported, there's a lot we don't yet know about the use of videos in the Boston investigation, but here are some of the things we do know.
On April 15th, the city's Office of Arts, Tourism and Special Events was testing a new operations dashboard manufactured by IBM. The system allowed a view of the marathon course and a two-block area around it. The system wasn't available to law enforcement that day, but it was available for the investigation afterwards. And the city will add 911 data and perhaps surveillance feeds in the future.
Since 2010, Boston has had a real-time crime center which receives video feeds from dozens of cameras across the city. It is now expanding its smart city initiative with sensors, predictive analytics software from IBM and performance-reporting software from SAP. The number of cameras in use on street corners, under bridges and in local shopping areas has expanded significantly in recent years.
Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, New York, San Francisco and other U.S. cities have undertaken similar initiatives, often with federal funds.
New York City is deploying a full-scale surveillance system, the Domain Awareness System, that pulls in data from 3,000 closed-circuit TVs, 2,600 radiation detectors and 100 license plate readers. Microsoft, which developed the system with the NYPD's Intelligence Division and Counter-Terrorism Bureau, is marketing the platform to other cities. According to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, "Our camera network now has the capacity to alert police to abnormalities it detects on the street, such as an abandoned package that is left on a corner."
Are privacy activists alarmed? Of course. Earlier this year, Seattle activists destroyed more than a dozen security cameras to protest the city's growing surveillance network.
Facial recognition, analytics and other advanced technologies can sniff for signs of trouble in real time. IBM, as part of its Smarter Public Safety line of products, sells a video correlation and analysis suite that offers real-time alerts, facial recognition and "situational awareness" of a location. The FBI is developing facial recognition capabilities as part of its $1 billion Next Generation Identification program.
The Boston bombings make a powerful argument for this kind of technology – but inevitably, it will be abused. Stay tuned – stories of misusing video surveillance are sure to emerge.
Hat tip to Dave Ries.
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