U.S. Develops Urban Surveillance System

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Fact. Technology this advanced coming out of DARPA & friends does not getrevealed to the public until it has at least 20 years of R & D. And then onlyif and when it serves their purpose.In this case, I'd say it was to intimidate, if nothing else.And, like in many past cases, technology is already in place and this is howthey tell us.Don't you feel safer already?-John NovakChanging Planet************U.S. Develops Urban Surveillance SystemBy MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN, Associated Presshttp://www.sacobserver.com/news/apwire/070203/pentagon_urban_cameras.shtmlhttp://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/breaking_news/6211959.htmWASHINGTON -- Police can envision limited domestic uses for an urbansurveillance system the Pentagon is developing but doubt they could use thefull system, which is designed to track and analyze the movement of everyvehicle in a city.Dubbed "Combat Zones That See," the project is intended to help the U.S.military protect troops and fight in cities overseas.Scientists and privacy experts say the unclassified technology also couldeasily be adapted to keep tabs on Americans.The project's centerpiece would be groundbreaking computer software capableof automatically identifying vehicles by size, color, shape and license tag,or drivers and passengers by face.The proposed software also would provide instant alerts after detecting avehicle with a license plate on a watchlist, or search months of records tolocate and compare vehicles spotted near terrorist attacks, according tointerviews and contracting documents reviewed by The Associated Press.The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which develops technologiesfor fighting 21st century wars, is overseeing the project.Scientists and privacy experts -- who have seen face-recognition technologyused at a Super Bowl and monitoring cameras in London -- are concerned aboutthe potential impact of the emerging DARPA technologies if they are appliedto civilians by commercial or government agencies outside the Pentagon."Government would have a reasonably good idea of where everyone is most ofthe time," said John Pike, a Global Security.org defense analyst.DARPA spokeswoman Jan Walker dismisses those concerns. She said the CombatZones That See (CTS) technology isn't intended for homeland security or lawenforcement and couldn't be used for "other applications without extensivemodifications."But scientists envision nonmilitary uses. "One can easily foresee pressureto adopt a similar approach to crime-ridden areas of American cities or tothe Super Bowl or any site where crowds gather," said Steven Aftergood ofthe Federation of American Scientists.James Fyfe, a deputy New York police commissioner, believes police will beready customers."Police executives are saying, `Shouldn't we just buy new technology ifthere's a chance it might help us?'" Fyfe said. "That's the post-9-11mentality."Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske sees law enforcement applications forDARPA's camera project in "limited" scenarios. But citywide surveillancewould tax police manpower, Kerlikowske said. "Who's going to validate andcorroborate all those alerts?"Fyfe endorses using cameras at high-risk sites, like the Brooklyn Bridge,but doubts the value of tracking all vehicles. "The bad guys will learn wecan track cars by license plates, so they'll steal a car, leave it at thescene and flee by subway," he said.DARPA plans to award a three-year contract for up to $12 million by Sept. 1.The first phase would help protect troops at a fixed site, using at least 30cameras, mostly small $400 stick-on devices linked to a $1,000 personalcomputer. In the second phase, at least 100 cameras would be installed tosupport "military operations in an urban terrain." Both prototypes should beexpandable "to handle ... thousands of cameras."The second-phase software should be able to analyze the video footage andidentify "what is normal (behavior), what is not" and discover "linksbetween places, subjects and times of activity," the contracting documentsstate.The program "aspires to build the world's first multi-camera surveillancesystem that uses automatic ... analysis of live video" to study vehiclemovement "and significant events across an extremely large area," thedocuments state.Both configurations will be tested at Fort Belvoir, Va., south ofWashington, then in a foreign city. Walker declined comment on whetherKabul, Afghanistan, or Baghdad, Iraq, might be chosen but says the foreigncountry's permission will be obtained.DARPA told more than 100 executives of potential contractors in March that40 million cameras already are in use around the world, with 300 millionexpected by 2005. U.S. police use cameras to monitor bridges, tunnels,airports and border crossings and regularly access security cameras inbanks, stores and garages for investigative leads.But many of these cameras record over their videotape regularly. Officershave to monitor the closed circuit TV and struggle with boredom and loss ofattention.By automating the monitoring and analysis, DARPA "is attempting to createtechnology that does not exist today," Walker explained.Though insisting CTS isn't intended for homeland security, DARPA outlined ahypothetical scenario for contractors in March that showed the system couldaid police as well as the military. DARPA described a hypothetical terroristshooting at a bus stop and a hypothetical bombing at a disco one month apartin Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, a city a bit larger than Miami in size andpopulation.CTS should be able to track the day's movements for every vehicle thatpassed each scene in the hour before the attack, automatically compare theirroutes and identify any vehicles with a common starting point.Joseph Onek of the Open Society Institute, a human rights group, saidcurrent law that permits cameras in public areas may have to be revised toaddress the privacy implications of these new technologies."It's one thing to say that, if someone is in the street, he knows that atany single moment someone can see him," Onek said. "It's another thing torecord a whole life so you can see anywhere someone has been in public for10 years."http://changingplanet.supremalex.orgNews and service since 1995