"it could to follow an object chosen by the user."

Imagine a bank of cameras trained at different angles on many objects, such as people at an airport. It takes time for an operator to look at the images in each camera, see if a particular object of interest is in that image, then manually zoom in to take a closer look. Researchers from the University of Toronto have developed a system that allows the user to indicate an object in one view and automatically zoom to that object in all other views. The system sorts all the camera views according to the quality of the view and zooms into all the images that contain the object in about half a second in a system containing as many as 200 cameras, according to the researchers. The system can be used anywhere where multiple cameras are used for surveillance, such as airports or casinos. It can also be used to speed the process of parsing through a large number of still pictures of a scene, such as archeological and crime scene pictures. The researchers are working on adding real-time object tracking to the system so it could to follow an object chosen by the user.

The system coordinates the multiple views using the three-dimensional spatial location of the object of interest, which it finds using the visual input plus sound localization information from an array of microphones.

http://www.alwayson-network.com/comments.php?id=7487_0_6_0_C


From:
Aftermath News
Top Stories - December 28th, 2004

The government wants to expand a program that allows air travelers to avoid extra security inspections at airports by volunteering for background checks. Transportation Security Administration chief David Stone said Monday that the agency is looking to add new airports -- domestic and international -- to the registered traveler program, now being tested in five cities. Calling it "one of the most critical programs for TSA," Stone said he's keen to find international partners for it. Under the test program, people who fly at least once a week give the government their biographical and biometric information, which is checked against databases. Participants who pass muster receive a card that's checked at an airport kiosk, which then lets them into a special security lane. If they don't set off an alarm, they're whisked right through.

The program began in July and was originally scheduled to last 90 days. It was so popular that the TSA extended it indefinitely. About 10,000 frequent fliers are enrolled at airports in Boston, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Washington.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TRAVEL/12/14/registered.travelers.ap/


From:
Aftermath News
Top Stories - December 28th, 2004

Creeping Big Brotherism

Los Angeles police are asking for federal funding to expand facial-recognition systems to help them identify people, it was reported today. "It's like a mobile electronic mug book," Capt. Charles Beck of the Rampart Station told the Los Angeles Times. "It's not a silver bullet, but we wouldn't use it unless it helped us make arrests." Jose Hernandez, an alleged 18th Street gang member, is one of 19 people recently arrested by officers using the gadgets on the mean streets just west of downtown, The Times reported. Officers Mark Hubert and David Nick recently stopped two young men on a bicycle on Alvarado Street to check them out -- doubling is illegal -- and senior lead Officer Mike Wang used a handheld facial-recognition device on the one who was pedaling. Ramona Ripston, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, is against letting police use the devices. "This is creeping Big Brotherism. ... There is a long history of government misusing information it gathers," she told the newspaper. Ripston said the devices might encourage racial profiling and lead officers to question any young people dressed in a certain way.

In the eight weeks that officers assigned to the Rampart Station have been testing the devices, they have used them about 25 times, resulting in 16 arrests for alleged criminal contempt of a gang injunction and three for felony warrants, The Times reported.

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/news/122504_nw_facial_recognition.html


From:
Aftermath News
Top Stories - December 28th, 2004

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/1/hi/sci/tech/762514.stm


Informant: MARK

UK: Party leaders humiliated by ID card revolt:

The Government's flagship plans for ID cards suffered a rebellion last night as more than a quarter of the Commons failed to turn up to vote for the Bill.

http://news.independent.co.uk/low_res/story.jsp?story=595135&host=3&dir=62
http://snipurl.com/biud


From Information Clearing House

http://www.infowars.com/print/ps/aclu_flash_nationalid.htm


Informant: STRIDER

Having been deprived of the right to be alone and private, man becomes part of a puppet show of the powers that be

Three years before his death in 1949, George Orwell in his book, "Why I Write," said: "From a very early age, perhaps five or six, I knew that when I grew up I should be a writer." The British author was a man of great insight. Five decades before the Soviet Union collapsed, he foresaw the event in "Animal Farm," a satiric allegory about corruption and authoritarian rule. He also wrote, "What I have most wanted to do throughout the past 10 years is to make political writing into an art. My starting point is always a feeling of partisanship, a sense of injustice." What made Mr. Orwell more famous was "1984," a powerful novel about the threat to individual freedom, published a year before his death. His description of the terror of the bureaucratic state still chills readers. The lesson of "Animal Farm" is that a society can trend toward totalitarianism the moment its members start flattering those in power. This notion became a virtual reality in the form of Big Brother in "1984." Winston Smith, the protagonist of "1984," is watched 24 hours through a telescreen. He can turn down the sound, but he cannot turn off the camera. Smith is watched all the time, "asleep or awake, working or eating, indoors or out of doors, in the bath or in bed." On the wall, the caption reads, "Big Brother Is Watching You," and it is not an empty statement.

Having been deprived of the right to be alone and private, man becomes part of a puppet show of the powers that be and brings about his own destruction. Does this happen just in fiction?

http://www.iht.com/getina/files/211770.html


From:
Aftermath News
Top Stories - December 20th, 2004

The Total Infomation Act that was changed to the Terrorist Information Act already did this. Its only about openly admitting it here.

Susan


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/19/politics/19military.html?th

Pentagon Seeks to Expand Role in Intelligence-Collecting

By DOUGLAS JEHL and ERIC SCHMITT

Published: December 19, 2004

ASHINGTON, Dec. 18 - The Pentagon is drawing up a plan that would give the military a more prominent role in intelligence-collection operations that have traditionally been the province of the Central Intelligence Agency, including missions aimed at terrorist groups and those involved in weapons proliferation, Defense Department officials say.


The proposal is being described by some intelligence officials as an effort by the Pentagon to expand its role in intelligence gathering at a time when legislation signed by President Bush on Friday sets in motion sweeping changes in the intelligence community, including the creation of a national intelligence director. The main purpose of that overhaul is to improve coordination among the country's 15 intelligence agencies, including those controlled by the Pentagon.

The details of the plan remain secret and are evolving, but indications of its scope and significance have begun to emerge in recent weeks. One part of the overall proposal is being drafted by a team led by Lt. Gen. William G. Boykin, a deputy under secretary of defense.

Among the ideas cited by Defense Department officials is the idea of "fighting for intelligence," or commencing combat operations chiefly to obtain intelligence.

The proposal also calls for a major expansion of human intelligence, which is information gathered by spies rather than by technological means, both within the military services and the Defense Intelligence Agency, including more missions aimed at acquiring specific information sought by policy makers.

The proposal is the latest chapter in the fierce and long-running rivalry between the Pentagon and the C.I.A. for dominance over intelligence collection.

White House officials are monitoring the Pentagon's planning, as is the C.I.A. The proposal has not yet won White House approval, according to administration officials. It is unclear to what extent American military forces have already been given additional authority to carry out intelligence-gathering missions.

Until now, intelligence operations run by the Pentagon have focused primarily on gathering information about enemy forces. But the overarching proposal being drafted in the Pentagon, which encompasses General Boykin's efforts, would focus military intelligence operations increasingly on counterterrorism and counterproliferation, areas in which the C.I.A. has played the leading role.

"Right now, we're looking at providing Special Operations forces some of the flexibility the C.I.A. has had for years," said a Defense Department official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the plan has not yet been approved. "It would be used judiciously, and with all appropriate oversight controls."

General Boykin's proposal would revamp military commands to ensure that senior officers planning and fighting wars work more closely with the intelligence analysts tracking threats like terrorists and insurgency cells. Another part of the Pentagon's plan was articulated in a recent directive by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld that instructed regional commanders to expand the military's role in intelligence gathering, particularly in tracking terrorist and insurgent leaders.

While declining to comment directly on the recent directive, a Pentagon spokesman, Bryan Whitman, said, "Regional commanders are looking at ways to maximize the use of their resources to contribute to the overall intelligence picture."

In public allusions to the plan, both General Boykin and Vice Adm. Lowell E. Jacoby, the director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, have stuck to generalities. It is still unclear how many additional personnel may be assigned to intelligence gathering or when and where such operations may take place. But some intelligence officials say they believe those remarks open the way to more clandestine military operations intended to gather intelligence on terrorists and weapons proliferators.

http://www.news10now.com/content/all_news/central_new_york/?SecID=86&ArID=33430


Informant: Laurel