fuNctioN cReeP

Monday, September 26, 2005

Biometrics Out The Ass In Singapore
"Biometrics, the science of using behavioural traits such as fingerprints or facial features for identification, is catching on in Singapore.
Industry players say most Singapore organisations, ranging from schools to slimming centres, have taken to biometrics to control access to secured areas.
And they believe that the use of biometrics in data and network security will gain popularity as the industry matures.
It will not be long before more Singaporeans start using fingerprint or 2D facial scans for identification purposes."
(more)

Canada Re-examines Anti-Terrorism Act
"The legislation was introduced shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., to give government new powers to detect, fight and prevent terrorism.

Critics say the law infringes on people's freedom and invades their privacy. Civil rights groups argue that rights are being eroded in the name of the very security biometrics is being developed to provide."
(more)

Biometric Imaging Faces a Reality Check
"There was a period of time, post-September 11th, when biometrics was hyped. For instance, in 2001 it was widely believed that face recognition (FR) technology could be used in a surveillance application to accurately identify an individual. Today, 3-D FR promises to be a forensic tool in a similar way that fingerprint is today. Research and development on 3-D FR promises the future ability to take a partial image from a video and construct the entire face off that partial image, allowing for accurate identification."
(more)

Written at 7:23 PM by rene - PermaLink

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Sunday, September 18, 2005

Future Is Now

Biometric High School
"Bangalore city has taken e-governance a step forward by introducing biometrics in primary schools to keep a count on the attendance of their students and teachers."
(more)

High-Tech School Bus Designed To Protect Kids
"The bus is a model of sorts that the nonprofit Points of Lights Foundation and a number of technology companies are trying to put on the market.

'We can tell not only what's going on on the bus (and) wherever the bus maybe located in the case of an emergency, but also what's going on around the bus,' said Tony Watson, the CEO of the Alliance Leadership Group, a consulting group."
(more)

Shhhh! They Can Hear You
"Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have found a way to turn the clicks and clacks of typing on a computer keyboard into a startlingly accurate transcript of what exactly is being typed.

In a paper released last week, the researchers explained how they developed software that could analyze the sound of someone typing on a keyboard for just ten minutes and then piece together as much as 96 percent of what had been typed."
(more)

A Case Study in Bungling
"Biometrics Limited has raised a heap of cash from investors, put it in the bank, then not managed to sell even $50 worth of biometrics in two years.

To make matters worse, the board is locked in a huge cat fight. Not that there's much worth fighting over, apart from the $900,000 still sitting in the bank."
(more)

Written at 5:39 AM by rene - PermaLink

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TERMINOLOGY

fuNctioN cReeP: is what occurs when an item, process, or procedure designed for a specific purpose ends up serving another purpose for which it was never planned to perform.

Big Brother: an entity that is able to watch over all our actions in a unknown restrictive, controlling way with covert technology or other clandestine activities. It is commonly used to refer to a fear of the day when we will have zero privacy, due to government surveillance and personal accurate knowledge. The term was born from George Orwell's book "1984" where a government controls its citizens through continual surveillance.

The 4th Amendment: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

Panopticon: first used by Jeremy Bentham as an architectual model in designing a prison. The concept follows that you could save money by building a circular prison with a singular tower in the middle for the guard. By keeping the guard in the dark and all the prisoners in the light, those being guarded could not tell when they were being watched.

Surveillance: In the middle ages, Surveillance was a man on a horse who was called a "scout." Now surveillance includes satellite imagery and aerial photography, sometimes from unmanned aircraft, and computer network hacking. Some more common, everyday surveillance techniques include eavesdropping, dumpster diving, video monitoring, and RFID.

Biometrics: automated methods of recognizing a person based on a physiological or behavioral characteristic. Among the features measured are; face, fingerprints, hand geometry, handwriting, iris, retinal, vein, and voice. Biometric technologies are becoming the foundation of an extensive array of highly secure identification and personal verification solutions.

Iris Scanning is a method of biometric identification; pattern recognition is used to determine the identity of the subject. Iris scans create high-resolution images of the irides of the eye; IR illumination is used to reduce specular reflection from the cornea. The iris itself is a "good subject" for biometric identification, because it is an internal organ that is well protected, it is mostly flat and it has a fine texture that is unique even for identical twins.

RFID stands for Radio Frequency IDentification, a technology that uses tiny computer chips smaller than a grain of sand to track items at a distance. RFID "spy chips" have been hidden in the packaging of Gillette razor products and in other products you might buy at a local Wal-Mart, Target, or Tesco - and they are already being used to spy on people.

The VeriChip passive RFID device is the core of key VeriChip applications. About the size of a grain of rice, each VeriChip contains a unique verification number, which can be used to access a Subscriber-supplied database providing specific information. Once implanted just under the skin, via a quick, painless outpatient procedure (much like getting a shot), the VeriChip can be scanned when necessary with a proprietary VeriChip scanner. A small amount of radio frequency energy passes from the scanner energizing the dormant VeriChip, which then emits a radio frequency signal transmitting the individuals unique verification (VeriChipID) number.