http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s1428126.htm
Smart surveillance has alarm bells ringing Judy Skatssoon ABC Science Online Tuesday, 2 August 2005 Smile <http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/img/techno/crowd020805.jpg> Smart surveillance technology will be able to tip off authorities about unusual behaviour (Image: Reuters/Stephen Hird) A surveillance system that singles you out if you're acting suspiciously and alerts authorities so they can take pre-emptive action is being developed in Australia. The system uses behaviour recognition software to identify unusual activity, such as shifting around on a bus, says Professor Barney Glover, of Curtin <http://www.curtin.edu.au/> University of Technology in Western Australia, which is working on the system. Glover acknowledges the technology raises privacy issues but says it could help prevent crime and terrorism, such as the recent London bombings. "It's adding another level of intelligent analysis to the data stream that's already coming in," he says. Glover says the smart surveillance system, which can compress large amounts of data, is based on computers learning what normal behaviour is, then looking for patterns of behaviour outside the norm. The system would then alert the authorities when it detects unusual behaviour. The technology, which is still in early stages, would work in conjunction with other technology, such as facial and unattended baggage recognition systems, Glover says. He says the surveillance technology could be used at airports, industrial sites and on public transport. On the buses Glover says the technology isn't designed to recognise fine detail, such as fidgeting or acting nervous. But it would detect more obvious behaviour. "For example, pickpockets have a very strange behaviour pattern on a bus compared to most people," Glover says. "They generally move around from seat to seat to find a mark, while most people sit down and then depart. "A system can detect someone who is shifting seats in that way and alert the authorities that there's a possible pickpocket on the bus." Privacy concerns Roger Clarke, a visting professor in computer science at the Australian National University <http://www.anu.edu.au/> in Canberra, says the technology would result in countless false alarms and constitute a civil liberties infringement. "It's a horrendous proposition in terms of interfering with the way the world works," he says. "Think about a school bus, think about a tourist bus, everybody moves around. "It's completely naive to suggest that any workable process could result from this kind of analysis, human behaviour is just too complex." Anxious houses Behaviour recognition technology also has implications for monitoring the elderly or people with disabilities in their home. Glover says the university has also devised a system where "anxiety" levels are built into a house. "The house gets anxious if an abnormal event continues," he says. "Eventually it reaches an anxiety level where it sends an SMS to a carer and says, 'grandma seems to be sitting on the floor beside her bed and isn't responding to the prompts from the house, please intervene'." Glover says the most sophisticated forms of the technology are expected to be available within the next 10 years. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> <font face=arial size=-1><a href="http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=12hrbqgh0/M=362329.6886306.7839369.3040540/D=groups/S=1705323667:TM/Y=YAHOO/EXP=1123770343/A=2894321/R=0/SIG=11dvsfulr/*http://youthnoise.com/page.php?page_id=1992 ">Fair play? Video games influencing politics. Click and talk back!</a>.</font> --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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