A prelude to the 2012 Olympic Games?
Posted 08.11.2011 at 4:01 pm
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Police in London likely aren’t relishing their jobs this week, but Scotland Yard is getting a chance to test drive facial recognition technology that’s under consideration for use during the 2012 Olympic Games. The AP has learned that police there are feeding images into the newly upgraded program, and the results are somewhat promising.
But not more promising than simply disseminating photographs to the general public, which is still far cheaper and more effective than using the nascent facial recognition technology. In an effort to finger those rioters wanted for some more egregious crimes (like assault), the police have released some two dozen photos and videos to Flickr, where 40,000 viewers have looked them over for familiar faces.
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Technology, Clay Dillow, facial recognition software, law enforcement, london riots, military, securityBut unfortunately, the images released by the police are mostly grainy pics snapped by CCTV cameras--images too distorted for the software to make use of. And therein lies the problem for this kind of technology: the images need to meet certain standards of quality, and the system has to have something to match against--if a perp has no past record with police, the system comes up empty. Well, that and the fact that facial recognition technology is about the biggest, scariest Big Brother-ish technology taking shape out there right now.
Still, it’s a test run that could help developers tweak the tech for 2012, where it very well may be rolled out. The people that Olympic security forces will be looking for at the Summer Games are the kind that have a record of past misdeeds, and therefore in many cases will have a good photo on file. In that case, Scotland Yard might be onto something.
[AP]
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Thousands of people in england woke up one day and said "oh . . . we are living full, satisfying lives . . . with joy and happiness . . .So, Let's protest, loot and riot . . just because we live happy lives."
This is the symptom of a much deeper problem - Poverty.
Benjamin Franklin had something to say about poverty…”Laziness travels so slowly that Poverty soon overtakes him.”
Poverty isn't always a symptom of laziness. Often it's a symptom of a totalitarian regime that overtaxes and oppresses its citizens.
Both of which are often causes of rioting once people get sick of it and decide to do something about it.
That's not to say that I think that rioting is the RIGHT thing to do, but it is often what unthinking mobs of people do in those circumstances.
Woo hoo! Hi big bro! So excited, this tech is amazing, can thwart crime, help to locate abductees, etc. And it is SCARY to think about WHO is making these systems, and even more so to WHO has access... I just pray that these people are good people who don't want to screw the rest of us over! Oh, and forgot to mention, this WILL benefit insurance companies, as they can monitor anyone filing a claim for any contrary behavior (i.e.- taking off the cast and bandages between trials, etc.)
hear hear! i think matsci has hit the proverbial nail on the head.
"I am for doing good to the poor, but...I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. I observed...that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer."
— Benjamin Franklin
When has giving the 'poor' unlimited amounts of money ever fixed the problem in history? where has this new theory come from? I've come to believe that it comes from the masses- about half the USA population is on some sort gov't wealth redistribution program. (ofcourse its never reported that way, but do the math. it adds up fast)
Instead of fixing the problem, we've only created a system that demands more and more from less and less. congratulations. they've accomplished their goal of abolishing capitalism.
Oh look at those dangerous Marching BAND-ets!
@menoc...please don't copy and paste posts, it's not that good
@drchuck1
same topic . . . . same opinion. Both topics come down to the same damn thing.
I don't waist my time spewing garbage out of my brain just for the sake of appearing "Knowledgeable".
Copy & paste baby . . . . anything else is for the computer illiterate or the easily swayed.
Ben Franklin also said "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
In other words he'd be very opposed to any sort of big brother technology like this.
@DainBramage1991
Correct.
If there are no jobs that pay well and there is a lot of inequality there will be rampant poverty and when there is poverty there will be crime.