The next-generation microchip significantly improves the performance of the Company's existing subdermal chip, extending the range of the radio signal emitted by the chip and increasing the speed at which the information on the chip can be read by the Company's proprietary scanners.  These performance enhancements are expected to open up growth opportunities with a variety of new marketplace applications for the implanted microchip.

In essence, the technological advance involves a revolutionary and proprietary new "unitary core" design.  This proprietary "unitary core" frees up more space within the surrounding tube for a bigger, more powerful antenna, which substantially increases the range of the chip's radio signal.  The new design improvement also yields a doubling in the chip's magnetic field, which helps to open up new applications - such as doorway-type, walk-through scanners - required for a variety of security-related, building-access applications.

Commenting on the new patent, Randolph K.  Geissler, CEO of Digital Angel Corporation, stated: "This is a major breakthrough for the Company, for our customers, and for our shareholders.  A real tribute to our microchip R&D engineers, this patent builds on our leadership in the implantable microchip industry.
We invented and pioneered this technology, and we continue to lead through the ownership of various patents and proprietary technologies surrounding the subdermal microchip.  The new design and enhanced performance will open up exciting applications and growth opportunities for Digital Angel Corporation and its customers."

The new patent builds on the Company's underlying "keystone" patent for its implantable RFID microchip.  The technological advance will become the enhanced-performance platform for the Company's entire line of implantable microchips.  The new design - which has the added benefit of making the microchip more susceptible to an automated production process - is the result of a three-year research and development effort.  The new, automated manufacturing process will enable the Company to cost-effectively increase production capacity to meet ever-growing demand, especially with regard to emerging marketplace applications.

The next-generation, patented microchips will be included in production runs beginning in the fourth quarter of 2002.  The new subdermal chips are fully compatible with the Company's proprietary scanners so animal shelters and veterinary clinics will not need to replace their existing scanners.  The performance of those scanners will be enhanced due to the improved RFID chip technology.

The new proprietary chip's extended range and enhanced magnetic field will expand its utility in various animal applications, including certain fish-related applications.
Some salmon species, for example, have been officially declared an endangered species in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States.  In response, the U.S. Department of Energy has recognized the need for more efficient identification and research programs for salmon migratory patterns.  Digital Angel's next-generation chip will assist in this effort.  Digital Angel pioneered the first microchip system, enabling the government to begin migratory tracking of microchipped salmon through U.S.  waterways.

The "unitary core" microchips should also aid in the adoption of the Company's livestock tracking and identification systems.  The enhanced performance of the implantable RFID chips will simplify the data-collection (scanning)
process while making the systems more cost-effective to install and easier to maintain in this very demanding market.

About Digital Angel Corporation, Inc.
On March 27, 2002 Digital Angel Corporation completed a merger with Medical Advisory Systems, Inc., which for two decades has operated a 24/7, physician-staffed call center in Owings, Maryland.  Prior to the merger, Digital Angel Corporation was a 93% owned subsidiary of Applied Digital Solutions, Inc.  (Nasdaq: ADSX), which now is the beneficial owner of a majority position in the Company.  Digital Angel(tm) technology and patents represent the first-ever combination of advanced sensors and Web-enabled wireless telecommunications linked to Global Positioning Systems (GPS).  By utilizing advanced sensor capabilities, Digital Angel will be able to monitor key functions - such as ambient temperature and physical movement - and transmit that data, along with accurate emergency location information, to a ground station or monitoring facility.  The Company also invented, manufactures and markets implantable identification microchips the size of a grain of rice for use in companion pets, fish, and livestock.  Digital Angel Corporation owns patents for its inventions in applications of the implantable microchip technology for animals and humans.  For more information about Digital Angel Corporation, visit www.digitalangel.net.

U.S.  District Court Judge Victoria Roberts halted a pilot drug-testing program in
1999 after a group of welfare recipients and the American Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites) of Michigan argued that the testing is unconstitutional.

A three-judge panel of the 6th U.S.  Circuit Court of Appeals (news - web sites)
reversed Roberts' decision Friday, saying the testing program is based on a legitimate need to ensure that public money is not used for illegal purposes.

Robert Sedler, the attorney who sued the state Family Independence Agency on behalf of several welfare recipients, said he will appeal to the full court.

"We are dealing here ...  with the suspicionless testing of adults," he said.

Michigan was the first state to pass such a program, and many other states have been watching the case progress, the ACLU said Friday.

According to the Welfare Information Network, a Washington, D.C.-based clearinghouse, states that have drug-testing in some form for welfare recipients include Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Oregon.

"It's clear that the Michigan case had a chilling effect, but some states have gone ahead and done it anyway," said Andrea Wilkins, a policy analyst with the National Conference of State Legislatures.

In Michigan, the state wants to require welfare applicants in a handful of communities to provide urine samples for drug screening before they can be considered for benefits.

Under the rules of the pilot program, the drug test results wouldn't affect access to food stamps and police wouldn't be notified, but applicants who tested positive for drugs would be sent to treatment and could gradually lose benefits if they failed to go.

Gov.  John Engler praised the court ruling Friday and said Michigan plans to reinstate the drug-testing program soon.

"We know that drugs are a significant barrier to employment, and testing and treatment for welfare recipients for drug use is consistent with our goal of helping them reach true self-sufficiency," Engler said.

Some observers are worried about the loss of civil liberties from a widespread network of security cameras following Sept.  11.  Michael Naimark used a cheap laser pointer to demonstrate how easy it is to block surveillance cameras' sensors.  Naimark's solution is commonplace knowledge in military circles.  However, he expressed some regret about his demonstration possibly educating terrorists on how to avoid security cameras and emphasized his intention is to stimulate discourse.  The role of surveillance camera footage in a couple of high-profile cases, including a mother in an Indiana parking lot repeatedly striking her child, is causing concern among early developers of the technology and privacy advocates.  A related issue is the use of Internet cameras--some view the cameras as entertainment, while others detest the loss of privacy.  The New York-based Surveillance Camera Players is mapping out video camera sites in NYC online and staging performances before them.
"We're philosophical anarchists," explains group co-founder Bill Brown.  "We never engage in illegal activity, but we believe the greatest weakness of those who operate the surveillance systems is that they require secrecy."
Electronic Privacy Information Center executive director Marc Rotenberg alleges that the cameras' effectiveness in identifying terrorists and improving statements is grossly overexaggerated.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/07/technology/07ZZAP.html

"Big Brother Goes Behind Bars"
Fortune (09/30/02) P.  44; Roberti, Mark

Two Michigan prisons and one in Illinois will eliminate the need to continuously count inmates by purchasing a high-tech tracking system from Technology Systems International.  The technology, developed by Motorola, involves each prisoner wearing a tamper-proof transmitter wristband that sends out a radio frequency representing a specific serial number, which is received by antennas that transmit the data to a PC via a local area network.  Guards are alerted when a convict gets too near the perimeter fence or does not come back from a furlough in time.  Penitentiaries can also ensure that rival gang members keep a safe distance from each other.
California testing of the system lowered rates of violence, property damage, and inmates going through the food line more than once.  "This will totally change the way prisons are run," declares Larry Cothran a consultant for the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center.
http://www.fortune.com/indexw.jhtml?channel=artcol.jhtml&doc_id=209538

"Biometrics Moves to Center Stage"
Washington Technology (09/23/02) Vol.  17, No.  13, P.  1; Wait, Patience

More and more U.S.  government agencies are relying on biometric identification systems to identify potential threats, limit access to sensitive areas, and fight terrorism.  International Biometric Group (IBG) predicts government spending in the field will be $512 million in
2005, up from $217 million in 2002, surpassing law enforcement as the biggest vertical application within two years, according to IBG's Jackie Lucas.  Biometric identification systems use fingerprint recognition, iris/retinal scans, thermal imaging, palm scans/hand geometry, voice-print recognition, facial recognition, signature recognition, and other physical or behavioral attributes to identify people.  Since early 2002, personnel from the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services in Afghanistan have been using digital fingerprint scanning tools to take the fingerprints, photos, names, and so on of suspected al Qaeda terrorists; the data is sent and stored in the FBI's Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System (IAFIS).  In an upcoming project, the IAFIS database is slated to be linked to the Immigration and Naturalization Service's biometric identification system, INDENT, in order to create a single database.  Meanwhile, the Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) Transportation Worker Identification Credential (TWIC) system will integrate biometrics into smart-cards for workers in the aviation, maritime, rail, and trucking industries as well as for TSA workers.  And Science Applications International (SAIC) is developing a contract with the New York Police Department to provide human resources applications based on fingerprint biometrics.  But R.J.  Langley at TRW believes the government should develop a national biometrics infrastructure over the next 15 years similar to the architectures for electricity, communications, and roads to ensure security and prevent a hodgepodge of stovepipe mechanisms.
http://washingtontechnology.com/news/17_13/cover-stories/19077-1.html

In May, three members of a Florida family were implanted with ID chips, sparking an international debate over the implications of the technology.

The manufacturer insisted that the VeriChip would revolutionize the fields of security and health care by providing a tamper-proof form of identification.  Privacy pundits, meanwhile, fretted over forcible chipping and biblical literalists warned that a microchip could be interpreted as the "Mark of the Beast."

VeriChip maker Applied Digital Solutions (ADS) crowed about an anticipated demand that would create "millions"
of cyborgs within the next few years.  It even trademarked the terms "get chipped" and "The Chipsons"
-- the nickname for the Florida family, whose real name is Jacobs.

But five months have passed, and the VeriChip still isn't available in the United States.

Why?  Because the controversial microchip has become mired in bureaucratic limbo as the government decides whether the VeriChip should be a regulated device.

Central to the confusion is a March e-mail exchange between ADS and the Food and Drug Administration, in which the company sought guidance about whether the product needed the agency's approval.

"The chip has no medical purposes," ADS consultant Stephen B.  Kaufman stated in an electronic missive to FDA officials on March 19.  "It is for security or financial or other identification purposes only."

An FDA investigator responded that the rice-sized microchip did not appear to be a regulated device, but requested additional information so that the agency "could review the item carefully and make a determination."

Instead, ADS sent out a press release stating that the FDA didn't consider VeriChip to be a "regulated medical device" and started touting the product as a "life-saving" device on talk shows.

This dismayed the FDA investigators who exchanged e-mails with the company.

"We were like, 'Wait a second,' we told them to come in and tell us more," said Wally Pellerite, who works in the FDA's Office of Compliance.  "The information they were releasing in press releases and on television shows contradicted the information they gave the FDA."

Things got more confusing when an FDA spokeswoman stated that "as long as the chip itself does not contain medical information, it is not regulated by the FDA."

Then, a week after the Jacobs family got chipped, Pellerite said that the FDA was investigating the company.  As a result, Nasdaq temporarily halted trading of ADS shares and VeriChip's future in the United States was put on hold.

Part of the problem is the chip's novelty, Pellerite said in an interview.  While microchips have been used to track pets and livestock for years, the idea of chipping humans is new.

"This is a technological advance that we haven't really looked at before, and it may have inherent risks," said Pellerite, who added that he was unaware of any implant that was not regulated by the FDA.

According to Section 201 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, implants and other devices "intended to affect the structure or any function of the body of man or other animals" require government approval.

Pellerite said the argument could be made that any foreign object designed to remain in the body indefinitely might affect the function of the body -- and therefore requires regulation. ; Cosmetic implants such as breast and penile enhancers, for example, come under the agency's jurisdiction, despite having no medical function.

If the FDA determines that the VeriChip should be regulated, ADS may have to conduct clinical trials to prove the product is safe.  The agency should reach a conclusion before the end of the year, Pellerite said.

"We're eagerly awaiting the FDA's clarification and guidance about VeriChip," ADS spokesman Matthew Cossoloto said.

Leslie Jacobs, matron of the Jacobs family, is also anxious for a decision to be made.

"It's frustrating," said Jacobs.  "It makes you impatient because the chips can help so many lives if it's able to go forward.  It's very frustrating."

Meanwhile, ADS has forged ahead with VeriChip distribution agreements in Latin America and is developing a subdermal GPS chip.

The latest deal was announced earlier this month with a Mexican security firm called SPIMSA, which plans to market VeriChip as a permanent ID for executives and to control worker access to secure areas, such as airport terminals.

"People want to buy peace of mind, and if this product can offer that, they're going to buy it," SPIMSA spokesman Antonio Aceves said.

The recent COPSWest Conference on law enforcement products in Ontario, Calif., drew law enforcement officers from across the state.  However, since many of the gadgets were expensive and unproven, the majority of officers hesitated to purchase them for their agencies.  At this year's conference, FN Herstal displayed its FN303 "less lethal" weapon (priced at $900) that releases marble-size shells from more than 50 yards away and can release paint, pepper spay, tear gas, or a sticky, foul-smelling substance; the shells bruise the skin but do not penetrate.  Another weapon, the P90 submachine gun, can drive bullets through body armor at 200 yards which soon become slow, reducing the chance of injuring bystanders.  Camlight, meanwhile, offers a flashlight which contains a wireless video camera.  The still-developing Alertcast system, priced at about $2,500, allows officers to override a motorist's car audio system to alert them of approaching emergency vehicles.  And the $3,000 CopTrans system (still in development) can translate phrases related to law-enforcement from English to Spanish or English to Chinese, according to Christine Montgomery.  Most conference attendees looked at less expensive gear such as shred-resistant tires, low-power LED lights for squad cars, and reflective handheld batons for guiding traffic.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/09/20 /BA226409.DTL

"A Cybersage Speaks His Mind"
CNet (09/19/02); Festa, Paul

Internet legal expert David Sorkin of the John Marshall Law School in Chicago and an ICANN board member was one of the first academics to offer courses dealing with cyberlaw.
Sorkin's views are relatively widely publicized, through the Spam Laws Web site he maintains and the lesser-known Don't Link to Us site.  He says in an interview that privacy and intellectual property have both come to the forefront in terms of Internet-related law, but that there is little need for new legislation.  Instead, Sorkin argues that most problems relating to the online world can be solved using laws intended for the offline world.  He criticizes the regulatory approach in the United States, where too many states pass inconsistent and off-the-mark laws, and favors broader frameworks, such as the European Data Protection Directive implemented on that continent.  Solutions to the spam problem should not be targeted at peripheral issues, such as creating false message headers, purveying illicit content, or failure to allow opt-outs, but should instead work on comprehensive solutions.  Sorkin says policies restricting linking to publicly available Internet content are nonsensical and that regulation in that area could potentially damage the utility of the Internet.  He says that he does not know if Congress will pass anti-spam legislation, but thinks that the bills being considered will have a more negative than positive effect if enacted.  Sorkin also says that ICANN has "done little to earn the public's trust" and he has "grave concerns" about the job the organization has done so far.  He says ICANN "isn't open or accountable or stable" and may be biased in some ways. http://news.com.com/2008-1082-958576.html

"A Gathering of Big Crypto Brains"
Wired News (09/19/02); Lillington, Karlin

Well-known cryptography experts met in Naas, Ireland, for the annual COSAC conference, which gave them the opportunity to pick each other's brains, demonstrate their research, and discuss such topics as wireless security, forensics, and the corporate attitude of ignoring security matters.  COSAC attendees have included Data Encryption Standard breaker Michael Wiener and public key cryptography inventor Whitfield Diffie.  Inforenz director Andy Clark participated in this year's conference, where he disclosed that "evidence eliminator" software that supposedly deletes computer files is faulty.  Meanwhile, Yokohama National University professor Tsutomu Matsumoto and a team of graduate students demonstrated how biometric fingerprint scanners could be fooled using artificial fingers.  Revealed was a technique in which silicone fingers containing a conductive material derived from carbon powder can unlock the devices.  Matsumoto has also shown that gelatin "gummy fingers" with moisture content similar to real fingers can also be used, while a third method involves lifting a fingerprint from glass and placing it on a bogus digit using an electron microscope, an inkjet printer, and Photoshop software.  COSAC organizer David Lynas, who works for the QinetiQ computer security company, described the conference as "the only environment in which [leading computer security figures] actually learn." http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,55209,00.html

"Pr.  George's to Review Pepper Spray Policy"
San Diego Union-Tribune (09/18/02) P.  C1; Bigelow, Bruce V.

Titan and five other companies have been awarded a $3 billion contract by the federal government to supply different law enforcement agencies with radios, signal repeaters, and other communications devices based on Project 25, which is the standard for radio hardware and software technology.  The law enforcement technology will improve radio communications between law enforcement agencies, especially during large-scale emergencies such as the Sept. 11 tragedy.  A major purpose of the Project 25 initiative was deployment of the Common Air Interface, whereby a customer can integrate mobile and portable radio gear from any supplier and allow it to interact with any other Project 25 system.  Furthermore, the project maps out a route to achieve interoperability for ongoing technological advances.  The Titan contract, issued by the Treasury Department and Justice Department, will assist the coordinated efforts of the FBI, ATF, Customs Service, Secret Service, and DEA.  Any manufacturer can avail itself of the Project 25 standard. http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20020918-9999_1b18titan.html

"Sales Take Off for Maker of Emergency Offices on Wheels"
Copley News Service (09/16/02); Peterson, Kim

San Marcos, Calif.-based Mattman has seen sales more than double since last year's terrorist attacks.  A manufacturer of specialized vehicles, it has provided technologically-sophisticated mobile offices to numerous law-enforcement agencies and companies seeking to prepare for future emergencies.  Mattman just supplied Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport with a $1.19 million command post on wheels, replete with plasma televisions, satellite receivers, 11 computer workstations, and a wireless network.
The company has also constructed 80 vans for the National Science Foundation in Antarctica that are fitted with tires 4 feet in diameter, brake systems that can withstand extreme temperatures, and oil heaters.  Mobile command stations have been in use for years in some places--there is one that San Diego's Lindbergh Field has been using for about a decade. Mattman expects to see further sales growth once the federal government allocates funding for its homeland security effort.  https://www.copleynews.com/

"Web-Based Information System Links State's Correction Agencies"
Arkansas Democrat Gazette (09/16/02) P.  B1; Shurley, Traci

In October, Arkansas state and community corrections departments plan to launch a new Web-based communications networking system called the Offender Management Information System (eOMIS), developed by Tallahassee, Fla.-based Marquis Software Development.  Eventually the Arkansas State Department of Corrections and Department of Community Corrections will also be linked to the state Crime Information Center and JailNet, a new criminal database that stores histories on every inmate in state and county facilities.  About $414,000 was invested in the program at the community level, which will allow officers immediate access to probationers and parolees' most current drug screening tests, current addresses and any rehabilitation programs being undertaken, allowing officers more time to supervise 40,000 offenders.  State Corrections, with a significantly larger volume of inmate information, invested nearly $850,000 in the Marquis package and has a $550,000 contract for the following year.  Arkansas is the first state to try the eOMIS system, although Florida and Arizona state correctional departments have been using Marquis' inmate tracking system.  http://www.ardemgaz.com/

"FBI Collects Fingerprints at W.Va.  Site for Security"
Baltimore Sun (09/15/02) P.  1A; Sullivan, Laura

The FBI operates the world's largest biometric database at its Criminal Justice Information Services Division in Clarksburg, W.Va.  The facility, which stores the criminal records of every U.S.  citizen convicted of a crime, performs millions of record checks for police agencies across the country and thousands of fingerprint searches every day.  The center is now becoming the key component of the government's fight against terrorism, with requests for fingerprint searches increasing 20 percent per day following the Sept.11 attacks.  The Bush Administration and the Immigration and Naturalization Service are considering using fingerprint identification technology to check the millions of people entering and leaving the United States each day.  The increased focus on security has also prompted more screening of state employees.  The center uses advanced computers to send search information back to officers or agencies in just 15 seconds.  The facility employs extensive security measures to guard against terrorist attacks, though it remains, at least technically, open to the public.  Database searches have led to the identification of hundreds of perpetrators involved in "cold cases." http://www.sunspot.net/

"Hi-Tech Cops Keep Pace With Thugs"
Mercury (Australia) (09/14/02) P.  38; Lawrence, Kara

When a disgruntled Matthew Dean Smith hacked into his former employer's Web site and shut it down, little did he realize that his home computer, from which the breach was perpetrated, held all the evidence necessary to convict him.
The New South Wales (NSW) Police Computer Crime Unit of Australia estimates that 67 percent of businesses' networks in the island-nation have been breached thus far this year.
The unit, created in 1998, has the ability to intercept data transmissions through telephone intercepts and decipher the codes being sent.  NSW Police has used the technology once thus far during an investigation in a case involving a hacker who modified the customer information of a telecommunications company.  Though most of its workload involves hacking, the unit is increasingly being called in to assist in other investigations, mainly through the tracking of mobile phones and the examination of hard drives.  The group is also working with the FBI in its Honeynet project, which was designed to track hacker habits through the setting up of a fake Internet server.
http://www.themercury.news.com.au/

"Forbidden Zone"
New Scientist (09/14/02) Vol.  175, No.  2360, P.  34; Mullins, Justin

The void between light and radio waves in the electromagnetic spectrum is occupied by terahertz radiation, and engineers are developing technology that exploits such rays for a variety of applications, including medical imaging and, more significantly, security.  Terahertz waves render solid objects transparent and generate sharper images than X-rays, with no health risks.  A video camera that Rutherford Appleton Laboratory is developing with astonishing rapidity will feature detectors that operate at 0.3 and 0.25 terahertz.  Such cameras could be used to see through people and objects from a distance; the contents of packages and any weapons that air travelers are carrying could be detected remotely, for instance.  Jim Dempsey of the Center for Democracy and Technology says that such devices will inevitably run afoul of the U.S.  Constitution, especially in light of recent legislation that prohibits searches by infrared camera without court orders.  "That rationale, applied to terahertz imaging cameras, would suggest that they cannot be used to see through clothes without a specific suspicion or judicial approval," he declares.  Another recent breakthrough involves the creation of a 4.4-terahertz laser developed by an international research team.  Meanwhile, Cambridge-based TeraView plans to market devices that generate terahertz radiation by striking semiconductor crystals with a visible or infrared laser beam; such devices are designed to map out the molecular structure of materials, and company director Michael Pepper believes that they eventually could be shrunk down to the size of a TV remote control.  The technology could be used to check for early signs of skin cancer, while other sectors that could benefit include the pharmaceutical and food-processing industries. http://www.newscientist.com/

"All Eyes are on Oceanfront's New Surveillance System"
Virginian-Pilot (09/10/02) P.  B1; Jones, Mathew

The Virginia Beach Police Department recently activated its facial recognition video camera system, which can identify suspects based on the measurements of 26 different bone structures.  Those measurements are converted into code, which is compared to a suspect database; an alarm sounds if a match is found, and then a police officer compares the camera image to the database's 10 closest matches.  In testing, the system accurately identified suspect profiles 87 percent of the time during daylight hours and 75 percent during nighttime, according to Deputy Chief Gregory Mullen.
However, officers cite the system's value as a deterrent to keep criminals away from the Oceanfront.  The database currently holds 650 photos of people wanted on felony charges.  Such a system can search thousands of faces at the same time, notes Chief A.M.  "Jake" Jacocks Jr.  The only other U.S.  city with such a system is Tampa, Fla. http://www.pilotonline.com/

"States Take On Bioterrorism"
Washington Technology (09/09/02) Vol.  17, No.  12, P.  24; Welsh, William

Congress has approved the nationwide distribution of $918 million funneled through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to state and local governments for use in building infrastructures for bioterrorism preparedness. Funding will support needs assessments and will be used to build and maintain pharmaceutical stockpiles and upgrade information technology.  Ultimately, a national electronic public health information network will be constructed for the benefit of federal health officials to track and respond to infectious disease outbreaks and potential chemical, radiological, and biological attacks.  This new plan supercedes the boundaries of the CDC's current three-year national electronic alert network project and will enable federal and state specialists to assist local agencies in treatment and law enforcement agencies in evidence handling.
Using some of its $58 million share of the federal funding, Texas has already begun to put into place a network system linking 64 statewide health organizations to local health agencies, hospitals, fire, police, and other emergency agencies.  Avnet Enterprise Solutions of Phoenix, Ariz., Cisco Systems of San Jose, Calif., and Texas-based Dell Computer have been contracted to build the Texas Health Alert Network, which will ultimately reach 90 percent of the state's population. http://www.washingtontechnology.com/news/17_12/statelocal/18932-1.html

"Webcam--Wired Schools: a Fad or the Future?"
Potomac Tech Journal (09/09/02) P.  5; Resende, Patricia

The installation of security cameras has been increasing in schools, daycare, and nursing home centers during the past few years, says Fredrik Nilsson, director of business development for Axis Communications.  The Chelmsford, Mass.-based Web camera developer along with other firms like Pelmac Industries of Auburn, N.H., have been busily installing cameras in hallways, school yards, and cafeterias in schools throughout the country as insecurities about personal safety increase since the shootings at Columbine High School.  Axis' cameras are designed with a built-in Web server, but does not require a PC to send images over the wide or local area networks or Internet, said Nilsson, and as it is interfaced to the Ethernet, a back office PC server stores images.  In at least three New Hampshire schools, Pelmac installed Pelco surveillance cameras designed to send live feed via a fiber-optic cable to local police and fire departments.  Adamantly against putting surveillance technology into schools, John Roberts, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, believes that the cameras will negatively effect the morale of students and create distrust between students and faculty.  He believes what is really going on is that "people respond to worst-case scenarios .  you have a bunch of high technology companies selling their technology and playing off of post-9/11 and post-Columbine." Pelmac's president, Mike Pellerin, said school officials who want the cameras have only the safety of their students uppermost in their minds as their daily concerns include child abductions, drug trafficking, fights, and out of control behavior on school grounds.  http://www.potomactechjournal.com/

"Refined Protection"
Security Management (08/02) Vol.  46, No.  8, P.  44; Longmore-Etheridge Ann

Three years ago, Sunoco embarked on a project to revamp security at its cornerstone 781-acre Marcus Hook Oil Refinery, which straddles Pennsylvania and Delaware.  A risk assessment revealed that more CCTV systems were needed to monitor areas of entrance and egress, parking lots, along roads and rail lines, and at remote locations, and for data storage capabilities, a digital system was selected.
Replacing live patrols with technology, the company chose a single access control system for all its sites, linking them through a control center that also served as the control hub for other aspects of security and emergency response functions.  All employees are issued an access control ID, which allows security to monitor their whereabouts, and lesser-used gates were all barricaded, forcing everyone to pass through the main gate under the eye of the control center.  A 50-member emergency response team, trained in firefighting, rescue, hazardous materials, and environmental crises, can be quickly summoned if needed.  For Sunoco's 608 stores, intervention specialists at the corporation's headquarters in Philadelphia keep a constant watch on goings-on through CCTVs and two-way speakers.  Contacts between the Remote Intervention Control Room's employees and each location is made every eight hours, and the speakers allow the specialists, who are trained to deal with angry customers and hostage situations, to make themselves heard in the stores, thus serving as a deterrent.  Store employees are also supplied with special phones to initiate contact with headquarters, pendant panic buttons, and cash-drawers fitted with a wireless money-clip alarm.  The system is tied into cash registers, permitting security to check any suspicious transactions.  http://www.securitymanagement.com/

"DSL in the Security Mix"
Communications News (08/02) Vol.  39, No.  8, P.  6; Southworth, Jim

Connecting all security surveillance, sensors, and systems to a telephone line with a digital subscriber line (DSL)enables the creation of a complete independent security solution.  Information gathered from motion detectors, door alarms, surveillance cameras, and movement-tracking pager-like devices can be instantly sent to security managers via the DSL connection.  Systems that detect airborne foreign substances and chemicals can be connected via DSL to notify managers or local authorities of changes in humidity, temperature, air quality, or contamination.  In an office environment, such systems would report environmental problems to systems managers, hospitals, and local emergency authorities, and could help control a crisis or deter escalation of a crisis.  Water sprinklers could also be attached to the overall security system with a DSL connection, and if necessary, could be notified to shut down to prevent further water damage to an area.  A seismic detection system connected through DSL could help officials determine the severity of damage in the event of an earthquake, and help them locate and save trapped victims.
http://www.comnews.com/ dm

"Emails Say Police Are Sabotaging Video Cameras"
Associated Press (09/30/02)

Internal emails and documents indicate that damages to video cameras on vehicles used by the police department of Eugene, Ore., may be the result of sabotage by officers.  Though administrators suggest the SpectraTek camera systems used as part of a $90,000 program failed because equipment did not operate correctly from the beginning, the company says it received no complaints or requests to apply the warranty.
Police are acknowledging the possibility that officers tampered with the equipment so they would not be subject to monitoring, and technicians did uncover evidence that wires had been disconnected, over three years.  Repair records note that there were three incidents where the patrol cars' video antennas went missing.  Additionally, emails indicate many people involved in the program suspected officers were interfering with the equipment. http://www.ap.org/

"More Cities Rush to Go Cyber With Services"
USA Today (09/30/02) P.  3A; Alvord, Valerie

The "shame factor" is driving people to the Web sites of local governments.  Steve Hansen, marketing manager for Denver's Office of Television and Internet Services, says people are curious to see Web pages of pictures of men convicted of hiring prostitutes and individuals facing drug charges, or to find the results of restaurant inspections and a list of liquor license violators.  "These pages have generated tons of interest, both here and in other cities we've spoken with," says Hansen.  Denver has seen traffic at its Web site soar 40 percent since it launched "Johns TV,"
and started posting pictures of men convicted of hiring prostitutes.  New York says its Web site nearly crashed during the first two days of launching its restaurant inspection page.  The posting of information on crime and civil misbehavior on e-government sites has had a positive impact on the Web sites, in that visitors have discovered that they can do other things at the sites, such as apply for permits, download forms, and pay fines.  Hansen says using e-government sites to reign in scofflaws and other civil misbehavior is very trendy at this time.
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20020930/4492031s.htm

"Sounds of Silence"
U.S.  News & World Report (09/30/02) Vol.  133, No.  12, P.  79; Terrell, Kenneth

The Georgia Tech Research Institute has developed a new RADAR Flashlight that will allow law enforcement and military personnel to "hear" the faint stirrings of breathing on the far sides of walls.  "There are about 25 different scenarios where it could help out," explains Bill Deck of the National Law Enforcement Corrections Technology Center.  The device, costing between $1,000 and $1,500, weighs nearly seven pounds and looks like a cross between a power drill and a lantern flashlight.  The RADAR Flashlight sends electromagnetic energy pulses through walls and bounces the signals off of objects on the other side of the walls.  However, the pulses cannot pass through metal barriers or water, and the technology does not yet afford the ability to determine exactly what objects the electromagnetic pulses are picking up. http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/020930/misc/30senses.i.htm

"As Security Cameras Sprout, Someone's Always Watching"
New York Times (09/29/02) P.  1; Murphy, Dean E.

Though attention as of late has focused on law-enforcement's increasing use of face-recognition technology and closed-circuit television systems in public facilities, few security experts have noted the preponderance of surveillance cameras being operated by the private sector.
The recent case of an Indiana store camera catching a woman beating her child in a parking lot highlights a growing trend.  According to the Security Industry Association, more than 2 million closed-circuit systems are operational in the United States, and the surveillance market is growing at an annual rate of 15 percent, reports the Connecticut security research firm J.P Freeman Company.  In Manhattan alone, the Civil Liberties Union found 2,397 cameras fixed on places heavy with pedestrian traffic, all but 270 of them privately owned.  Law-enforcement encourages the proliferation of cameras because captured and stored video footage often helps in cases.  Even trade organizations have gotten on board.  The Western United Dairymen has recommended that its members use surveillance technology to help deter animal rights activists and prevent bioterrorist attacks. http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/29/technology/29TAPE.html

"SA Police Contemplates E-Crime Outsourcing"
ZDNet Australia (09/26/02); Douglas, Jeanne-Vida The South Australian Police Department is considering outsourcing its Internet-related criminal investigations unit to comply with the Electronic Crime Strategy proposed by the Police Commissioner's Conference Electronic Crime Steering Committee.  The committee issued recommendations for how prevention, partnerships, education, resources, regulations, and legislation can prevent criminal activities conducted via the Internet.  Australian police officials are also considering integrating more of their operations with the private sector and other strategies to improve human resourcing.  Ted Wisniewski of the Western Australian Police explains that the commissioner's e-crime working party convenes by videoconference on a bi-weekly basis.  "We have a number of work plans and tasks to be carried out at a national level, and each party can take on a task and aim to develop it for the national level," he notes.  State police confer not just through the Conference Electronic Crime Steering Committee, but also via the Australasian Computer Crime Managers Group and the Australasian E-Crime Working Party.  Their shared goal is to organize a national computer crime strategy and build standards for investigative techniques.

"Pentagon Explores Use of Chemicals"
Associated Press (09/25/02); Kelley, Matt

The U.S.  military is looking at ways to use sedatives such as Valium and other drugs to control rioters or other violent people when deadly force is undesirable.  Edward Hammond of the chemical and biological weapons watchdog group Sunshine Project believes such actions are illegal and violates the chemicals weapons treaty.  At present, the treaty allows military and police to use irritants such as tear gas and pepper spray to control unruly crowds but bars the use of substances that incapacitate people.  "If the U.S. is going to denounce countries around the world for violating chemical and biological arms control treaties, it better make sure its own house is in order first," Hammond notes.  In 2000, researchers at a Pentagon-backed institute at Pennsylvania State University compiled a report saying that developing calmative weapons was feasible, but that researchers would still have to work out how to prevent injuries from people falling down when rendered unconscious. http://www.ap.org/

"Subway Cameras Speed Terrorism Responses"
Potomac Tech Journal (09/23/02) Vol.  3, No.  38, P.  9; Resende, Patricia

Newport, R.I.-based LiveWave has been picked by Argonne National Laboratory, a U.S.  Energy Department research center, to provide digital camera security software for the Program for the Response Options and Technology Enhancements for Chemical/biological Terrorism (PROTECT).  PROTECT, a joint effort by various federal agencies and Washington, D.C.'s Metro Authority, was first discussed in 1995, when a Japanese subway was attacked with nerve gas.  The initiative will use chemical sensors to detect unknown substances circulating in subway systems.  When a sensor detects something unusual, it will alert relevant police, fire, and hazardous material officials to what is happening through Argonne's Chemical/Biological agent Emergency Management Information System, providing locations and protocols.
Real-time video of the subway location will be transmitted to first-responder dispatchers and wireless hand-helds carried by various officials.  The system is now being installed in D.C.  stations.
http://www.potomactechjournal.com/

"The Thin Gray Line"
CNet (09/23/02); Lemos, Robert

"Gray hat" hackers are being forced to reconsider their actions, which walk the razor's edge between acceptable and unacceptable activities, in light of new legislation, increased law enforcement, and the ever-changing definition of what constitutes ethical hacking.  "We are reaching a crossroad where decisions have to be made as to which way people are going to go: Are they going to continue to function as a security consultant or go to the dark side?"
declared Howard Schmidt of the White House's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board.  Practices such as publicizing corporate security flaws may now carry the threat of lawsuits, prosecution, and even jail time for most independent security experts and consultants.  Not even hackers who intrude in order to warn network administrators about security weaknesses are immune--the Hurwitz Group's Peter Lindstrom, for one, lumps gray hats and black hats in the same category.  Although this is a minority view, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and other statutes are helping to increase its strength.  The vagueness and broad terminology of the DMCA is discouraging many hackers who specialize in finding and disclosing software vulnerabilities; the arrest of Russian programmer Dmitri Sklyarov and the Justice Department's case against his company for distributing a program that breaks e-book copy protections sent a troubling message to gray hats.  Some think that programmers and hackers are shying away from alerting companies of software holes as a result of today's security-conscious atmosphere.  Some hackers and others have responded to these trends by developing new guidelines for ethical hacking.  http://news.com.com/2009-1001-958129.html

"Officials Hail New System That Monitors Offenders"
Des Moines Register (09/23/02) P.  1B; Hupp, Staci

Sophisticated tracking technology enables corrections and public safety officials in Iowa to monitor sex offenders and other dangerous prisoners released on parole or probation.
The electronic monitoring system can link with computers, satellites, global positioning systems, and more conventional tracking methods.  The technology uses electronic boxes attached to a person's waist and electronic ankle bracelets to update police to their whereabouts at 10-second intervals.  Information recorded by the devices is downloaded at the end of the day.  Iowa plans to invest $255,000 in the corrections department's electronic monitoring system this year.  The tracking system is very useful in making sure offenders stay clear of areas prohibited as a condition of their release, such as liquor stores or locations frequented by children.  Iowa Department of Corrections' Fred Scaletta notes the system is expected to provide real-time tracking within several months.
"There's not a reason to put everybody on, but when you have someone who's a higher-risk offender, it's a good idea," notes Lois Osborn of the Department of Corrections. http://www.desmoinesregister.com/

"Smart Roads Could Help Homeland"
Federal Computer Week (09/23/02); Lisagor, Megan

Smart roads use cameras, sensors, telecommunications, and other technologies to make commuting safer and easier.  These intelligent transportation systems (ITSes) can be considered as ways to boost homeland security, according to a report from a subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.  More than 384 public transport systems across the country now have installed or are installing some of the technologies.  In relation to homeland security, the systems could be used for monitoring infrastructure, evacuating cites, and communicating with motorists.  Telematics providers, for example, are developing ways to send "reverse 911" messages to cars to make them aware of emergencies.  ITS applications were in use following the Sept.11 attacks on the Pentagon.  The Arlington, Va., traffic management center reversed HOV lanes, modified traffic signals, and restricted passage to roads near the Pentagon.  ITS America, a public/private enterprise, hopes Congress will fund a proposed 10-year plan to build an integrated network of transportation information. http://www.fcw.com/geb/articles/2002/0923/web-its-09-23-02.asp

"Mobile Field Report Writing"
Law Enforcement Technology (09/02) Vol.  29, No.  9, P.  86; Rogers, Donna

Mobile field report writing is the latest technology for police officers on the street, but before a software application is selected, several questions need to be considered: Is it going to be a part of a larger reporting system; should the application be capable of standing alone or be connected; and what new features will future applications have?  Of the applications themselves, there are two primary components--the reporting and writing capabilities, and the ability to provide lookups to federal, state and local databases.  Veracity Report Writing Systems has developed a Windows-based reporting application that is database-driven in that rather than a check-the-box template, and it guides the officer to write the report, tutoring in situational management.  It is configured to be a perfect script for courtroom testimony with no room for a "red herring defense" by lawyers, says Veracity CEO Gary Oliverson.  Del King of HTE Government Software says an application that can be integrated into a whole system becomes a "building block"--the CAD feeds the mobile data browser, which in turn feeds the incident field reporting, which is then sent to the Crime Reporting Management system for statistical analysis.  New World Systems' Mark Morton notes that customization is essential, and says that his company's Aegis Mobile tool includes editing capabilities that enable rearranging, skipping or field deletions for streamlining purposes.  Aether Systems' Mobile Government Division offers Packet Writer, a data-centric field data collection system wirelessly enabled but also capable of working disconnected, which is essential when an officer reaches a "dead zone".  Rich Artusy, mobile product manager of Tiburon, maker of a comprehensive application called Field Automation System, recommends starting from the inside out in designing a mobile solution as it is vital that the mobile unit interacts and operates with records and CAD functions.  http://www.law-enforcement.com/

West Hills High School in Santee, Calif., is located less than three miles from Santana High School where Charles "Andy" Williams killed and wounded students in a school shooting.  To increase school security at West Hills High, Cisco, Sony, and PacketVideo donated equipment and oversaw the installation of the $50,000 SkyWitness surveillance system.  The system's wireless cameras track all the students, their car license plates, and each bathroom door in the school.  Powerful smoke detectors that can detect a single lighted match can alert campus security personnel.  By year's end, hall monitors will be outfitted with wireless computers that can access a student's picture, class schedule, and attendance record.  School administrators are considering whether to add facial recognition software to the system to help computers sort out students from intruders.  In Tewksbury Memorial High School near Boston, meanwhile, a video surveillance system even allows local police to monitor the hallways.  In the wake of school shooting and terrorism, most of the teens now accept the surveillance as a fact of life.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/la-fi-campus8sep08005041.story

Defense lawyers and the American Civil Liberties Union have opposed a database containing names, addresses, and photos of individuals that the Delaware police suspect will break the law, even though many such people have spotless records.
The majority of the 200 people in the database belong to ethnic minorities that hail from areas characterized by poverty and a high incidence of crime.  Delaware Mayor James Baker has derided the opposition's critique as "asinine and intellectually bankrupt." Meanwhile, defense lawyers voiced their disapproval by saying the tactic reflects poorly on the police. http://www.vnunet.

New High-Tech ID Scanners May Help Fight Underage Drinking Aired September 8, 2002 - 07:43 ET THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT.  THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
 

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Now when I was a young man, there was a few occasions when I tried to get into saloons, when I probably shouldn't have.  Hasn't everyone tried that at one time in their lives?  Well, maybe not everyone, but lots of us have tried it, but technology is here to thwart you, young ladies and gentlemen.  Daniel Sieberg is here to talk a little bit about some scanners that might be appearing at a tavern near you soon.  Tell us about it.
DANIEL SIEBERG, CNN TECHNOLOGY CORRESPONDENT:
That's right.  Yes, good morning.  Miles, it doesn't seem that long ago, the most high tech device a bouncer might have had was the flashlight, as they're looking at somebody's ID...

O'BRIEN: Yes.

SIEBERG: ...to see if the information matches up.  We've got a couple of different examples here of high tech ID scanners that are showing up more and more at different bars...

O'BRIEN: These are on the market already.  So...

SIEBERG: They are on the market already.  That's right.  We'll touch on some security possibilities for these as well, but we're going to start here with the machine from Intellicheck.  We've got a couple of drivers' licenses here.  These are actual drivers' licenses, not actual people, of course.  We're going to just slide it in here.

On the back, in fact at home, you can look on the back of your own license and see you may have a bar code here or a magnetic stripe.  And this machine is going to read the bar code as I slide it in here.  We've hooked up a laptop to this machine, just for the purposes of display.  You don't necessarily need to have this laptop.  And if you see here, it says "No, the person cannot buy alcohol.  Yes, to tobacco." So they're under 21.  And it lists all of the information that you would see on the front of somebody's license.  That's the key to these devices...

O'BRIEN: So...

SIEBERG: ...they're showing -- they're trying to match the information that's encoded.

O'BRIEN: So the bouncer doesn't even have to do the mathematics.

SIEBERG: Right.  No mathematics involved with -- in this case.  O'BRIEN:
All right, now and I guess the theory behind this is, first of all, those bar codes are on in many states right now.  Most licenses have them.

SIEBERG: That's right.  In -- the most licenses do have them, Miles.  About
41 or 42 states currently have it.  Others are slowly adopting it.  But that's key to why this technology hasn't been adopted across the country yet, because not every state has adopted this encoding on the back of licenses.

I just wanted to show one other one here, if I could.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

SIEBERG: We've got one that can demonstrate some of the potential for security.  We're going to just update that.  This is another license.  And when I slide this into the reader here, what you're going to see when it comes up on the laptop -- I'm just going to turn this around -- when it comes up on the machine over here, you're going to see something a little bit different.
Aside from just the information that was on here before, there's a picture for some states that can be encoded, as well as this alert symbol.  So if there was something about this individual that they wanted to get out to the larger community, that could also be read by the scanner.

O'BRIEN: So this is run against perhaps the NCIC, the central crime computer that the FBI runs, that kind of thing, for warrants, that sort of thing?

SIEBERG: Potentially, yes.  If that was something that they want us to put out on the different scanner.

O'BRIEN: How do you get the VIP status on there, Daniel?  I want to...

SIEBERG: That's a good question.

O'BRIEN: ...I'd like to get that VIP on my...

SIEBERG: Yes, absolutely.

O'BRIEN: ...license.  You pay a little extra for the license maybe.

SIEBERG: Right.

O'BRIEN: This is probably expensive equipment.

SIEBERG: It does range between about $500 and $2,500 for the different scanners.  As I say, this one is from a company called Intellicheck.  We have another device here from Logics.

O'BRIEN: Oh...

SIEBERG: This one is a little bit different, only because it's able to read the magnetic stripe on the machine, rather than the actual bar code.  And we're just going to...

O'BRIEN: Well, and it seems to -- a server or a waitress could actually carry that with him or her.

SIEBERG: Right, this one is a little bit more portable...

O'BRIEN: Yes.

SIEBERG: ...as you can see than this one here.  This one is powered by Linux.  And we've got another ID here.  We're just going to swipe it through.

O'BRIEN: Right.

SIEBERG: And if I swipe it through like this, it's telling us that it's a valid ID.

O'BRIEN: OK.

SIEBERG: So that that person can purchase whatever they're after.

O'BRIEN: I see.

SIEBERG: Or get into any place that....

O'BRIEN: It gives you the age and everything just like that.

SIEBERG: As much information as is on the front of the card, that's the idea behind being (UNINTELLIGIBLE) itself.

O'BRIEN: All right, well, I presume, given the costs, and weighing that against the possibility of lawsuits if somebody has served under age, you're going to see this in a lot of establishments soon?

SIEBERG: Potentially, yes.  Besides the fact that these states have adopted all of this encoding technology, which is limiting it being adopted ever.  For example, if you took a low tech license to a high tech state, they couldn't read it because the information just wouldn't be there.  Beyond that, there are concerns that companies may not understand how to use this.  It's meant to be fairly intuitive.  But there's sort of taking a wait and see approach, a lot of these different establishments.

O'BRIEN: And I suppose, of course you're using your drivers' license at the airport a lot these days, there's an application there as well?

SIEBERG: Absolutely.  There are future applications for this airports, for delivery drivers.  At banks, for example, if they're trying to prove who they are.  One of the other overriding concerns in all of this is, of course, privacy.  There are concerns that this information could be stored in some way, used later.  The companies that make these different scanners say there are safeguards in place.  And it also varies by state, whether the state can actually keep the information for later, or whether it can be stored, only for law enforcement purposes.  So there does range by state.  And they do say that there are safeguards in place for...

O'BRIEN: Well, as we look at some of the places where this might be occurring...

SIEBERG: Right.

O'BRIEN: ..the gray states are where there -- this is possible, because the bar coding, is that correct?

SIEBERG: Exactly.  That's the states that have done this, have used this encoding technology.  We see a couple of other states that have some unique differences.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

SIEBERG: Georgia is actually unreadable, the code that's on there is unreadable.  But some of these states that are currently white, right now, are moving into the gray area.  They are actually considering adopting this technology.

O'BRIEN: All right.  And you touched on that issue.  I mean, literally, the state could keep track of your comings and goings.  How often you go to have a beer or whatever?

SIEBERG: Right.  The state potentially could as well as the company where you go.  You know, and that's part of the concern is that they may start marketing things based on events that you're going to.  If you're always going to a jazz concert or something, they might send you more information on that.  So oftentimes, these companies can store the information, but they also leave it up to the businesses in many cases on whether or not they're going to keep it and for how long.

O'BRIEN: All right, big brothers getting bigger, Daniel.

SIEBERG: Yes, that's right.

O'BRIEN: All right.  Daniel Sieberg, our technology guru.  Thank you very much for dropping by.

SIEBERG: Right, thanks, Miles.

O'BRIEN: And scanning us in on this subject matter.

Every glance is tracked and every blink monitored, with your car warning you before you are going to have an accident.

This is now possible thanks to a system that studies the human face to detect fatigue or distraction and then alerts the driver.

The FaceLab system recently won one of Australia's most prestigious scientific awards, the Eureka prize for innovation in technology.

FaceLab has been developed Seeing Machines, an international team of 20 scientists based at Australian National University in Canberra.

They are experts in human-computer interactivity, face recognition for short.

Fighting fatigue Since 1996 they have been developing FaceLab, a system that tracks and monitors car drivers by cameras mounted on the dashboard.

FaceLab can tell if you are becoming inattentive to the road by working out where you are looking, how many times a second you are blinking and angle of your head.

The first application of the system is in spotting early signs of driver fatigue.

This is a major problem in a country as large as Australia, where it can take 10 hours or more to drive between main cities.

Globally, fatigue is responsible for some 30% of the 700,000 deaths on the world's roads each year.

When you consider that a driver who has been awake for 20 hours has reactions slower than someone over the legal alcohol limit to drive, the consequences of driving tired could not be more serious.

Early warning "We use two cameras that give us an offset from your face which gives us 3D depth information," explained Seeing Machines market developer Gavin Longhurst.

"From that we can actually find out how far away in range you are and from that we can create a 3D model of your head."

Once the computer has that three-dimensional model of the driver it tracks reference points, such as eyes and mouth, using the cameras on the dashboard.

A PC in the car boot interprets the gaze, blink and head angle information coming from the cameras.

If drivers start to display the characteristic early signs of falling asleep, the system can alert them.

At present FaceLab is in the prototype stage.  Every major global car company has bought one of the systems from which to develop their own version.

Cyber cars?

At US$40,000 a go, the prototypes are beyond the pocket of consumers.  But by the time they hit the market in four years' time, costs will fall to around US$200 per unit for technology the size of a cigarette packet.

The first customers are expected to be haulage companies and professional drivers as they are most at risk of driver fatigue.

Over time FaceLab, like the airbag before it, could become an invaluable safety feature in each of the 50 million new cars sold yearly.

The system could also turn into an automotive Big Brother, capable of deciding whether or not you are fit to drive.

FaceLab's creator Alex Zelinsky sees a future where cyber cars make can make the call about whether or not to let their drivers out onto the road.

"A car could detect if there is some abnormality in how the car is being driven or not driven safely," he said.

"So our technology could be used to determine that a person is not checking the instruments in a correct scanning pattern, not looking at the road.

"Sure they could be factors determining that something's not right.  It could be fatigue, it could be some form of impairment caused by alcohol, drugs even."

By then if the inventors have their way, everything from cars to computers will respond to the merest blink of our eye.

Airport security screeners may soon try to read the minds of travelers to identify terrorists.
Officials of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration have told Northwest Airlines security specialists that the agency is developing brain-monitoring devices in cooperation with a commercial firm, which it did not identify.
Space technology would be adapted to receive and analyze brain-wave and heartbeat patterns, then feed that data into computerized programs "to detect passengers who potentially might pose a threat," according to briefing documents obtained by The Washington Times. NASA wants to use "noninvasive neuro-electric sensors,"
imbedded in gates, to collect tiny electric signals that all brains and hearts transmit.  Computers would apply statistical algorithms to correlate physiologic patterns with computerized data on travel routines, criminal background and credit information from "hundreds to thousands of data sources," NASA documents say.

The notion has raised privacy concerns.  Mihir Kshirsagar of the Electronic Privacy Information Center says such technology would only add to airport-security chaos.  "A lot of people's fear of flying would send those meters off the chart.  Are they going to pull all those people aside?"

The organization obtained documents July 31, the product of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Transportation Security Administration, and offered the documents to this newspaper.
Mr.  Kshirsagar's organization is concerned about enhancements already being added to the Computer-Aided Passenger Pre-Screening (CAPPS) system.  Data from sensing machines are intended to be added to that mix.
NASA aerospace research manager Herb Schlickenmaier told the Times the test proposal to Northwest Airlines is one of four airline-security projects the agency is developing.  It's too soon to know whether any of it is working, he says.

"There are baby steps for us to walk through before we can make any pronouncements," says Mr.  Schlickenmaier, the Washington official overseeing scientists who briefed Northwest Airlines on the plan.  He likened the proposal to a super lie detector that would also measure pulse rate, body temperature, eye-flicker rate and other biometric aspects sensed remotely.

Though adding mind reading to screening remains theoretical, Mr. Schlickenmaier says, he confirms that NASA has a goal of measuring brain waves and heartbeat rates of airline passengers as they pass screening machines.
This has raised concerns that using noninvasive procedures is merely a first step.  Private researchers say reliable EEG brain waves are usually measurable only by machines whose sensors touch the head, sometimes in a "thinking cap" device.  "To say I can take that cap off and put sensors in a doorjamb, and as the passenger starts walking through [to allow me to say] that they are a threat or not, is at this point a future application," Mr. Schlickenmaier said in an interview.

"Can I build a sensor that can move off of the head and still detect the EEG?" asks Mr. Schlickenmaier, who led NASA's development of airborne wind-shear detectors 20 years ago.  "If I can do that, and I don't know that right now, can I package it and [then] say we can do this, or no we can't?  We are going to look at this question.  Can this be done?  Is the physics possible?"

Two physics professors familiar with brain-wave research, but not associated with NASA, questioned how such testing could be feasible or reliable for mass screening.  "What they're saying they would do has not been done, even wired in," says a national authority on neuro-electric sensing, who asked not to be identified.  He called NASA's goal "pretty far out." Both professors also raised privacy concerns.

"Screening systems must address privacy and 'Big Brother' issues to the extent possible," a NASA briefing paper, presented at a two-day meeting at Northwest Airlines headquarters in St.  Paul, Minn., acknowledges.  Last year, the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional police efforts to use noninvasive "sense-enhancing technology" that is not in general public use in order to collect data otherwise unobtainable without a warrant.  However, the high court consistently exempts airports and border posts from most Fourth Amendment restrictions on searches.

"We're getting closer to reading minds than you might suppose," says Robert Park, a physics professor at the University of Maryland and spokesman for the American Physical Society.  "It does make me uncomfortable.  That's the limit of privacy invasion.  You can't go further than that."

"We're close to the point where they can tell to an extent what you're thinking about by which part of the brain is activated, which is close to reading your mind.  It would be terribly complicated to try to build a device that would read your mind as you walk by." The idea is plausible, he says, but frightening.

At the Northwest Airlines session conducted Dec.  10-11, nine scientists and managers from NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif., proposed a "pilot test" of the Aviation Security Reporting System.
NASA also requested that the airline turn over all of its computerized passenger data for July, August and September 2001 to incorporate in NASA's "passenger-screening testbed" that uses "threat-assessment software" to analyze such data, biometric facial recognition and "neuro-electric sensing."
Northwest officials would not comment.

Published scientific reports show NASA researcher Alan Pope, at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., produced a system to alert pilots or astronauts who daydream or "zone out" for as few as five seconds.
The September 11 hijackers helped highlight one weakness of the CAPPS system.  They did dry runs that show whether a specific terrorist is likely to be identified as a threat.  Those pulled out for special checking could be replaced by others who do not raise suspicions.  The September 11 hijackers cleared security under their own names, even though nine of them were pulled aside for extra attention.

July 23, 2002 Little Brother's fingerprints all over the library By David Rowan IT PROMISED to be the high-tech saviour of the embattled primary-school librarian, an ingenious device that guaranteed no more lost library cards and fewer missing books.

All a child had to do to borrow Topsy & Tim for the week was flick a thumb through an unobtrusive fingerprint scanner, so sensitive it could even recognise a pattern from under layers of sticky chocolate.

There was only one snag: in many cases, parents were not told that schools were storing their children’s fingerprints.

Parental outrage followed and, by last night, the school thumb-scanner being used by 1,000 British primary schools was being internationally condemned as a blatant breach of children’s human rights.

The trouble began when the mother of an 11-year-old attending the Sacred Heart Roman Catholic School in Ruislip, West London, discovered that her son had been fingerprinted without her consent.

Furious, the woman, who refused to be named, contacted civil liberties groups such as Privacy International and a child’s advocacy group, Action on Rights for Children in Education (Arch).

Privacy International called for the banning of the library-management software, sold by a Stockport company called Micro Librarian Systems.  “This is unethical and disproportionate,” Simon Davies, Privacy International’s director, said.

The assistant information commissioner Phil Boyd said that there had been no breaches of the Data Protection Act, as the thumbprints were reduced to a numerical code.

By Ritt Goldstein July 15 2002 The Bush Administration aims to recruit millions of United States citizens as domestic informants in a program likely to alarm civil liberties groups.

The Terrorism Information and Prevention System, or TIPS, means the US will have a higher percentage of citizen informants than the former East Germany through the infamous Stasi secret police.
The program would use a minimum of 4 per cent of Americans to report "suspicious activity".

Civil liberties groups have already warned that, with the passage earlier this year of the Patriot Act, there is potential for abusive, large-scale investigations of US citizens.

As with the Patriot Act, TIPS is being pursued as part of the so-called war against terrorism.  It is a Department of Justice project.

Highlighting the scope of the surveillance network, TIPS volunteers are being recruited primarily from among those whose work provides access to homes, businesses or transport systems.  Letter carriers, utility employees, truck drivers and train conductors are among those named as targeted recruits.

A pilot program, described on the government Web site www.citizencorps.gov, is scheduled to start next month in 10 cities, with 1 million informants participating in the first stage.  Assuming the program is initiated in the 10 largest US cities, that will be 1 million informants for a total population of almost 24 million, or one in 24 people.

Historically, informant systems have been the tools of non-democratic states.  According to a 1992 report by Harvard University's Project on Justice, the accuracy of informant reports is problematic, with some informants having embellished the truth, and others suspected of having fabricated their reports.

Present Justice Department procedures mean that informant reports will enter databases for future reference and/or action.  The information will then be broadly available within the department, related agencies and local police forces.  The targeted individual will remain unaware of the existence of the report and of its contents.

The Patriot Act already provides for a person's home to be searched without that person being informed that a search was ever performed, or of any surveillance devices that were implanted.

At state and local levels the TIPS program will be co-ordinated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which was given sweeping new powers, including internment, as part of the Reagan Administration's national security initiatives.  Many key figures of the Reagan era are part of the Bush Administration.

The creation of a US "shadow government", operating in secret, was another Reagan national security initiative.

Ritt Goldstein is an investigative journalist and a former leader in the movement for US law enforcement accountability.  He has lived in Sweden since 1997, seeking political asylum there, saying he was the victim of life-threatening assaults in retaliation for his accountability efforts.  His application has been supported by the European Parliament, five of Sweden's seven big political parties, clergy, and Amnesty and other rights groups.
 

--- Footnote from J.D.  Abolins:

Anybody ever heard of Pavlik Morozov?  (If not see http://www.cyberussr.com/rus/morozov.html for a quick blurb about the fellow.) When I see proposals to mobilize American people into being eyes and ears of the government, I am reminded of Pavilik and his family.

Now I am not against people reporting certain things to the police.  It is the habit of being constantly suspicious of neighbors, co-workers, and others that can become destructive.  Down the line it can lead to suspicions based not on significant clues but upon things such as "fails to display sufficient respect for authority", "laughs whenever the phrase 'homeland security' is used", and "hangs out with anti-social misfits." It is an all too easy slide from neighbors watching out for each and helping the community to becoming agents of the state.

J.D.  Abolins PS: Why is it that the most revealing news reports about the USA are coming nowadays form the UK, Aussie, and other non-USA media?

By Deborah Circelli, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Monday, July 8, 2002 PALM BEACH -- Talk about having permanent baggage.

Applied Digital Solutions Inc.  -- that's right, the folks who brought you the implantable VeriChip -- says it has devised a way for airport security to link a person to their luggage through a permanent identification device.

The company says its new technology, called VeriPass and VeriTag, will help people get through security checkpoints faster at airports and provide a foolproof way to ensure that people are who they say they are.

"It can reduce long lines at the airport and make check-ins more accurate,"
said Gary Gray, vice president of wireless and software for VeriChip Corp., a subsidiary of Applied Digital.

The technology calls for a traveler's luggage to have a tag containing a radio frequency identification device molded into it.  When a scanner reads the tag, it signifies that it belongs to the owner who has the VeriChip implant.  The implant would be voluntary, Gray said.

The VeriChip, the size of a grain of rice, will also contain information on the passenger and can be linked to flight manifest logs, and airline or law-enforcement software databases.

The technology will be on display at the Airport Security Expo July 17-18 in Las Vegas.

deborah_circelli@pbpost.com

The FBI effort, authorized by the antiterrorism law enacted after the Sept.  11 attacks, is the first broad government check of library records since the 1970s when prosecutors reined in the practice for fear of abuses.

The Justice Department ( news - web sites) and FBI declined to comment Monday, except to note that such searches are now legal under the Patriot Act that President George W.  Bush ( news - web sites) signed last October.

Libraries across the nation were reluctant to discuss their dealings with the FBI.  The same law that makes the searches legal also makes it a criminal offense for librarians to reveal the details or extent.

"Patron information is sacrosanct here.  It's nobody's business what you read," said Kari Hanson, director of the Bridgeview Public Library in suburban Chicago.

Hanson said an FBI agent came seeking information about a person, but her library had no record of the person.  Federal prosecutors allege Global Relief Foundation, an Islamic charity based in the Chicago suburb, has ties to Osama bin Laden ( news - web sites)'s terror network The University of Illinois conducted a survey of 1,020 public libraries in January and February and found that 85 libraries had been asked by federal or local law enforcement officers for information about patrons related to Sept.  11, said Ed Lakner, assistant director of research at the school's Library Research Center.

The libraries that reported FBI contacts were nearly all in large urban areas.

Judith Krug, the American Library Association's director for intellectual freedom, said the FBI was treading on the rights it is supposed to be upholding.

"It's unfortunate because these records and this information can be had with so little reason or explanation," Krug said.  "It's super secret and anyone who wants to talk about what the FBI did at their library faces prosecution.  That has nothing to do with patriotism."

By CHRISTOPHER NEWTON Associated Press Writer June 21, 2002, 2:50 PM EDT WASHINGTON -- The world is becoming a trickier place for people who tell lies -- even little white ones.

From thermal-imaging cameras, designed to read guilty eyes, to brain-wave scanners, which essentially watch a lie in motion, the technology of truth-seeking is leaping forward.

At the same time, more people are finding their words put to the test, especially those who work for the government.

FBI agents, themselves subjected to more polygraphs as a result of the Robert Hanssen spy case, have been administering lie detection tests at Fort Detrick, Md., and Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, bases with stores of anthrax.  Nuclear plant workers also are getting the tests in greater numbers since Sept.  11.

"There has been a reawakening of our interest in being able to determine the truth from each other," said sociologist Barbara Hetnick, who teaches a course on lying at Wooster College.  "As technology advances, we may have to decide whether we want to let a machine decide guilt or innocence."

The new frontiers of lie detection claim to offer greater reliability than the decades-old polygraph, which measures heart and respiratory rates as a person answers questions.

They also pose new privacy problems, moral dilemmas and the possibility that the average person will unwittingly face a test.

At the Mayo Clinic, researchers hope to perfect a heat-sensing camera that could scan people's faces and find subtle changes associated with lying.  In a small study of 20 people, the high-resolution thermal imaging camera detected a faint blushing around the eyes of those who lied.

The technique, still preliminary, could provide a simple and rapid way of scanning people being questioned at airports or border crossings, researchers say.

But would it be legal?

"As long as no one was being arrested or detained solely on the basis of the test, there is no law against scanning someone's face with a device," said Justin Hammerstein, a civil liberties attorney in New York.

"You could use the device to subject someone to greater scrutiny in a physical search or background check, and it would be hard to argue that it is illegal."

Barry Steinhardt of the American Civil Liberties Union said any technology that isn't 100 percent effective could lead unfairly to innocent travelers being stranded at airports.

"You would be introducing chaos into the situation and inevitably focusing on people who are innocent," Steinhardt said.

At the University of Pennsylvania, researcher Daniel Langleben is using a magnetic resonance imaging machine, the device used to detect tumors, to identify parts of the brain that people use when they lie.

"In the brain, you never get something for nothing," Langleben said.  "The process for telling a lie is more complicated than telling the truth, resulting in more neuron activity."

Even for the smoothest-talker, lying is tough work for the brain.

First, the liar must hear the question and process it.  Almost by instinct, a liar will first think of the true answer before devising or speaking an already devised false answer.

All that thinking adds up to a lot of electrical signals shooting back and forth.
Langleben says the extra thought makes some sections of the brain light up like a bulb when viewed with an MRI.

MRI machines are bulky, but their potential as lie detectors could lead to the invention of smaller, more specialized versions, Langleben said.

Other tests are on the market, although how well they perform is an open question.

Hand-held "voice stress" detectors already are being sold for $300 to $600 at some department stores and on the Internet.

Makers claim the devices show when a person's voice trembles under the stress of a lie.  Although skeptics say there is no proof they work, police in Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Miami are using more advanced versions and say they sometimes prompt confessions.

Also, the subject need not be present.  Police can record a suspect's voice and check it for stress later.

Not everyone is sold on it.

"Voices can shake because people are scared about being interrogated by police," said Thomas Jakes, president of People for Civil Rights.  "This technology is nothing but a way to scare people."

Critics say failure on any lie detector test can have unfair consequences, regardless of what the truth may be.

Mark Mallah says he was suspended and put under 24-hour surveillance after failing a routine polygraph test in 1994, when he was an FBI counterintelligence agent.

He was finally cleared and reinstated 19 months later.  He quit.

"They never produced any evidence or came forward with anything, but the polygraph still undermined my career," said Mallah, who practices law in San Francisco.

In the CIA, routine polygraphs led to the suspicion of dozens of agents in the 1980s.  Many were kept in professional limbo for years, according to an FBI report.

"We should try to avoid a society where suspicion is based on a machine and not on evidence," said Dale Jenang, a sociologist and philosophy researcher at the University of California, Berkeley.  "Guilt and innocence are too important to leave to a machine."

A new British science program aims to produce cameras for use in space that are so sensitive they will see through fog, smoke and even walls and clothing.

The technology will detect an obscure yet ubiquitous form of radiation known as terahertz waves, also called T-rays. Similar cameras are also expected to have applications in airport security and medicine.

One camera, already built by a company called QinetiQ and working in so-called millimetric waves, has demonstrated the ability to eerily peer through clothes and reveal a concealed weapon -- as well as much of a person's body.  The image shows far more detail than an infrared camera, which detects heat.

Terahertz radiation is similar to but more revealing than what the QinetiQ camera detects.  Scientists say T-rays are emitted by pretty much everything.  They come from "the human hand, an envelope, someone with clothes on or a comet," says Geoff McBride, who works on Star Tiger, the British project.  It is supported by the European Space Agency.

In a telephone interview, McBride told SPACE.com that a space-based T-ray imager could be deployed in two years if funding is made available.  The first objective might be to study Earth's atmosphere, he said.

Similar but less sensitive systems are currently used on satellites to measure sea surface temperatures.

"Unlike light, terahertz waves are able to propagate through cloud and smoke, providing a powerful advantage for certain remote-sensing measurements," according to Star Tiger officials.  "From a practical aspect they are also able to pass through windows, paper, clothing and in certain instances even walls."

Eventually, a T-ray imager could be deployed to investigate a comet's tail, McBride said.

Unheralded frequency Low frequency versions of terahertz waves are known as millimeter waves, and they behave much like radio waves, Star Tiger engineers say.  At higher frequencies, the terahertz waves straddle the border between radio and optical emissions.

The technology, for which there is surprisingly little literature, is sometimes referred to as quasi-optics.

T-ray cameras might one day be used to peer under the skin and detect cancer, scientists say.  They could also have security and communications applications.

A February article on the Web site of the journal Nature said terahertz cameras could be "the next big wave" in imaging technology for everything from cells to stars.

Scientists at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in New York claim T-rays will be harnessed to speed computer memory and sharpen flat-panel displays, as well as provide a new imaging technology that could prove valuable for airport security.

"It is quite possible that plastic explosives look very different under terahertz light and could be distinguished from the molecular structure of suitcases, clothing, and common household materials or equipment," says Rensselaer engineer Xi-Cheng Zhang.

The Star Tiger project, meanwhile, would bring leading researchers together in a laboratory where all the equipment and support exist to develop the necessary technology, according to a statement from the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the United Kingdom.

One goal of the program is to prove that complicated problems can be solved in this way.  "This is complemented by the removal of normal everyday distractions to allow the team to concentrate fully on the technical problems," according to the statement.

The project will be discussed by British Science Minister Lord Sainsbury at a ceremony on June 24

Tech experts warn real threats go unreported by 'mainstream' media Posted: May 10, 2002
12:43 p.m.  Eastern By Sherrie Gossett © 2002 WorldNetDaily.com As "Good Morning America," "Inside Edition," and "The CBS Evening News" televise the much-hyped "chipping" of eight individuals starting today, Lee Tien, the senior staff attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, is speaking out passionately about what many experts believe are serious threats posed by implanting chips in humans – threats he says are not being adequately portrayed by the major media.

Tien has been in high demand as a commentator on the issue.  And the New York City press office of the American Civil Liberties Union, which once called the chip "an outrage" and "unconstitutional," is currently refusing to comment on the chips, referring all inquiries to Tien or David Sobel of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.

Despite the numerous requests for comments, Tien told WND that the media have not effectively communicated his stance on the matter: "I've been used as part of their press campaign – as a token privacy person.  It's really insulting."

When the 'chips were down' ...

As WorldNetDaily reported previously, "Digital Angel," has been described by company communications as an implantable microchip that, once inserted into a human, can be tracked by GPS and the information then relayed wirelessly to the Internet, where an individual's location, movements and vital signs can be stored in a database for future reference.  The chip, along with another non-trackable version (the VeriChip) was developed by the NASDAQ-traded, Palm Beach, Fla., company, Applied Digital Solutions.

ADS tried unsuccessfully to market the implantable tracking chip in 1999 and 2000.  The company hit bumpy ground though, with protests coming from civil liberties advocates, libertarians, electronic freedom activists, radical protest organizations, anarchists and religious groups.

Complicating matters was a failed foray into presidential-year politics.  WND has reported on an unconsummated partnership between ADS and the Clinton-Gore administration, pushed by then-Secretary of Commerce Norman Mineta just days before the presidential election.  The company soon entered a dramatic financial freefall, according to the South Florida Business Journal.
Whereas in 2000 shares were $18, by November of the following year they traded at 53 cents.  In August of 2001, shares hit an all-time low of 16 cents.  The company lost millions and was threatened with delisting by NASDAQ.

Following Sept.  11, however, the company found its golden opportunity to reintroduce the chip, first in its non-tracking form (the VeriChip).  An announcement of "phase two" of the company’s strategy is likely to ride on the heels of today's much-publicized implantation event.

WND reported that ADS stated in its promotional materials and website that the sophisticated Digital Angel tracking chip was intended to be implanted in human beings, tapping into an estimated $100 billion worldwide market.

ADS chairman and CEO Richard J.  Sullivan answered privacy-advocate critics at a private unveiling of the Digital Angel prototype in October 2000, "And let me be very clear on one important point," he said.  "The potential marketplace I'm talking about is for an attachable device … something worn on the outside … close to the skin.  ...  We're not planning on or even considering any other application at this time.  Only external uses!  All of our energy … all of our focus … all of our effort is in this direction.  Period.  Any other approach or suggestion is purely hypothetical speculation at this time."

Sullivan delivered this statement a week after his website had displayed extensive information about development of the chip for human implantation, and after McKinsey & Co.  consultants had prepared a marketing projection for a whopping $70 billion market in the U.S.

Major media 'ignorant' and 'remiss' Tien is speaking out because he believes the media are doing a poor job of reporting the threats that the chip can propose to individual rights, as well as the technical security weaknesses inherent in the Digital Angel technology delivery system.

"The impression I'm getting is that the implantation thing has a 'gee-whiz' factor that the media seems to like," Tien told WND.  "But ever since Sept.  11, reporters have been less aggressive about challenging the privacy implications of the technologies or the practices."

"The media give an obligatory nod to civil liberties and privacy issues," Tien explains, "but the reports lack objective, educated analysis, resulting in them being 'one-sided.' There are few reporters interested in drilling into the real problems."

'Frog in the pot' marketing Tien is especially concerned over involuntary uses of the chip and the company's intentional strategy to "handle" the public and media, so they are gradually accepting of a more dangerous form of the chip – the GPS-tracked "Digital Angel" chip.

CEO Sullivan has suggested that all foreigners entering the U.S.  should be injected with the company’s chips, which he said should replace green cards.  While ADS has repeatedly stated that they are only pursuing voluntary applications of the chips, their proposed uses clearly indicate otherwise.  The stunning array of potential uses ADS is pushing aggressively include the implantation of prisoners, parolees, people under house arrest, children, the elderly, airport workers, nuclear power plant workers, gun owners and computer users (as a form of logon ID).

The company also envisions the implanted chips creating a "cashless society," being used instead of ATM and credit cards.  ADS also wants to control all of the databases for all uses of the chips.

"My take on it," Tien explains, "has always been that the whole idea of forcing people to be tracked against their will is absolutely repugnant."

"They're doing the frog in the water trick – getting the memo out that this is voluntary, making it hard for civil liberty advocates to counter it," Tien explains.  "But no matter what great uses are promised by the company, it is just part of an overall, larger trend – a movement toward the much bigger location tracking development of the chip."

Tien also stresses that once the chip is "colonized"
into the prison system, it will be even harder to prevent involuntary uses from spreading to other areas of society.

"We're very concerned about this habituating of the public.  The idea is, 'Oh well, it's here, so get over it.
It must not be so bad.' But once they get it in limited form, the jump to tracking form is easier for the company.” Security or hype?

Regarding the development of the chips, especially the Digital Angel tracking chip, Tien remarks:
"These people [Applied Digital Solutions] have no idea whatsoever about what real security means.  I spoke to their CTO, Dr.  Keith Bolton.  His response was 'We have this proprietary technology' – a meaningless comment."

Applied Digital Solutions contends it spent $40 million dollars on proprietary mixed-media encryption technology, and that the system security, which relies on Secure Socket Layers (SSL), won't be "spoofed." Digital Angel location information is accessed by "authorized individuals"
by entering a password into an Internet site.  But, according to Tien, the chip delivery system is vulnerable to "spoofing" and fraught with security risks.

"The low-end VeriChip is probably quite significantly insecure, but because of its limited capacity, the actual risk is not great."

However, Tien warns, it would be very different with Digital Angel: "People have the impression that only 'authorized' people will see their personal information.  But all sorts of people will eventually see it."

Compounding the problem, Tien says, are existing vulnerabilities in Microsoft software.  In March of this year, Digital Angel Corporation signed an agreement with Microsoft MapPoint in order to strengthen its worldwide GPS mapping capabilities.

"The threat is not just to the people implanted with it, but also for those people who hang out with them.  They will all be part of a large surveillance system," Tien maintained.

Chilling misuses outlined Raising further technical concerns, Tien asked, "How do you know what information they've put on the chip?  They don't suggest that it's externally programmable, but what if it is now or in the future?"

Tien illustrated his point: "Here I am with this chip.
I've got a connection.  Is it read-only or writable?
And if something is wirelessly written to it, what are they saying?" Referring to the fact that wireless networks and radio frequency data transmission packets are notoriously easy to "hijack," Tien asks,"Who are they saying I am?  How hard is it for someone to send a transmission with information identical to my chip?"

Tien argues that such hacking and "spoofing" of the system could be used, for example, to frame someone by falsely placing their identification chip information into a computer and linking the ID number with a crime scene location.  "It's equivalent to saying, 'Here's your DNA at this crime scene.
Now prove you weren't there,'" said Tien.

Nabbing cyberpunks?

Nathan Cochrane of The Age newspaper in Australia has also researched and explored various potential misuses of the chip.  In an e-mail sent to Declan McCullagh, Washington bureau chief for Wired magazine, Cochrane summed up a potential result of using the implanted tracking chip as a logon identification system, as advocated by ADS:
"Can you imagine a tracking system that could tell when you had swapped songs over Napster, then dobbing you in to the local police, complete with your location accurate to within a few meters?"

The observation parallels similar developments of other electronic identification systems, like electronic toll booth passes, first marketed as a "convenience" item, but later used to issue speeding tickets to drivers who used the technology.

Cyberspace vulnerabilities critical During congressional testimony earlier in the year, United States cybersecurity czar Richard Clarke pointed out that when corporate computer systems are hacked into, it is seldom reported to the government.  This is because after such information is reported, it could then be retrieved by researchers and reporters by using the Freedom of Information Act.  So corporations typically avoid reporting serious security breaches for fear of the financial consequences that diminished consumer trust could bring.

Clarke testified before Congress that there never has been a "secure" Internet product, and that terrorists could have hacked into government systems leaving "back doors" through which they could enter later.  Prior embarrassing security breaches of prominent government websites such as NASA, the Pentagon and the CIA seem to say to privacy advocates, "If the government is struggling to secure its IT systems, just how secure are commercial networks?"

Tien believes that the cyber czar's comments serve to highlight potential areas of concern for those considering allowing companies like ADS to collect and control extremely sensitive information.

Location, location, location Legal questions arise concerning the vacuum of legal protection of location-based electronic information.  As politicians, corporate interests and privacy advocates are still wrestling over issues of who gets to see cell phone location information, the same issues apply to tracking chips.  The question is, who will win access to your movement and location information?  Your wife's divorce attorney?
Your political rival?  News reporters?  Corporate lawyers?  Advertising firms?  Government?  And who would desire to steal your location information records?

Would the monetary and power value of such personal information give rise to a "digital mafia,"
buying and selling your location and movement information for profit?  In a world where there is mass implantation of tracking chips as a form of ID, one can only imagine the value of obtaining where a political rival was on a given night, with whom, at what hotel, and for how long? And in the cashless society advocated by ADS, what did they buy?  The bio-sensor information transmitted and stored by the chips would even tell you how hard their hearts were beating and to what degree their skin temperature rose.

Alternatives to implantation For medical monitoring, implanting devices in the body is just not necessary, Tien contends.  Other companies like "Lifeshirt" of Miami have developed products that monitor vital signs just like ADS chips do, but non-invasively.  And as far as tamper-proof identification goes, Tien argues that the body by itself contains unique identifying characteristics that can be effectively confirmed by biometric technologies.  These characteristics include fingerprints, irises, DNA and facial angles.
As for tracking, Tien points out that using a bracelet in situations where such tracking is unavoidable, is sufficient, and that implantation just isn’t a logical necessity in most civilian situations.

"We don’t like it.  We're very concerned.  And we hope this thing falls apart," Tien

The Federal Aviation Administration is monitoring the fingerprint-scanning security system at the University of North Dakota's (UND) flight school to see if the system might work in other applications.  Airports also could eventually use such biometrics systems to manage access to baggage, fueling, and other areas, in place of identification cards.  Biometrics involves scanning fingerprints or eye or facial structures through a computer in order to authorize a person at a security checkpoint.  The program at the university's school has garnered much attention since the terrorist attacks on the United States.
It will begin scanning student and instructor fingerprints in coming weeks and should be ready to work within the semester.  The system's creator, VeriFly, hopes to use the UND program to market its products to other groups. (www.startribune.com)

"Shine and Punishment" Portland Press Herald (ME) (01/16/02) P.  1B; Hoey, Dennis

Maine has a new state prison that features state-of-the-art technology.  The $76 million facility has high-tech features such as touch-sensitive fences and computer-operated doors.
The compound is surrounded by a rim of three fences; the first fence features a pressure-sensitive taut-wire that emits an electronic signal when touched, signaling a breach to guards.  Inmate activities in every part of the complex of seven buildings, covering nearly 500,000 square feet of space, will be monitored by video surveillance cameras.  In addition, much of the glass at the prison will be shatterproof and bulletproof.  Each cell will have a glass window, which will give inmates a view of the outside world.
Flooding the prison with natural light is an attempt to give the facility a sense of humanity.  Other features of the prison, set to house inmates next month, include day rooms for cell blocks; a salad bar in the dining area; a warehouse that resembles a factory; a full-sized gym and basketball court; weight room; chapel; law library; computer lab; canteen; barber shop; and music room.  (www.portland.com)

"Security Vs.  Privacy" InformationWeek (01/14/02) No.  871, P.  22; Rendleman, John; Swanson, Sandra; Maselli, Jennifer

The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators this week is expected to introduce a proposal to issue drivers' licenses with biometric identifiers.  However, the plan faces considerable privacy and technical hurdles, especially with similar proposals of a national ID card leaving a sour taste in the mouths of privacy proponents.
The databases would be open to DMVs in different states, federal agencies, law-enforcement officials, and even businesses, and privacy advocates argue that such a situation leaves confidential information vulnerable to abuse.  "We don't see a very great distinction between a national ID card and a coalition of 50 states [issuing] drivers' licenses," says Lee Tien of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.  "To the extent that the databases are highly integrated, there may be even more of a risk from human error or human malfeasance." The integration effort itself would also be a challenge, one that requires state records to be modernized and many state and federal systems to be connected.  Convincing naysayers that the system is important and secure will be key to making the biometric driver's license proposal viable.  (www.informationweek.com)

"Recognizing the Enemy" Technology Review (12/01); Stikeman, Alexandra

 Face recognition technology is already being used in several places around the country; in order to work completely, the system would have to be linked to databases via the Internet.  Massachusetts' Viisage Technology and New Jersey-based Visionics both have systems able to do just that, and according to officials, the setup is relatively simple.  However, a continuing problem in using such systems is connecting the systems to and receiving cooperation from a multiple number of federal and local authorities.  Airport security would gain the most benefits from the technology, but another problem arises, specifically collecting the images of individuals sought by law enforcement agencies.(www.techreview.com)

"Customs Officers Given More Powers" Montreal Gazette (01/09/02) P.  A4; Beaudin, Monique

Quebec's three most congested border crossings will now be staffed by customs officers armed with pepper spray and billy clubs and a new authority under which they can arrest and detain suspicious individuals.  Other security and detection equipment to be used at the Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle, Saint-Armand-de-Philipsburg, and the Stanstead crossings will include breathalyzer-like machines for detecting alcohol on a person's breath--narrowing the gap between when the person arrives in Canada and when the officers can stop them, according to one customs agent.  The lobbying for more official authority for border patrols has been three years in the making, but negotiations have taken this long between police officers and customs officials.  Until now, customs officers had no authority to stop a drunk driver from entering into Canada, but one problem remains; since the powers are only installed at three crossings, the other 144 portals will remain penetrable by all sorts of suspicious individuals.  Serge Charette, president of the Customs Excise Union Douanes Accise, notes that although they are happy with the new authorities given them, because they are not in place at all crossings, drunk drivers and other suspicious drivers are already "port shopping"-- going out of their way to cross at the borders where they know the customs officials do not have the authority yet to enforce arrests or detainments of any kind.  (www.canada.com/montreal)

"Printrak to Provide Royal Canadian Mounted Police With Regional Automated Fingerprint Identification Access System" PRNewswire (01/10/02)

Motorola subsidiary Printrak has agreed to supply the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) with its Regional Automated Fingerprint Identification Access System (RAFIAS).  The system will enable police access from anywhere in Canada to a national database containing 3.3 million fingerprint records.  The initial system, which contains four RAFIAS pilot sites, is scheduled for installation this year.  The RCMP will have the option to acquire 171 additional workstations later after launching the original 26 RAFIAS workstations.  The technology, which is based on Printrak's automated fingerprint identification system research, will replace the RCMP's current Photo Phone system.  RAFIAS will allow RCMPs to capture, enhance, and input tenprint and latent fingerprints into the database.  The RCMP's policing authority extends through all of Canada, including 192 First Nations communities.  (www.prnewswire.com)

"California Wiretapping Bill Dealt Legal Setback" SiliconValley.com (01/15/02); Levey, Noam

A scaled-down version of Gov.  Gray Davis' (D-Calif.) bill to expand wiretapping powers of state and local law enforcement officials was offered, after changes were made to quiet complaints from the legislative counsel that the original proposal might violate federal law.  The counsel sent a letter to Assemblyman Carl Washington (D-Compton) noting that states do not have the same authority as the federal government to use roving wiretaps on phones used by suspected criminals.  Washington said he would jettison this provision, as well as eliminate a measure to increase email surveillance of suspects.  Both civil liberties groups and state legislators have opposed the California bill, which they fear would trample privacy rights and broaden the authority of law enforcement agencies that have been known to abuse wiretapping powers.  Meanwhile, Washington is promising to introduce a bill that would expand electronic communications surveillance.  However, Assemblyman Fred Keeley (D-Santa Cruz) and others are worried that the proposal lacks privacy protections.  (www.siliconvalley.com)

"All 50 States Agree to Upgrade Driver's Licenses" Boston Globe Online (01/14/02); Kerber, Ross

Officials in all 50 states are seeking about $70 million in federal funds to upgrade their driver's license systems to link them to law enforcement databases, and to have fingerprints or digital photographs included on driver's licenses to create national identity cards.  About 200 million Americans carry a driver's license, but states do not all have the same regulations governing license issuance; Vermont, for instance, does not even require a photo for licenses.  A state administrator's group has established a task force to develop a system the links all state databases and makes a majority of the regulations uniform.  The task force is considering the use of bar codes and magnetic strips that could be scanned in any jurisdiction.  Also at issue is the training of license issuers to detect fraudulent documents that could be used to obtain a valid license or identification card. (www.boston.com/globe)

"The Little Label with an Explosion of Applications" Financial Times (01/15/02) P.  8; Cole, George

Smart tags are used to track the positions or presence of their wearers with radio waves, and the technology is being applied to many markets.  Xerox uses smart tags to keep tabs on photocopiers shipped to Europe, while some Japanese factories tag workers' shoes so they can pass through automatic doors.  Meanwhile, pharmacists are using smart labels placed on medicine bottles that enable a special reader to vocalize information such as a patient's name and general instructions, a significant help to vision-impaired and elderly patients.  In a year, smart tag chips embedded in banknotes will start being mass produced.  Other potential applications of the technology include automatic toll payment systems in cars.  Sokymat is one of the largest smart tag technology manufacturers in the world, and Sokymat UK director Marie Glotz says the company is making products for cans and labels, automotive applications, industrial applications, and food and animals.  One of the more unusual projects in this last category involves microchip-tagged bees that the U.S.  Army uses to detect landmines.  Glotz believes smart tags could supplant barcodes because "they don't have to be in sight of the reader; they don't become scratched and unusable; and they can be reused."(www.ft.com)

"Visionics IBIS Mobile Identification System Delivers Stellar Performance in Ontario Police Department"
Business Wire (01/14/02)

Visionics IBIS Mobile Identification System was fully implemented at the Ontario, Calif., Police Department in October 2001, and in just the first two months of operation, the system completed 490 transactions and identified 15 people with outstanding warrants with an average response time of 2.5 minutes, according to the Visionics performance update.  The IBIS system works by allowing officers to use a Remote Data Terminal, a hand-held portable device, to collect photographs, fingerprint images, and magnetic stripe data and send the information to a laptop in the squad car without wires.  The information is then transmitted via cellular communications or radio to a central IBIS server, where it is scanned, and either alerts the officer of a problem or discards the information.  The system, which provides real-time information to mobile officers, has made the Ontario Police Department more efficient and could work with airport security, border control, sporting events, and other mobile scenarios, says Visionics chairman and CEO Joseph Atick.  (www.businesswire.com)

"Facing the Future of Recognition Software" Police and Security News (12/01) Vol.  17, No.  6, P.  71; Sharp, Arthur G.

Since Sept.  11, Facial Recognition Software (FRS) has been touted by some as a way to fight terrorism, as well as a useful tool in easing the workloads of law enforcement agencies (LEAs).  FRS systems use computer-scanned pictures to match those stored on a database, typically driver's license and mug shot photos of criminals or those with previous agency contact; the system closely examines the underlying facial structure, so disguises are not a hindrance.  Photo availability is not an issue as 2,000,000 surveillance cameras are in use nationwide in many airports, casinos, intersections, and government offices, among other places.  In fact, Joseph Atick, chief executive of Visionics Corp., says FRS might have stopped the Sept.  11 terrorist attacks if officials were able to match the hijackers' faces with available mug shots.  However, one of the drawbacks of FRS is that the photos need to be clear in order to produce the best results, and most photos of terrorists or criminals are not.  FRS opponents believe that such systems violate privacy, while others question whether reducing crime takes precedence over individual rights.  LEAs agencies are presently concerned more with acquiring and implementing the integrated FRS systems, but the potential for networking among departments exists; currently, four departments in West Covina, Calif., are networked with plans to add several more in the near future.  However, a major setback for FRS, according to opponents, is the 10 percent to 20 percent failure rate--meaning the systems have failed to identify or incorrectly identified suspects--though 80 percent to 90 percent accuracy is enough for most proponents to advocate implementation.
 

"Putting Parolees on a Tighter Leash" New York Times (01/31/02) P.  G1; Lee, Jennifer 8.

Florida-based Pro Tech Monitoring, the leader in surveillance technology using the Global Positioning System (GPS), produces a tracking and monitoring device that allows municipalities to keep better track of parolees than traditional systems.  Parolees wear an electronic ankle bracelet that transmits a signal to a four-pound electronic box that the offenders must carry with them at all times.
The box makes a cell phone call to a central computer every 10 minutes, transmitting the offender's geographic location via the GPS.  Not only does the GPS provide constant and precise monitoring, but it can send an alert to authorities if the offender enters a designated "hot zone," such as a school or victim's home; if the offender does not arrive on time at home; strays more than 100 feet away from the box; or tampers with the bracelet.  Katherine Johnson, a criminologist at the University of West Florida, says satellite monitoring has turned out to be a good behavior-modification tool during the tracking period.
According to Jim Sommerkamp, a senior probation supervisor in Hillsborough County, Fla., only 40 percent of offenders under satellite surveillance violate parole or probation, compared to 70 percent of all offenders on parole.  However, state and local authorities have not adopted the system quickly, as it costs twice as much as traditional electronic monitoring, and the GPS satellite signals are usually blocked inside buildings, urban areas with tall buildings, and rural areas with inadequate cell phone infrastructure.
(www.nytimes.com)

"Airport Checks Get Personal"

St.  Petersburg Times (FL) (02/02/02) P.  1A Aviation and technology groups are looking to conduct trials soon of expansive new air security systems, which could aggregate personal information about travelers and would connect company reservation systems with private and government systems.  The programs would apply data-mining and predictive functions to pinpoint behavior indicating a potential threat, assign each passenger a threat index score, and alert authorities when more extensive checks are necessary.  Supporters of such a system advocate its potential efficiency and unobtrusiveness, and companies working on such systems insist they plan to protect personal information from airlines and security personnel.  Critics suggest the system would violate privacy, could serve as a basis for a large surveillance infrastructure that would further threaten privacy rights, and might tempt law enforcement officers into applying it to locate people for other reasons.  The technologies necessary to create such a system are in existence today, but various factors would delay the application of the system, including the fact that the Transportation Security Administration would have to establish guidelines and arrange for funding, and certain privacy protections of both the Fair Credit Reporting Act and Driver's Privacy Protection Act might have to be eliminated for the system to work.  HNC Software and Accenture are each leading a development effort, with the help of other companies, on systems that would establish normal activity patterns and note deviations, perhaps eventually using biometric technology.  (www.sptimes.com)

"Smart Fence Sounds Alarm for Intruders" Toronto Star (02/04/02) P.  E7; Lewerenz, Dan

Researchers have developed a "smart fence" that trips an alarm when vibrations are detected.  Developer David Swanson, a senior researcher at Penn State's Applied Research Laboratory, says the inspiration for the fence came from a spider web.  Because a chain-link fence vibrates once touched, researchers sought to convert it into a breach detector using acoustic technology.  Swanson said the sensors could be programmed to transmit sound through speakers to alert security; a more sophisticated application would have the computer analyze the volume and noise frequency to determine the size of the intruder, then track the time it takes for sound to travel to pinpoint where the fence was being breached.  (www.thestar.com)

"Long-Distance Robots" Scientific American (12/01) Vol.  785, No.  6, P.  94; Alpert, Mark

Telepresence could make up for some of the shortcomings of videoconferencing, such as the difficulty of understanding what participants are saying and the lack of equipment mobility.  The technology makes use of robots equipped with a video camera, a microphone, a wireless transmitter for sending signals to an Internet connection, artificial-intelligence software, and sensors.  Telepresence robots allow users to go online, from their remote location, and see what the robot sees and hears.  Users also can use a mouse to control the movements of the telepresence robot.
IRobot is active in this area and plans to sell telepresence robots for both business and home use.  There are some concerns that people will have a hard time embracing telepresence robots because they are likely to see them more as camera-wielding intruders.  However, telepresence robots may offer benefits that are so great, such as safe alternatives for seniors who do not want to live in nursing homes, that people may come to accept them.  So far, reconnaissance in dangerous environments, such as the World Trade Center site, appears to be the best demonstration of the value of telepresence robots, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has decided to fund an iRobot telepresence robot that specializes in reconnaissance and surveillance.  (www.sciam.com)

Recently, I sent out a copy of an official notice from the new Homeland Defense Agency requesting proposals from contractors for the development and production of new technologies to be used ostensibly in counter terrorism measures.  I personally thought the document was a "bomb shell" in its own right and might cause quite a stir.  Whereas, I had not seen anyone report on this anywhere else, and had I only happened upon the Request For Proposal (RFP) whilst doing research on another topic, I was curious whether others would also find it alarming.  Perhaps people have become numbed to such pronouncements.

My first reaction was to draw parallels between this latest US government solicitation and the 1998 report prepared by the European Parliament entitled "An Appraisal of the Technologies of Political Control".  It seemed clear to me that the US government, Homeland Defense Agency is openly moving -- almost point-for-point -- towards adoption of the techniques and measures of totalitarian political control warned about in the European Parliament document.

Perhaps I'm just over-reacting.  I don't know, you decide.

I have copied below a few select excerpts from the "Political Control" document, and once again, below that I have included the Homeland Defense Agency's request for proposals.

Scott
--- AN APPRAISAL OF THE TECHNOLOGIES OF POLITICAL CONTROL An Omega Foundation Summary & Options Report For The European Parliament SEPTEMBER 1998 http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/eu_stoa_2.htm [Another link to same document:] http://www.uhuh.com/laws/europar3.htm "The resultant innovations in the technology of political control have been functionally designed to yield an extension of the scope, efficiency and growth of policing power.  The extent to which this process can be judged to be a legitimate one depends both on one's point of view and the level of secrecy and accountability built into the overall procurement and deployment procedures.  The full implications of such developments may take time to assess.  It is argued that one impact of this process is the militarisation of the police and the para-militarisation of the army as their roles, equipment and procedures begin to overlap.  This phenomena is seen as having far reaching consequences on the way that future episodes of sub-state violence is handled, and influencing whether those involved are reconciled, managed, repressed, 'lost' or efficiently destroyed.

"What is emerging in certain quarters is a chilling picture of ongoing innovation in the science and technology of social and political control, including: semi-intelligent zone-denial systems using neural networks which can identify and potentially punish unsanctioned behaviour; the advent of global telecommunications surveillance systems using voice recognition and other biometric techniques to facilitate human tracking; data-veillance systems which can match computer held data to visual recognition systems or identify friendship maps simply by analysing the telephone and email links between who calls whom; new sub-lethal incapacitating weapons used both for prison and riot control as well as in sub-state conflict operations other than war; new target acquisition aids, lethal weapons and expanding dum-dum like ammunition which although banned by the Geneva conventions for use against other state's soldiers, is finding increasing popularity amongst SWAT and special forces teams; discreet order vehicles designed to look like ambulances on prime time television but which can deploy a formidable array of weaponry to provide a show of force in countries like Indonesia or Turkey, or spray harassing chemicals or dye onto protestors.  Such marking appears to be kid-glove lin its restraint but tags all protestors so that the snatch squads can arrest them later, out of the prying lenses of CNN."

-[snip]- "New surveillance technology can exert a powerful 'chill effect' on those who might wish to take a dissenting view and few will risk exercising their right to democratic protest if the cost is punitive riot policing with equipment which may lead to permanent injury or loss of life."

-[snip]- "The overall drift of this technology is to increase the power and reliability of the policing process, either enhancing the individual power of police operatives, replacing personnel with less expensive machines to monitor activity or to automate certain police monitoring, detection and communication facilities completely.  A massive Police Industrial Complex has been spawned to service the needs of police, paramilitary and security forces, evidenced by the number of companies now active in the market.  An overall trend is towards globalisation of these technologies and a drift to increasing proliferation, without much regard to local conditions.

"One core trend has been towards a militarisation of the police and a paramilitarisation of military forces in Europe.  Often this begins via special units involved in crisis policing, such as the Special Weapons and Tactics Squads such as the Grenz Schutz Gruppe in Germany; the Gendarmeries National in France; the Carabinieri in Italy; and the Special Patrol Group in the UK or the federal police paramilitary teams in the United States (FBI, DEA & BATF) that adopt the same weaponry as their military counterparts.  Then a growing percentage of ordinary police are trained in public order duties and tactics which incorporate some element of firearms training.  The tactical training is often a mirror image of the low intensity counter-revolutionary warfare tactics adopted by the military."

-[snip]-
3.  RECENT TRENDS & INNOVATIONS
3.1 Area Denial replaces personnel guarding either areas or perimeters.  It has involved deploying technology which can either create punishment when its limits are infringed or systems with built in intelligence which can both locate the point of infringement and activate a corrective response.

-[snip]-
3.2 Surveillance Technologies are one of the fastest growing areas of the technology of political control and a key problem is how to deal with the torrent of information it yields The term covers a vast range of products and devices but the overall trend is towards miniaturization, more precise resolution through the adoption of digital technology and increasing automation so that the technology can be more effectively targeted.

*Automatic fingerprint readers
*Human identity recognition system
*Face recognition systems
*Night vision technology
*Neural network bugs
*Passive Millimeter Wave Imaging
-[snip]-
3.3 Data-veillance - The use of telematics by the police has revolutionised policing in the last decade and created the shift towards pre-emptive policing.

-[snip]-
------------------------------------- Government Issues Broad Agency Announcements on Homeland Defense and Security http://www.itsa.org/itsnews.nsf/key/686A?OpenDocument USD (AT&L)/TSWG 02-Q-4655 BAA PACKAGE UNDER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR ACQUISITION, TECHNOLOGY AND LOGISTICS (USD (AT&L))
AND COMBATING TERRORISM TECHNOLOGY SUPPORT OFFICE TECHNICAL SUPPORT WORKING GROUP (TSWG) BROAD AGENCY ANNOUNCEMENT
02-Q-4655 Due Date for Receipt of Phase I Submittals:
No Later Than 23 December 2001 A pdf version of the DoD's BAA may be downloaded at:
https://www.bids.tswg.gov/tswg/bids.nsf/DownloadBAAs/02-Q-4655/$FILE/ATL+BAA +Package2.pdf
1.  INTRODUCTION.

This is the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics (USD (AT&L)) and Combating Terrorism Technology Support Office (CTTSO) Technical Support Working Group (TSWG) Broad Agency Announcement (BAA), 02-Q-4655, issued under the provisions of paragraph 6.102(d)(2)(i) of the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), to provide for the competitive selection of research proposals.

-[snip]-
4.1.  Objective.  USD (AT&L) and CTTSO are issuing this joint BAA to identify capabilities that can be developed in approximately 12-18 months.  USD (AT&L) is responsible for research and development in the Department of Defense. CTTSO executes the TSWG program that conducts rapid prototype development focused on critical multi-agency and future threat counter/anti-terrorism requirements in support of the USD (AT&L).  The primary TSWG mission is to conduct the National Interagency Research and Development (R&D) Program for combating terrorism through rapid research, development, and prototyping.

-[snip]-
5.  TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT REQUIREMENT TARGETS AND OBJECTIVES.
USD (AT&L) and CTTSO are interested in soliciting proposals in the following areas combating terrorism, location and defeat of hard or difficult targets, protracted operations in remote areas, and countermeasures to weapons of mass destruction.  The intent of this BAA is to identify technologies and approaches that provide near-term solutions (12-18 months).

-[snip]-
17.
R-100 Combating Terrorism This topic area includes but is not limited to finding suspected terrorists, predicting the future behavior of terrorists, finding weapons and support equipment that could be used by terrorists, detection and warning of terrorist activities, rapidly configuring protection and defensive measures against terrorist action and recovery from terrorist actions.

R-101 Automated Speaker Recognition System Incorporate Pashtu, Urdu, Farsi, Arabic dialects, and other minor Middle Eastern and central/south Asian languages into an existing Automated Speaker Recognition System.  Integrate advanced language recognition and change detection algorithms to detect changes and identify language within speech data containing multiple languages, short segments (10 - 30 seconds) and over degraded channels.
Develop corpus collection/database to support this project.  Incorporate open system architecture to permit client-server use by selected intelligence and counterintelligence agencies.

R-102 Computer and Information Operations
Develop a family of tools for the detection, extraction, storage, transmission, scanning, and forensic analysis of computer media, PDAs, and digital audiovisual imagery.  Emphasis will be on tools for high performance analysis (forensic intrusion, data, media, network and hierarchical visual information), decryption, steganography, and forensic knowledge based application.

R-103 Tagging, Tracking, Locating and Remote Sensors
Develop tags/sensors that allow remote monitoring of real/near real-time movement of forces and resources.  Both line-of-sight and non-line-of-sight methods are acceptable. Methods may be either passive or active.  This includes monitoring of civilian as well as military targets.  Networked autonomous systems that provide a fused picture of the environment and movements are desireable.

R-104 Locating Faces in Video Images
Develop improved algorithms for identifying that a 2-D video image or sequence of images contains one or more human faces, locating those faces precisely in the image(s) and counting the number of different faces.  We are primarily interested in “natural environments” with unconstrained lighting and pose angle, where image resolution exceeds 50-pixel interocular distance.  Integration with emerging U.S.  government test datasets will be required.

R-105 Identifying Faces in Video Images
Develop improved algorithms for identifying faces from video sequences under unconstrained lighting and.USD (AT&L)/TSWG 02-Q-4655 BAA PACKAGE pose conditions.  Of particular interest is the refinement of basis sets for image-based approaches, creation of model-based methods using 2-D input with potential for “real time” applications, and study of decision optimization with multiple, highly correlated images.  Demonstration of algorithms using emerging U.S. government test datasets will be required.

R-106 Video Human Tracking
Develop a system for tracking a single person through multiple sequential 2-D video images or through multiple cameras in uncontrolled lighting environments.

R-107 Voice Print Identification Develop a system to use voice prints to locate, track, and correlate suspected terrorists and their associates.
Develop the technology to identify specific foreign language speakers based on a short sample of voice data collected from intelligence, law enforcement or media sources.  Technology must interface with collection databases of voice samples and provide a mechanism for the distribution and use of resultant “speaker id” products.  The identification technology should incorporate current state of the art and provide linkage to emerging developing technologies from academia, industry and government labs.  System should have the ability to automatically establish and track correlations and build the identification objects, while also providing a robust suite of voice analyst assistant tools for parsing and analyzing the speech data.
Develop the ability to handle multiple channel effects and noise degradation from degraded or low quality channels.

R-108 Terrorist Behavior and Actions Predictions Technology
Develop an integrated information base and a family of data mining tools and analysis aids to assist the analyst and the identification of patterns, trends and models of behavior of terrorist groups and individuals.  This would include information fusion of diverse intelligence, law enforcement and cultural data into a common form assessable to state of the art data mining and analytic tools.  Included would be visualization and display tools for understanding the relationships between persons, events and patterns of behaviors.  The system would allow “what if ” type modeling of events and behavioral patterns and result in predictive analysis products with specific elements of information to confirm or deny the hypothesis of the various models.  The resulting predictions and hypothesis models should form the basis of a planning and “course of action” tool for US/Allied actions in confirming predictions or disrupting behaviors.

R-109 Information Integration Center
Develop the ability to readily store, catalogue and correlate data that will be identified in the course of an investigation and analysis of suspected terrorist activity.

R-110 Physical Security
This topic area covers research and development projects that satisfy requirements for physical security support to protect personnel, equipment and facilities against terrorist activity.  This includes development of equipment and systems to safeguard personnel, prevent or delay unauthorized access to facilities and installations, and to protect against terrorist threats and sabotage.  It further includes methods of mitigating the effects of blast on structures.

R-111 Ports of Entry Passenger Screening Aid
Develop a deception detection device for use with counterterrorism based structured interviews for passengers of the various modes of transportation.  The system should apply known relationships between electrodermal activity and the detection of deception in a polygraph to a portable device.  Consideration will be given to alternate approaches and sensors.  Emphasis should be placed on processing time.

The State Department will soon begin sending digital images of foreign travelers, taken during the visa application process, to American ports of entry, so that border officials can verify the identities of these individuals in real time.  Also under consideration by Congress is a proposal to place biometric identifiers, such as fingerprints or iris scans, on visas of those wishing to travel to the United States, as well as on the passports of 29 nations.  Those countries, including Japan and much of Western Europe, will have to create new passports to meet U.S.  requirements if the proposal is authorized, under threat of removal from the visa-waiver program.
(www.latimes.com)
 

"DNA Testing for Inmates" USA Today (12/27/01) P.  10A

DNA evidence exonerated Albert DeSalvo last month from a series of brutal slayings.  DeSalvo was believed to be the notorious Boston Strangler, who raped and murdered 11 women within an 18-month period, after confessing to the crimes. However, DeSalvo, already a convicted rapist, was murdered in prison before charges could be filed.  Investigators discovered his DNA did not match DNA samples taken from the strangler's last victim after exhuming the body.  DNA testing has led to the exoneration of more than 90 convicted criminals, including nine on death row, since it began in the mid-1980s, and has solved crimes in California, Florida, Washington, and Wisconsin.  Despite these benefits, the Department of Justice terminated plans to test prisoners who were convicted before inception of the technology.  Arizona, Oklahoma, and Tennessee only allow DNA testing in cases involving the death penalty or life-in-prison.
(www.usatoday.com)
 

"Fresno Airport Is First in the Nation to Use Face-Scan Technology" Contra Costa Times (12/27/01)

California's Fresno-Yosemite International is the first airport in the United States to use face-recognition technology to scan passengers, under a pilot program authorized by the Federal Aviation Administration.  After walking through metal detectors, passengers are instructed to look into the lens of a digital camera.  After their photo is taken, the image is compared to a database of 800 suspected terrorists, determining whether there is a match within seconds.  The software compares 26 facial features, and then comes up with a score, 10.0 being perfect, and 8.0 being high enough to warrant closer inspections by security personnel.  Critics of the technology say it is not effective, giving too many false-positives and false-negatives.  They also point out to the fact that none of the 19 hijackers involved in the Sept.  11 terrorist attacks would have been detected by the machine, since none were known to U.S.  authorities.  (www.contracosta.com)
 

"Watchful Wonders; Supercircuits' Tiny Technology Catches Thieves in the Act" Austin American-Statesman (12/26/01) P.  D1; Mahoney, Jerry

Texas-based Supercircuits generated about $20 million in revenues in 2001 by providing security and surveillance systems for law enforcement agencies, retailers, and companies.  Though its biggest seller is a four-camera system that is mounted on a ceiling, which includes a monitor and processor that allows recording capabilities for everything the camera sees, it is best known for setting records in the 2002 Guinness Book of Records for a color video camera no bigger than a sugar cube, and a video transmitter the size of a thumb.  The firm also makes the world's most diminutive wireless video system.  (www.austin360.com/aas)

A high-resolution thermal-imaging camera trained on an individual's face to detect signs of blushing associated with lying may in the future be installed at airports and border checkpoints as part of America's war on terrorism.  A recent Mayo Clinic study took 20 Army recruits and assigned eight of them to stab a mannequin and take $20 from it.  The subjects were then asked about their "crimes," told to deny them, and filmed with the camera.  Six of the eight mock criminals were uncovered, while 11 of the 12 innocents were found to be telling the truth.  Critics of the experiment say that not nearly enough persons were used to validate the technology's performance, and furthermore, that the camera only detected signs of anxiety, much like a polygraph test, and may not be a true indicator of when someone is lying. www.washtimes.com)

"Probation Officers Using Computer Software to Monitor Sex Offenders" Associated Press (01/06/02);

O'Connor, John Don Spurlin, a Sangamon County, Ill., probation officer, proposed that Sugar Grove's Security Software Systems use its Cyber Sentinel software not only to protect children from sexual predators, but also to shield predators from their own impulses.  In turn, the company tested the software, and it worked so well that Sangamon County now plans to require the software for offenders in the future.

So far, four county sex offenders feature Cyber Sentinel on their computers and if they go to a prohibited site, use sexually explicit language, or employ phrases common to online predators, they will receive an email informing them they may have violated their probation.  Similar technologies are being used across the country, but some authorities insist that the new solutions do not replace human contact between law enforcement officials and individuals on probation.  (www.ap.org)

"Study Begins for New Driver's Licenses" Associated Press (01/08/02); Bridis, Ted

Instead of national identity cards being distributed to U.S. citizens, Congress is strongly urging the U.S.  Department of Transportation to work with state motor vehicle agencies in developing uniform methods for storing and verifying data on licenses.  Using bar codes or biometric technology, any state would be able to check the identities of drivers, perhaps preventing terrorists and criminals from using false identification.  Currently, 37 states store electronic information on driver's licenses, but only a few use biometrics, such as fingerprints or retinal scans.  Georgia uses digital thumbprints.  Privacy advocates are worried that using licenses in such a manner will open up the possibility of severe privacy abuses by the government.  (www.ap.org)
 

"Davis Seeks to Expand Wiretap Powers" Los Angeles Times (01/08/02) P.  A1; Morain, Dan

When Gov.  Gray Davis (D-Calif.) delivers his State of the State speech tonight, he is expected to propose legislation to increase phone and email surveillance on Californians. The proposal would expand the powers of state and local police to implement court-authorized roving wiretaps that enable them to monitor any phone used by suspected criminals, as well as tap into email and Internet sites.  The measure is similar to the Patriot Act signed into law by President Bush last October; like that law, its primary goal is defense against terrorism.  "[Davis] wants to see California law enforcement modernized in their techniques in investigating terrorists," says George Vinson, the governor's security advisor.  ACLU lobbyist Francisco Lobaco is opposed to Davis' plan, which he claims endangers the privacy of innocent people.  Senate President Pro Tem John Burton (D-San Francisco) and Public Safety Commission Chairman Sen.  Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) agree that the federal government already has the power to authorize such surveillance, and see no need for California to have its own authority.  (www.latimes.com)
 

"Cameras' Ability to Cut Crime Doubted: Privacy Chief Says They Just Displace Crime" Vancouver Sun (01/03/02) P.  B1; Sandler, Jeremy

 In general, British Columbia's information and privacy commissioner has some doubts as to whether installing surveillance cameras on the streets of Vancouver will really deter crime.  Commissioner Loukidelis noted that according to the studies he has read, the 2.5 million or so cameras currently installed all over the United Kingdom have not made a significant difference in preventing crime there.  In response to an inquiry, he published a letter on his Web site spelling out his current position and highlighted that Vancouver's police department--while not addressing any other crime prevention measures--admits to a decrease in the number of drug and related arrests made, but still wants to install as many as 30 surveillance camera in the Downtown Eastside area.  Speaking to Vancouver's Chief Constable Terry Blythe, mayor and police board chairman Philip Owen, and Inspector Axel Hovbrender, the lead officer on the camera project, Loukidelis said in his letter that he could not make a determination until more information, including the action's compliance to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, was evaluated.  Loukidelis, who has veto power over the police department's use of cameras, says he is especially concerned about videotaping people on the street because the public has a high regard for the privacy of their daily activities.  Darrell Evans, executive director of the B.C.  Freedom of Information and Privacy Association, remarked that the police only assume the cameras to be effective, but his organization remains opposed, saying the loss of general privacy is not worth it.

Though Blythe, Owen, and Hovbrender were not available for comment, it was noted that in past statements, Owen said he believed the cameras would be effective in fighting crime, but unless it was proven cost-effective and the public backed the program, he could not support it himself.
(www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun)
 

"Move to Digital Government Sparks State Privacy Concerns" GovExec.com (01/03/02); Vaida, Bara

The speed with which states are integrating their databases since the Sept.  11 attacks has led to a host of privacy concerns, including how long personal information is stored, who is given access to the information, how it is being used, and penalties for misuse.  Jeffrey Eisenach, head of the Progress and Freedom Foundation, reported on the potential privacy problems during the organization's recent survey on e-government, which ranked Illinois and Kansas as the top states when it comes to using IT to reach out to residents.  Colorado, Delaware, Illinois, New Jersey, and Ohio have been particularly keen on giving law-enforcement agencies increased access to databases, despite the fact that none of them have enacted laws regulating how the information can be used.  In fact, only eight states have such laws, including New York, Texas, Nevada, and Massachusetts.  If a law promoted by Rep.  Billy Tauzin (R-La.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, passes, all state laws will have to conform to federal regulations regarding digitally stored personal information.  (www.govexec.com)
 

"Judge OKs FBI Keyboard Sniffing" Wired News (01/04/02); McCullagh, Declan

U.S.  District Judge Nicholas Politan ruled that the FBI could legally install a keystroke logger in the PC of alleged mobster Nicodermo S.  Scarfo in order to root out a password needed to decrypt confidential business data. Within the encrypted file is evidence of a gambling and loansharking operation, according to the Justice Department.

Scarfo's defense contended that this constituted a violation of both wiretap law and the Fourth Amendment's outlawed "unreasonable" searches, but Politan's decision upheld assistant U.S.  Attorney Ronald Wigler's argument that neither was circumvented.  Wigler said this is the first case of its kind to employ the keystroke logger, but privacy advocates are worried that the judge's decision will expand the government's surveillance powers over its citizens.  Also troubling is the fact that the government did not fully detail the keystroke logger's operation to the defense, noted Electronic Privacy Information Center general counsel David Sobel.  (www.wired.com)
 

"CIA-Backed Analysis Tool Eyed for Passenger Checks" Computerworld (01/01/02) Vol.  36, No.  1, P.  12; Disabatino, Jennifer

 CIA-backed data analysis software is currently being tested for its ability to detect suspected terrorists and their associates when they book airline, hotel, or car reservations.  Four companies operate the computerized reservations and global distribution systems, and for the past three months, one of them has been integrating the solution.  The software, developed by Systems Research & Development of Las Vegas, can clean up incorrectly entered data; search for possible connections between airline passengers and suspected terrorists; check a passenger's name, address, phone number, and other identifying information; search for close variations; and detect whether a passenger lives near a suspected terrorists.  The testing process will begin with running "canned data" to see what connections it picked up on.  (www.computerworld.com)

 According to recent surveys conducted after the Sept.  11 terrorist attacks, up to two-thirds of Americans are willing to allow government use of facial-recognition technology or national identification cards if it means protection from further incidents, and an equal number are willing to lose their anonymity on the Internet.  Since the September events, Congress has given the Bush administration unprecedented powers to track emails, monitor financial transactions, and use wiretaps, but in truth, the trend began long before the attacks.  Last year, facial-recognition technology was used at the Super Bowl in Tampa, Fla., earlier this year to compare images to a database of wanted criminals, and the city also employed the equipment in its Ybor City entertainment section.  Across the country, 4 million CCTV cameras are used in retail stores and other public areas.  An association that represents the country's largest financial institutions recently agreed to allow federal law enforcement agencies to run daily computer checks on customer transactions.  In addition, in Pasadena, Calif., transmitters are used to pinpoint the location of family members at an amusement park, technology that if coupled with a national identification card, would allow anyone's whereabouts to be tracked though global positioning satellites.  (www.csmonitor.com)

"DOJ Authorization Bill Requires Annual 'Carnivore' Report" Newsbytes (12/21/01); Krebs, Brian

The U.S.  Senate has approved the Department of Justice Appropriations Authorization Act, an edict that requires the director of the FBI and the Attorney General to provide Congress with an annual report on the use of the DCS 1000 email surveillance tool, also known as "Carnivore," in federal investigations.  This is the first time in 20 years that the Senate has passed a reauthorization bill for the DOJ.  "Many concerns have been raised about the use of this system, and it is my hope that the reporting requirement will provide policymakers with valuable information and encourage [the] department to use the system responsibly,"
said Senate Judiciary Committee ranking GOP member Orrin Hatch (R-Utah).  The report will supply numerous details, including how many times Carnivore was used in the preceding year, who authorized its use and why, and any intercepted information that was not authorized by court order.  The Justice Department earlier commissioned an independent review committee to submit a report evaluating whether Carnivore could keep such data away from prying eyes, but privacy groups were not satisfied.  Meanwhile, the USA Patriot Act passed by Congress in October also requires the Justice Department to provide a Carnivore usage report to every court that authorizes its use in an investigation.(www.newsbytes.com)

"A Pitch for Smart Postal Stamps" Wired News (12/19/01); Scheeres, Julia

The U.S.  Postal Service is considering the implementation of "smart stamps," which would identify the senders of mail. The Committee on Government Reform, which oversees the U.S. Postal Service, is proposing new requirements under which postal customers would have to show identification prior to buying stamps--making it virtually impossible to send anonymous letters.  The committee's suggestions come amidst "an unprecedented threat" facing the U.S.  Postal Service, said Rep.  Henry A.  Waxman (D-Calif.).  "Bioterrorists are poisoning innocent Americans with anthrax by taking advantage of the anonymity of the mail," he noted.  Waxman is among those in favor of a bar-code "stamp" that would contain the date, time and origin of the letter, and the sender's identity.  A Postal Service spokesman refused to comment on the details of the tracking proposal, but said that the agency was looking into "everything that's out there" to boost security.  (www.wired.com)

"Software That Sniffs Out Stolen Property" Business Week (12/24/01) No.  3767, P.  75; Carey, John

XML Global Technologies has created a system to help law enforcement recover stolen property faster.  Officers can scan a database, into which has been entered descriptions of items bought by secondhand stores, and find any items that match descriptions of stolen property.  Pawn shops enter the information over a secure Internet connection, instead of sending police paper records, which would cause police to spend weeks doing the same matching process that the Xtract system does in less than a few minutes.  Currently, only the Vancouver police is using the system, but XML Global is talking with police departments across Canada and the United States about setting up a similar subscription service deal, which costs Vancouver $74,000 per year.  However, Vancouver police recovered $12,000 worth of stolen jewelry this month and caught the thief using Xtract.  (www.businessweek.com)

"Eye in the Sky Will Track California Parolees" Government Computer News (12/10/01); Walsh, Trudy

The California Corrections Department recently signed a deal with Digital Angel to track parolees via a GPS system.  The California company makes wearable devices able to track where a parolee is and has been, as well as when the parolee was there.  The device is smaller than a pack of cigarettes, according to an official.  The new device will emit wireless alerts to Palm OS units, email systems, browsers, and pagers through the Digital Angel operations center, and then will be sent over TCP/IP or frame relay lines.  (www.gcn.com)

"Airport Security May Get Smarter" InternetWeek (12/10/01) No.  888, P.  13; Boyd, Jade

The Transportation Department must complete a review of technology to prevent access to secure airport areas by May 2002 to be in compliance with the new Aviation and Transportation Security Act.  Some observers speculate that airports and airlines may begin using biometric technology to upgrade current security, however; there is no word yet from Congress who will pay for the security upheavals.  The government's goal is to reduce average check-in times at airports to less than 10 minutes, according to Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta.  Besides the Transportation Department, the government is considering upgrading security with the adoption of biometrics in other departments, including the Defense Department, which recently contracted EDS to provide employees with 360,000 smart cards.  (www.internetweek.com)

"Face Recognition" Technology Review (11/01) Vol.  104, No.  9, P.  86

Face recognition technologies are entering the market as airports scramble to revamp their security; two notable types of biometrics include local feature analysis and eigenface.  Local feature analysis, developed by New Jersey-based Visionics, uses a camera and computer to identify a person in a crowd.  The program works by plotting the anchor points by bone structure and then matching that number to similar ones in the database.  The eigenface method, marketed by Massachusetts' Viisage, does not look at a collection of facial features locally; instead, it examines the entire face.  Both programs are emerging as the new face of security technology, but at a steep price. (www.techreview.com)

Applied Digital Solutions of Palm Beach is planning to capitalize on microchips that can be implanted within the human body.  The chips would initially be used to supply medical information for patients with prosthetic limbs and artificial organs.  Kidnapped people with the chips inside them could also be tracked by global positioning.
Furthermore, the chips could be used as a secure, all-purpose ID that can open doors, authorize payments, etc.

This application seems particularly desirable in light of the terrorist attacks, according to Richard Seelig, a surgeon who injected himself with Applied Digital's chips.

Applied Digital expects the FDA to approve the chips by the middle of next year; the company claims to have gained approval from the FCC, since the chips use radio frequencies.  The chips expected to hit the market in 2002 lack an internal power source, so they are not true tracking devices.  It will be several years before body chips that send out signals from a distance debut.  (www.latimes.com)
 

"Abusers Face Electronic Monitors" Toronto Star (12/13/01) P.  B02; Small, Peter

Ontario Corrections Minister Rob Sampson recently announced that private companies will be approached regarding making electronic monitoring bracelets to be mandatory for criminals under observation by probation and parole officers.  The government is also looking at global positioning systems, voice verification tools, and pager technology, and has been using electronic ankle bracelets since 1996 to monitor the activities of selected inmates out on temporary passes.  The device sends radio signals to a central receiver in North Bay, but currently, the corrections ministry lacks the technology that will allow the creation of exclusion zones--such as around an abused spouse's home.  A recent inquest into the murder-suicide of Pickering resident Gillian Hadley and her abusive husband, Ralph, prompted the new measures.  Ralph Hadley was out on bail after being charged with criminally harassing his estranged wife, and the conditions of his release prevented him from entering Pickering except for crossing through via Hwy 401, GO Train, or to visit his lawyer, who was located there.  He managed to break into her home, kill her, and then himself without discovery.  (www.thestar.com)

"Cracking Cold Cases" Seattle Times (12/09/01) P.  A1; Seven, Richard

Short Tandem Repeat (STR) technology enables police investigators to test DNA samples once considered insufficient or otherwise inadequate for testing.
Investigators are using the technology to help identify victims of the World Trade Center attacks and to identify the person responsible for several murders in Green River, Wash.  The Seattle Police Department hopes using STR technology will lead to arrests in some of its 300 cold cases from the last 30 years.  The new technique, which allows lab workers to test DNA samples invisible to the human eye, increases the Washington State Patrol Crime Laboratory's opportunity to solve more crimes, according to the facility's manager, Lynn McIntyre.  The STR technique decodes 13 DNA regions extracted from a cell's nucleus.  The lab is in the process of testing DNA samples collected at nearly 270 crime scenes that never generated a suspect and has produced 19 matches in seven months.  Many law enforcement leaders support keeping a database of DNA samples from every inmate convicted of a felony to aid criminal investigations.  (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
 

"The Shadow War" Popular Science (12/01) Vol.  259, No.  6, P.  68; Vizard, Frank
New scanning systems are the most promising long-term solutions for analyzing airline passengers and their bags.
One of the most high profile systems is the face recognition system, which is currently being used in several places around the country.  A specialized form of the system, HumanID, is being tested by DARPA; the system uses face recognition in combination with other surveillance techniques.  HumanID is also able to alert authorities when an individual appears at a site on numerous occasions, such as a terrorist casing an airport.  In addition, DARPA is using Dragon Eye, a miniature plane equipped with video cameras and a GPS locator able to radio images and their location back to the operator.  (www.popsci.com)
 

"Airport Security Adopts Wearable Computers" PC World (11/01); McLeod, Ramon G.

Beginning in early 2002, security officials in major U.S. airports will be equipped with wearable computers called the Mobile Assistant 5, which can instantly identify suspicious travelers using face recognition technology.  According to M. Dewayne Adams, senior vice president and chief strategy officer at Xybernaut, the developer of the Mobile Assistant 5, a major problem in the past with face recognition technology has been in getting the information quickly to the people who have to question and detain suspects.  The new device can rapidly provide security officials with important information, including a photograph, which they can then use during interrogation.  The Mobile Assistant 5 consists of two parts, namely an 8.4-inch ruggedized LCD screen and a two-pound computer that is worn on a belt.  The device sells for approximately $4,000.  (www.pcworld.com)

Police will be scanning both faces and fingers this year at the 2002 Winter Games.  Salt Lake's West Valley City police last week announced that it will employ software with security cameras to scan faces in the E Center crowd and compare them to criminal mugshots.  In addition, a portable fingerprint scanner that runs prints through a criminal database will be used by officers.  But such technology raises a number of legal issues.  West Valley City police Lt.
Charles Illsley, who is overseeing the plan to use the technologies, said: "I have no doubt there will be a Supreme Court case out of Utah, either at the appellate level or the U.S.  Supreme Court, from these." FaceTrac, a facial recognition system, culls image of faces from security camera video and compares them to a database of mugshots--if there is a match, the system calls up to five mugshots of criminals that are similar to the person in the video.
(www.sltrib.com)
 

"FAA Looks at Scanners That Show All" Philadelphia Inquirer (11/29/01) P.  A18; Borenstein, Seth

The Federal Aviation Administration is once again considering upgrading metal detectors at airports in order to tighten security in the wake of the Sept.  11 terrorist attacks.  One instrument being looked at is the Rapiscan 1000, which passes X-rays through people and reflects them back to the machine to create a three-dimensional image.
Hawthorne, Calif.-based Rapiscan Security Products' machine is controversial because it renders an image of the subject nude.  According to Retired Adm.  Paul Busick, the FAA's associate administrator for security, the agency will never adopt such privacy invading scanners.  Consequently, FAA officials are trying to find a compatible technology, called "the cloaker," to cover the private parts but does not interfere with the Rapiscan's ability to detect weapons or other illegal devices.  (inq.philly.com)
 

"Security Concerns Boost Biometric ID Systems" Chicago Tribune Online (12/03/01); Menn, Joseph

Biometric systems, which identify customers and staff members through retinal scans or fingerprints, have increased in popularity since the Sept.  11 attacks.  Sales of biometric devices have increased 60 percent to $190 million, and are expected to increase to about $900 million by 2005.
Retailers, grocers, hospitals, and government agencies are leading the way as they install hardware and software that checks fingerprints against a national database of information.  Retailers will no longer be plagued by bounced checks, and hospitals will be able to better comply with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.
Systems can recognize each user, store passwords, and allow each person to access their authorized section of the system.  (www.chicagotribune.com)
 

"Check by Police of Fingerprints Goes Wireless" Wall Street Journal (11/26/01) P.  B7D; Loftus, Peter

Policemen dealing with suspects without identification often face the choice of letting them go or undertaking the long process of bringing them to the station for fingerprinting.
Visionics offers a solution to the problem with its wireless Identification-Based Information System (IBIS) to quickly analyze prints in the field.  The company has seen more federal government and military interest in IBIS since the recent terrorist attacks.  Revenue for Visionics was up about $5 million in the last fiscal year.  (www.wsj.com)
 

"Fresno Pioneers Face Recognition ID System" Los Angeles Times (11/20/01) P.  A8

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is challenging the use of face recognition technology at the Fresno Yosemite Airport in California.  The airport started using the technology following the Sept.  11 terrorist attacks.  The ACLU's national associate director, Barry Steinhardt, contends the technology will result in false accusations against innocent people.  The biometrics technology scans the faces of passengers before passing through metal detectors or magnetometers.  The images are then compared with a database containing hundreds of thousands of pictures.  Two other airports--Boston's Logan and California's Oakland International--also plan to employ the technology, which uses 26 facial features or characteristics for matching passengers with faces contained in the database and sets off an alarm when a match is discovered.  However, Steinhardt says the technology makes too many false matches and that such features as changes in facial hair or wearing sunglasses can affect the system.  In addition, he claims authorities have yet to establish a sufficient database archive of terrorist pictures to make the system effective. (www.latimes.com)
 

"No Thumbprint, No Rental Car" Wired News (11/21/01); Scheeres, Julia

Dollar Rent a Car is testing a system where people can only receive cars if they provide a thumbprint.  The biometrics system is designed to eliminate theft and credit card fraud.
Vice president of quality assurance Jim Senese hopes that the thumbprints convince criminals to seek another target.
He feels that the initiative's success so far will lead to lower rental prices.  Though privacy advocates voice concerns about biometric profiling, Privacy Forum moderator Lauren Weinstein notes that the public recently has become more willing to undertake additional security screenings.
(www.wired.com)
 

"FBI Develops New Tools to Ensure Government Can Eavesdrop on High-Tech Messages"
Associated Press (11/21/01); Bridis, Ted

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is designing software to allow investigators to track the movements of suspects accessing the Internet.  People familiar with the agency's "Magic Lantern" technology said it keeps a record of what the user types in.  The FBI hopes to employ the technology for its "Cyber Knight" project, which focuses on breaking secret codes used in encrypted messages and computer files.
The technology could help investigators infiltrate criminal or terrorist organizations.  However, the agency acknowledged the new technology presents privacy concerns and the courts or Congress can challenge its use.  Magic Lantern's Internet installation offers significant advantages over the FBI's current Key Logger System monitoring technology, which requires agents to physically place a device on the suspect's computer.  The technology raises important legal issues, however, including whether investigators would have to acquire a wiretap order before using the technology.
Meanwhile, the FBI is asking some of the nation's leading phone companies to make changes to their networks so investigators can eavesdrop with greater ease.  (www.ap.org)
 

"Regeneration" InformationWeek (11/12/01) No.  863, P.  39; Masseli, Jennifer

The government's attempt to persuade the public that flying is safe may lead to airports taking advantage of biometric technology.  The House of Representatives is considering legislation that would set standards for biometrics in the industry.  The Federal Aviation Administration plans to test smart cards, facial recognition, and iris scanning in about
20 different airports.  Airlines are worried about the accuracy of biometrics and whether such systems would impinge upon people's privacy rights.  The systems are also costly at a time when airlines and airports are in their worst financial shape in recent history.  A Harris Interactive poll finds that 82 percent of Americans would be willing to undergo fingerprint scanning at the airport.  IBM is trying to entice airports to use its hand-geometry scanner, which does not require the same amount of storage as a fingerprint system.  (www.informationweek.com)

The following article was originally published in the 36th-year edition of the Finnish-language journal, SPEKULA (3rd Quarter1999).  SPEKULA is a publication of Northern Finland medical students and doctors of Oulu University OLK (OULUN LAAKETIETEELLINEN KILTA).  It is mailed to all medical students of Finland and all Northern Finland medical doctors.  Circulation 6500.

MICROCHIP IMPLANTS, MINDCONTROL AND CYBERNETICS by Rauni-Leena Luukanen-Kilde, MDFormer Chief Medical Officer of Finland In 1948 Norbert Weiner published a book, CYBERNETICS, defined as a neurological communication and control theory already in use in small circles at that time.  Yoneji Masuda, "Father of Information Society," stated his concern in 1980 that our liberty is threatened Orwellian-style by cybernetic technology totally unknown to most people.  This technology links the brains of people via implanted microchips to satellites controlled by ground-based super-computers.

The first brain implants were surgically inserted in 1974 in the state of Ohio, U.S.A., and also in Stockholm, Sweden.  Brain electrodes were inserted into the skulls of babies in 1946 without the knowledge of their parents. In the 50's and 60's, electrical implants were inserted into the brains of animals and humans, especially in the U.S., during research into behavior modification, and brain and body functioning.

Mind control (MC) methods were used in attempts to change human behavior and attitudes.  Influencing brain functions became an important goal of military and intelligence services.  Thirty years ago brain implants showed up in x-rays the size of one centimeter.  Subsequent implants shrunk to the size of a grain of rice.  They were made of silicon, later still of gallium arsenide.  Today they are small enough to be inserted into the neck or back and also intravenously in different parts of the body during surgical operations, with or without the consent of the subject.  It is now almost impossible to detect or remove them.

It is technically possible for every newborn to be injected with a microchip, which could then function to identify the person for the rest of his or her life.  Such plans are secretly being discussed in the U.S.  without any public airing of the privacy issues involved.  In Sweden, Prime Minister Olof Palme gave permission in 1973 to implant prisoners, and Data Inspection's ex-Director General Jan Freese revealed that nursing-home patients were implanted in the mid-1980's.  The technology is revealed in the 1972:47 Swedish state report, STATENS OFFICIELLAUTRADNINGER (SOU).

Implanted human beings can be followed anywhere.

Their brain functions can then be remotely monitored by supercomputers and even altered through the changing of frequencies.  Guinea-pigs in secret experiments have included prisoners, soldiers, mental patients, handicapped children, deaf and blind people, homosexuals, single women, the elderly, school children and any group of people considered "marginal" by the elite experimenters.  The published experiences of prisoners in Utah State Prison, for example, are shocking to the conscience.  Today's microchips operate by means of low-frequency radio waves that target them.  With the help of satellites, the implanted person can be tracked anywhere on the globe.  Such a technique was among a number tested in the Iraq war, according to Dr.  Carl Sanders, who invented the intelligence-manned interface (IMI) biotic, which is injected into people. (Earlier during the Vietnam War, soldiers were injected with the Rambo chip, designed to increase adrenaline flow into the bloodstream.)  The U.S.  National Security Agency's(NSA) 20 billion bits/second supercomputers could now "see and hear" what soldiers experience in the battlefield with a remote monitoring system (RMS).

When a 5-micromillimeter microchip (the diameter of a strand of hair is 50 micromillometers) is placed into optical nerve of the eye, it draws neuroimpulses from the brain that embody the experiences, smells, sights and voice of the implanted person.  Once transferred and stored in a computer, these neuroimpulses can be projected back to the person's brain via the microchip to be re-experienced.  Using a RMS, a land-based computer operator can send electromagnetic messages (encoded as signals)to the nervous system, affecting the target's performance.  With RMS, healthy persons can be induced to see hallucinations and to hear voices in their heads.  Every thought, reaction, hearing and visual observation causes a certain neurological potential, spikes, and patterns in the brain and its electromagnetic fields, which can now be decoded into thoughts, pictures and voices.  Electromagnetic stimulation can therefore change a person's brainwaves and affect muscular activity, causing painful muscular cramps experienced as torture.

The NSA's electronic surveillance system can simultaneously follow and handle millions of people.
Each of us has a unique bioelectrical resonance frequency in the brain, just like we have unique fingerprints.  With electro-magnetic frequency (EMF) brain stimulation fully coded, pulsating electromagnetic signals can be sent to the brain, causing the desired voice and visual effects to be experienced by the target.  This is a form of electronic warfare.  U.S.  astronauts were implanted before they were sent into space so their thoughts could be followed and all their emotions could be registered 24 hours a day.

The Washington Post reported in May 1995 that Prince William of Great Britain was implanted at the age of 12.  Thus, if he were ever kidnapped, a radio wave with a specific frequency could be targeted to his microchip.  The chip's signal would be routed through a satellite to the computer screen of police headquarters, where the Prince's movements could be followed.  He could actually be located anywhere on the globe.

The mass media have not reported that an implanted person's privacy vanishes for the rest of his or her life.  S/he can be manipulated in many ways.  Using different frequencies, the secret controller of this equipment can even change a person's emotional life.  S/he can be made aggressive or lethargic.  Sexuality can be artificially influenced.  Thought signals and subconscious thinking can be read, dreams affected and even induced, all without the knowledge or consent of the implanted person. A perfect cyber-soldier can thus be created.  This secret technology has been used by military forces in certain NATO countries since the 1980's without civilian and academic populations having heard anything about it.  Thus, little information about such invasive mind-control systems is available in professional and academic journals.

The NSA's Signals Intelligence can remotely monitor information from human brains by decoding the evoked potentials (3.50HZ, 5 milliwatt) emitted by the brain.  Prisoner experimentees in both Gothenburg,Sweden and Vienna, Austria have been found to have [missing word] brain lesions.  Diminished blood circulation and lack of oxygen in the right temporal frontal lobes result where brain implants are usually operative.  A Finnish experimentee experienced brain atrophy and intermittent attacks of unconsciousness due to lack of oxygen.

Mind control techniques can be used for political purposes.  The goal of mind controllers today is to induce the targeted persons or groups to act against his or her own convictions and best interests.  Zombified individuals can even be programmed to murder and remember nothing of their crime afterward.  Alarming examples of this phenomenon can be found in the U.S.  This "silent war" is being conducted against unknowing civilians and soldiers by military and intelligence agencies. Since 1980 electronic stimulation of the brain (ESB) has been secretly used to control people targeted without their knowledge or consent.  All international human rights agreements forbid nonconsensual manipulation of human beings - even in prisons, not to speak of civilian populations.

Under an initiative of U.S. Senator John Glenn, discussions commenced in January 1997 about the dangers of radiating civilian populations.  Targeting people's brain functions with electromagnetic fields and beams (from helicopters and airplanes, satellites, from parked white vans, neighboring houses, telephone poles, electrical appliances, mobile phones, TV, radio, etc.), is part of the radiation problem that should be addressed in democratically elected government bodies.  In addition to electronic MC, chemical methods have also been developed.  Mind-altering drugs and different smelling gasses affecting brain function negatively can be injected into air ducts or water pipes.  Also, bacteria and viruses have been tested this way in several countries.

Today's supertechnology, connecting our brain functions via microchips (or even without them, according to the latest technology) to computers via satellites in the U.S. or Israel, poses the gravest threat to humanity.  The latest supercomputers are powerful enough to monitor the whole world's population.  What will happen when people are tempted by false premises to allow microchips into their bodies?  One lure will be a microchip identity card.  Compulsory legislation has even been secretly proposed in the U.S.  to criminalize removal of an ID implant.
Are we ready for the robotization of mankind and the total elimination of privacy, including freedom of thought?  How many of us would want to cede our entire life, including our most secret thoughts, to Big Brother?  Yet the technology exists to create a totalitarian "New World Order."  Covert neurological communication systems are in place to counteract independent thinking and to control social and political activity on behalf of self-serving private and military interests.

When our brain functions are already is connected to supercomputers by means of radio implants and microchips, it will be too late for protest.  This threat can be defeated only by educating the public, using available literature on biotelemetry and information exchanged at international congresses.
One reason this technology has remained a state secret is the widespread prestige of the psychiatric DIAGNOSTIC STATISTICAL MANUAL IV produced by the U.S.  American Psychiatric Association (APA), and printed in 18 languages.  Psychiatrists working for U.S. intelligence agencies no doubt participated in writing and revising this manual.  This psychiatric "bible" covers up the secret development of MC technologies by labeling some of their effects as symptoms of paranoidschizophrenia.  Victims of mind control experimentation are thus routinely diagnosed, knee-jerk fashion, as mentally ill by doctors who learned the DSM "symptom" list in medical school.  Physicians have not been schooled that patients may be telling the truth when they report being targeted against their will or being used as guinea pigs for electronic, chemical and bacteriological forms of psychological warfare.

Time is running out for changing the direction of military medicine, and ensuring the future of humanfreedom. Rauni Kilde, MD December 6, 2000 Also see my article on the psychic implants at:
4truthseekers.com/treeoflife/articles/lorendi.htm

Palm Beach, Fla.'s Applied Digital Solutions confirmed recently its Digital Angel unit signed a contract with the California Governor's Office of Criminal Justice and Planning and Department of Corrections to conduct a one-year trial program involving its advanced location and monitoring systems.  The trial will be the world's first to combine biosensor technology with wireless Web communications and Global Positioning Systems.  The technology uses biosensors to detect vital body functions, including temperature and pulse, and location.  Data is then transmitted to a ground station or other tracking facility.  Applied Solutions is looking at the potential of using the technology to monitor the status of people with medical conditions; find missing people or pets; track the whereabouts of parolees; monitor livestock; and other applications.  The test will involve tracking released prisoners to ensure they do not violate their parole.  (www.businesswire.com)
 
 

"Sensor Can Tell If Driver is Drunk" Dallas Morning News (11/04/01) P.  1Y; Trahan, Jason

Civil engineers at the University of Texas at Arlington designed a dashboard sensor able to detect when someone is drinking and possibly alert law enforcement if the driver is drunk.  The technology is part of an effort to make officers more efficient in catching drunken drivers, rather than police stopping potential violators based on visual evaluations.  The new device works by the sensor detecting certain concentrations of fumes, specifically those emitted from someone above the .08 legal blood-alcohol content.

Equipping cars with the device may prove sticky say some observers, but others contend such technology could be used for fleet operators in tracking employees.
(www.dallasnews.com)
 
 

"Illinois School Uses Lie Detectors" Associated Press (11/06/01); Hughes, Jay In Dunlap, Ill.

School Superintendent Bill Collier recently used a polygraph test to get to the bottom of an issue involving students at Dunlop High.  The problem centered around the involvement of 15 student-athletes who were caught by police attending a party where alcohol was being served.  Three admitted their guilt, but several said they left as soon as they found out that alcohol was available. The lie-detector tests resulted in the suspension of seven students from the school's football team, while three others were cleared and two were suspended for refusing to take the test.  (www.ap.org)
 

"Robot See, Robot Kill" Wired News (10/29/01); Shreve, Jenn

Scientists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a self-aiming camera able to detect movement and sound, and compute the probability that what it is sensing is worth responding to.  The new camera--which is part of a project funded by the Office of Naval Research--is based on a neural network, originally designed to auto-focus on speakers during a video conference call or a college lecture.  According to officials, if people were to have an argument before the self-aiming camera, it would focus on the person with the loudest voice or actions.  In the future, researchers hope to have the camera use other kinds of sensory input, including radar, infrared, heat, or sonar.
(www.wired.com)

MONTREAL (CP) - Travellers at Canadian airports and border points will soon be running a $91-million gauntlet of high-tech security gadgetry that can scan fingerprints and pinpoint a bomb in a piece of luggage.  Ottawa is spending the money to bolster security at ports, border crossings and airports in the wake of last month's devastating terror attacks against the United States, said Transport Minister David Collenette.
Collenette made the announcement twice Thursday during visits to airports in Montreal and Toronto with Solicitor General Lawrence MacAulay and Revenue Minister Martin Cauchon.

On both occasions, he urged Canadians to get back on planes in order to deny triumph to terrorists.

"We want people to fly to show the terrorists we will not give in to the terrorists; we will not be cowed," Collenette said in Toronto.

"Air travel in Canada is safe, and we're committed to keeping it that way."

The $91-million package includes $8 million for some 65 fingerprint scanners to be set up at high-risk border crossings and airports in an effort to better detect criminals and terrorists, MacAulay said.

The scanners would work in tandem with forthcoming federal legislation that would allow customs officials to examine a list of incoming passengers in an effort to identify potential risks.

Suspect passengers would then be fingerprinted and the data cross-checked with fingerprints on file with the RCMP's databank in Ottawa and others operated by international agencies, including the FBI.

MacAulay reacted angrily when asked about the potential for such a system to violate a traveller's civil liberties or constitutional rights.

"What I want to be able to do, what your government wants to see happen .  .  .  is to make sure we provide the safest climate possible," he said.

"What this does is make sure that any individual whose fingerprint is on file with the RCMP and the FBI is able to be arrested on the spot, and they should be."

In Montreal, Collenette said the government would balance its desire to protect passengers with their right to move freely.

"The bottom line for us is that we live in a free, civil society," he said.  "We want to keep it that way, but there will be obviously some more intrusions to ensure that security is enhanced and I think the public will support that."

Passengers without a criminal record likely wouldn't show up in any law-enforcement database, MacAulay acknowledged.  "We don't have the fingerprint of everybody in the world."

Another $55.7 million is being spent on advanced bomb-detection systems designed to locate explosives in carry-on bags and in checked baggage, which is inspected less often by customs officials.

Collenette acknowledged that policies vary on how closely checked baggage is inspected by various airlines, and said the new equipment will ensure "more comprehensive examination" of all baggage.

The measures will come from the $250 million that Ottawa said earlier this week it will spend to improve security at borders, ports and airports.

Collenette went to great pains to point out that the improvements will enhance rather than repair a border security system that's already considered one of the best in the world.

"Canada has always had an enviable record for transportation safety and security," he said.  "We're among the very best worldwide, and we're committed to improving on that record."

Airport security has come under close scrutiny in the weeks since hijackers commandeered four U.S.  airliners Sept.  11 in one of the most devastating terrorist attacks in modern history.

Three of the planes found their mark, destroying the 110-storey twin towers of New York's World Trade Center and carving a massive hole in the Pentagon outside Washington.  More than 5,000 people perished in the carnage.

As the politicians spoke Thursday, several armed guards - a routine consequence of the Sept.  11 attacks - patrolled Dorval airport and police and tactical squad officers roamed Pearson International Airport's sprawling corridors.  A handful of passengers and flight crew members gathered to listen.

None of the hijackers would have been identified in a fingerprint scan, nor did any of them have explosives aboard the jets.  But the government's new safety measures are still vital, Collenette said.

"The people who perpetrated the crime in the United States all appear to have been legally in the U.S., and went through U.S.  airport security systems," he said.  "They did not go through Canadian systems."

Ottawa will also allocate $12 million to Canada Customs and Transport Canada to meet staffing requirements.  About 30 customs inspectors and 27 security inspectors will be hired as part of a plan to beef up personnel levels by 300 additional employees.

The measures also include additional airport security inspectors, better technology links between front-line inspectors and law enforcement and additional customs officers at seaports and airports.

In Montreal, Collenette said the purchases should eliminate the need for armed air marshals aboard Canadian planes.

"The focus for us has been to make airports more secure so you won't need the introduction of firearms on to planes," he said at Dorval airport.  Ottawa is in discussions with U.S.  transport authorities about marshals, which have been in use in the U.S.  for several weeks.

On Friday, the government is expected to reveal changes to immigrant identification cards, which are currently easily forged.  MacAulay said an announcement on the RCMP will also come Friday in Regina.

Associated Press (10/01/01); Raffaele, Martha The Global Positioning System, originally designed for the military, is being used by at least 20 states to keep constant track of more than 1,000 offenders.  The GPS system uses an ankle bracelet and a portable device that the offender carries; a signal from the bracelet allows law enforcement to locate the offender via a cellular phone connection.  Florida currently uses the GPS system--which can be rented for $10 to $12 per day--as does Texas.  New Jersey officials would like to use the technology, but the state would need to add an additional 30 to 40 parole officials in the budget request to operate the system.  (www.ap.org)
 
 

Associated Press (09/29/01); Raffaele, Martha Lackawanna County, Pa., District Attorney Christine Tocki is able to use the Global Positioning System (GPS) to monitor the whereabouts of a sex offender confined to his home.  The technology she employs depends on 24 satellites and first was used in the military before being applied to car navigation and law enforcement monitoring systems in 20 U.S.
states.  Like an electronic monitoring system, the GPS has an offender wear a tracking device, but also allows authorities to monitor where an offender goes if he or she crosses boundaries, via a wireless modem system.  The device also allows for special warnings if offenders get near areas where victims live and work or if someone tries to interfere with a device's operation, but authorities do have problems with fading signals and overall effectiveness has yet to be tested.  (www.ap.org)
 

"High-Tech to Keep an Eye on Terrorism; Facial Recognition Systems Are Among the Advances"

San Antonio Express-News (09/26/01); Bragg, Roy Law enforcement and worldwide security consultants claim the combination of biometrics, proper planning, security personnel, and time-honored security precautions can make Americans comfortable once more with day-to-day living.

Employee and student identification cards may be replaced with finger or palm print scanners, while certain public places may soon be equipped with concealed cameras that possess facial recognition software.  "It's biometrics, and it's good old-fashioned police work and security work," says former Israeli army Capt.  Richard Horowitz.  Harry Martz of the Lawrence Livermore National Lab outside of San Francisco says one technological idea under consideration is a device that scans luggage and carry-ons at airports that would photograph bags from various angles and offer airport security three-dimensional pictures.  Another idea focuses on X-ray back-scattering imaging, which involves a large screen which would ricochet X-rays of low intensity off a boarding traveler standing beside it, viewing everything that is underneath his or her outfit.  Bill Beese of the security consulting company IPSA International thinks that the greatest law enforcement weapon is data mining, in which security authorities would have access to databases and information networks in order that law enforcement and private security companies can obtain similar data levels.

Beese notes, however, that state-of-the-art technology has been used and will continue to be used against Americans, including the Internet, digital encryption, and certain weaponry.  (www.hearstcorp.com/newspapers)
 
 

Orlando Sentinel (09/25/01) P.  E1; Cobbs, Chris The Ranger GPS Personal Locator developed by Wherify Wireless is able to find missing persons and pets via global-positioning satellites and wireless communications.
The new wristwatch will be available in November and costs about $400, plus a monthly service fee of $10 to $30 to be billed like cellular minutes.  The first models to be available will be geared towards children, while future versions will be made for teenagers and adults.  The technology sends message to a satellite that relays a signal to the wristwatch asking for the location; the watch then beams up the geographical coordinates and the satellite passes the data back to the operator.  To find the missing person or pet, an individual can call the number of Wherify Wireless, at which time an operator will relay the position of the missing entity.  (www.orlandosentinel.com)
 
 

Toronto Star (09/26/01) P.  E4; Hamilton, Tyler Oracle CEO Larry Ellison, one of the richest men in North America, is urging the U.S.  government to create a national identity card system, and says he is willing to donate the software required to create such a system.  A survey conducted by Washington, D.C.-based Pew Research Center found that seven out of every 10 American citizens support the development of a national ID card.  However, federal privacy watchdog George Radwanski warns that a balanced approach must be taken.  Meanwhile, Iain Drummond, president of Vancouver-based face-recognition software manufacturer Imagis Technologies, agrees with Radwanski that a system such as the one Ellison proposes is not perfect and needs to be used responsibly since terrorists would still be able to slip through.  (www.thestar.com/)
 

"Identix Biometric Physical Access Control Systems Selected to Secure Facilities Across the U.S.  for Major Prison System" PRNewswire (09/26/01)

Identix recently announced that a major U.S.  prison system has chosen its biometric physical access control system in order to strengthen security for prisons nationwide.  The prison will integrate Identix's biometric access control system to assist the prisons in tracking the movement of prisoners throughout each facility on a real-time basis.  The system includes a mag-stripe card and Identix's V20 biometric access control device, enabling each prison to tie the magnetic stripe card to an inmate via an embedded fingerprint template in the V20 access control unit.  The prison system has already ordered and shipped 100 V20 units.

The new system will also allow prison officials to authenticate each prisoner; to set authorization policies and procedures to control which prisoners can access which facilities; and to manage the times access is allowed or denied.  (www.prnewswire.com)
 

"FBI Relies on More Advanced Techniques to Obtain Information" San Jose Mercury News (09/30/01); Chmielewski, Dawn C.

Currently, law enforcement agencies have the ability to monitor the telephone conversations, emails, and Internet use of citizens via the fiber-optic phone system and by remote.  The Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI)
"Carnivore" system allows for email address tracing, copies of electronic correspondence, and tracking of Web page visits.  The technology was previously called the DCS-1000 and is capable of activities that could pose questions about privacy, such as conducting keyword searches of emails. However, it is not able to get through an email locked with 128-bit encryption products now on the market, such as Santa Clara, Calif.-based Network Associates' Pretty Good Privacy.

One of the FBI's solutions for investigating crime is a key-logger system, which the agency will not discuss due to security reasons.  The Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act had telephone companies put wiretap equipment on fiber-optic cable by switching equipment by this year, to allow for remote monitoring rather than stake-outs.  One type of technology permits the National Security Administration to tap into phone calls in other parts of the world through the Echelon satellite network.
(www0.mercurycenter.com)
 
 

New York Times (09/23/01) P.  WC6; Lombardi, Kate Stone Sex offenders are often not caught by police or when they are, they plead their cases and are convicted of lesser charges.  Probation officers in Westchester County, N.Y., have begun implementing ways to reduce repeat offences by those on probation, while making it easier to catch them if they do.  The Probation Department uses a global positioning system to track sex offenders through an ankle bracelet, and the department also forces offenders to wear a pack that relays information to a satellite, which will alert police when an offender has entered a school yard or other unauthorized areas.  The department also employs Encase, a computer program that allows officers to plug into offender's home computers to determine whether they have been on pornographic Web sites.  Polygraph tests are also used during therapy sessions to aid counselors in their treatment of sex offenders.  (www.nytimes.com)
 
 

Press-Enterprise (09/17/01); Kataoka, Mike For Superior Court Judge Becky Dugan of Riverside, Calif., the issuance of electronic monitoring devices is only "for the most extreme cases." While such technology has been around for decades, its use has been sporadic, as the cost involved usually outweighs its necessity.  Experts like Norman Lurie, a San Diego scientist who is currently studying ankle bracelets, also question electronic monitoring effectiveness: "I think it's important for people to understand that it's not really protection.  It's not going to stop someone who just decides to harm someone at any cost." California's Riverside County is the first one in the state to use Anaheim-based Central Station Security System's 900-megahertz radio-wave device with multi-state range.  Central Station president Robert Johnson said that the company works with police and correctional agencies, monitoring over 25 Shield devices in three states.  The next generation of electronic monitoring is seen by many experts as involving the use of Global Positioning System technology.  Satellite tracking enables authorities to know an offender's precise location 24 hours a day, not just when the person gets too close to a victim.  (www.pe.com)
 
 

Cleveland Plain Dealer (09/19/01) P.  A19; Wylie, Margie Surveillance technologies, including email eavesdropping; breakable encryption; biometrics; face recognition; X-ray scanning; location tracking; and surveillance cameras are high on the list of things needed in our fight against terrorism.  Email eavesdropping was designed to capture the flow of an ISP's electronic mail traffic, obtaining either addresses only or full content of the message.  However, the tapping issue is complicated over the controversy of the examination and discarding practices of types of messages not covered or targeted by court order.  Encryption is complicated by the fact that Congress has repeatedly ignored pleas by the FBI, CIA, and, NSA to restrict the production and use of codes so sophisticated that they render Internet communications unbreakable without a key.  Biometrics--a technology used in the identification of people based on body features and facial patterns, such as fingerprints and retinal patterns and face recognition methods--allow for the identification of people by mapping their facial points, and could be useful when picking a face out of a crowd.  Advanced scanning devices will permit a more thorough examination of people and baggage, using "back scatter" X-ray techniques that essentially strip-search people through their clothing to reveal not only the outline of private body parts, but items such as plastic knives as well.  In 1999, the Federal Communications Commission directed cell phone carriers to upgrade their networks to allow the transmission of instant location determination when 911 calls are made, using the "triangulation" technologies that are already in use in commercial trucks and rentals, which would serve to enhance the ability of the FBI to track suspects.  The technique that impacts the general population, and unfavorably at that, is camera surveillance, which will no doubt be increased well beyond the already-in-place controversial red-light enforcement system to include more closed circuit cameras in public settings.  (www.plaindealer.com)
 

"Exploring Technology to Protect Passengers With Fingerprint or Retina Scans" New York Times Online (09/19/01); Feder, Barnaby J.

As the government and airlines look for ways to thwart airplane hijackings, all eyes will likely be on biometrics systems, which are able to identify travelers by fingerprints, the patterns in retinas, and voice or other individual characteristics.  Last week, stocks of a few publicly traded biometrics firms experienced a surge, as the rest of the stock market dropped significantly.  Visionics, for instance, is being bombarded by customers seeking its FaceIt technology, which profiles individuals based on 80 facial structures.  Industry observers are waiting for airports to begin installing improved versions of other types of security products, such as closed circuit television systems and X-ray machines.  Visionics, however, is the likely leader in new technologies, considering the system can easily be linked to a database of possible terrorists.  (www.nytimes.com/)
 
 

"SmartGate and B & B Electromatic Enter Into Joint Development Agreement" PR Newswire (09/24/01)

Sarasota, Fla.  technology company SmartGate and Norwood, La.'s Integrated Securities Systems' subsidiary B & B Electromatic have formed a joint development agreement that utilizes SmartGate's "invisible field" safety technology along with B & B's powered barriers and gates.  The agreement is an attempt to make a power closure device that can be used in prisons, airports, nuclear power plants, refineries, on roads, and as barriers for railroads that is safe, effective, reliable, and low-maintenance.
(www.prnewswire.com)
 
 

Wall Street Journal (09/20/01) P.  B8; Regalado, Antonio; Zimmerman, Rachel One certain result of last week's terrorist attacks is that surveillance and screening of individuals and their actions will be increased.  The Artificial Intelligence Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which receives 65 percent of its money from the military, is already asking its workers to make suggestions for devices that can be used to prevent terrorism.  Some ideas include: buildings that can fix themselves; black boxes physically attacked to individuals, which can help locate them in case of a disaster; and technology that can detect suspicious behavior.  Eric Grimson, an associate director at the lab, is working on a VSAM system that utilizes surveillance and monitoring equipment, combined with software, which can train itself about what "normal" activity looks like and flag anything that is abnormal, such as suspicious cars or people casing a location.  This technology can be used at airports, but some civil rights activists are cautious, saying nothing would prevent an employer from using it to track workers' habits.  Calif.-based Aerovironment has developed a 2.5-ounce spy plane that can fly up to 30 miles an hour, and is working on other unmanned surveillance devices which can be launched from planes, mortars, or guns. (www.wsj.com)
 

"Digital Recorders Introduces Four New Law Enforcement Products"  PR Newswire (09/19/01)

As part of Dallas-based Digital Recorders' subsidiary Digital Audio Corporation's (DAC) long-term plans to regain its profitability after a difficult fiscal year in 2000, it has released four new law enforcement products for immediate sale: SSABR, a covert digital audio recorder; QuickEnhance QE-10, a digital tape enhancement system that has been simplified; UltraScope, an ultrasonic spectrum analyzer for audio countermeasures; and ProbeAmp, a multi-meter/high-gain amplifier for audio countermeasures applications.  These products improve law enforcement's audio collection, forensic examination, and technical countermeasures applications.  DAC has supplied technology to U.S.  federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies, and the new products, three of which are now available, with the fourth shipping in November, may be limited to qualifying agencies.
(www.prnewswire.com)
 
 

New Scientist (09/04/01); Carrington, Damian Even though new studies show that computer-morphed faces given by witness descriptions increases the chance that the composite will be recognized, United Kingdom police methods will need to be changed, considering that information from several different witnesses can not be combined with the current Pro-fit system.  The University of Sterling in Scotland is studying the technology and has developed a system that evolves faces, enabling individuals to create a better "e-fit." Pro-fit, the system now used by law agencies, does not work as well as the new system, Evofit, which creates random variations of a witness's first attempt to make "offspring" faces.  The new system was recently used to capture a serious sex offender in Northhamptonshire, after the digitally created images were shown on U.K. television.  (www.newscientist.com)
 
 

Associated Press (09/17/01); Easton, Pam Houston Aviation System director Richard Vacar points out that though airline passengers will see greater security in the future, a lot of the new airport security measures will be unnoticeable.  He indicates that the hidden security is the greatest deterrent to foul play.  Some measures being proposed by aviation officials include federalizing airport security and using new technologies for carrying mail, freight, and cargo.  Legislators are thinking of reinforcing cockpit doors and placing air marshals on flights.
(www.ap.org)
 
 

San Francisco Chronicle (09/17/01) P.  C1; Pimentel, Benjamin; Evangelista, Benny Some of the nation's top technology firms are already in high gear, responding to requests from federal agencies to help repair the obvious airport security gaps that became so apparent after last week's deadly terrorist hijackings.  San Francisco's Identix and Newark, N.J.'s InVision, and other key biometric firms, will find themselves immersed in the development of devices and methods designed to keep tighter control over security practices in our nation's airports.

Basic baggage X-ray screening methods and devices will be replaced with more sophisticated scanning equipment capable of detecting chemical, bomb, or weaponry-making materials.

InVision leads the industry in this new X-ray technology: it manufactures a $1 million scanner that identifies explosives by measuring the density of the bag's contents, while the U.S.  Customs has begun to use another technology called BodySearch, a low-powered X-ray machine that sees through clothing.  Another layer of security and new on the scene is biometric identification technology, which uses unique individual physical characteristics-- fingerprints, hand geometry, face, voice, signature, eye retina, and iris patterns--for identity purposes, rather than licenses and passports, which can be forged.  To date, seven national and international airports have installed or have on order Identix's fingerprint scanner; in retrospect, some of last week's hijackers had already been placed on a "watch list" by Immigration and Naturalization Service officials, and could have been easily flagged in an airport fingerprint check.  In another move to tighten security at London's Heathrow Airport, the International Air Transport Association plans to test a new retinal scanning device designed by EyeTicket Corp.  of McLean, Va., on at least 2,000 British Airways or Virgin Atlantic passengers.
International Biometric Group, which coincidentally relocated last year from the 87th floor of the World Trade Center North Tower to Battery Park, surmised that the biometric industry will grow from $523 million in revenue to over $1.9 billion by the year 2005.  (www.sfgate.com)
 
 

Reuters (09/13/01); Henderson, Peter In light of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the technology industry is once again reviewing its many gadgets that may be able to thwart further terrorist attacks.  Such technologies include computers that could steer planes away from skyscrapers to face-recognition devices, which the casino industry is already utilizing.  However, implementing such technology would require extensive testing and would raise questions about taking control out of pilots' hands, says Honeywell International spokesman Ron Crotty.  A Federal Aviation Administration spokesman, meanwhile, does not see how such technology could stop terrorist attacks, like Tuesday's events.  The FAA is planning integration of million-dollar, three-dimensional scanners that are able to probe checked baggage for bombs, as well as new X-ray machines for carry-on luggage that will be phased in over the next year.
Screeners are also facing tougher regulations as the FAA banned knives following the hijackings last week.
(www.reuters.com)
 

"World Is Their Jail: Offenders Tracked by GPS" Charleston Gazette (09/16/01) P.  15A; Blanchard, Matthew P.

The use of ankle bracelets and electronic boxes connected to the Global Positioning System (GPS) is gaining prevalence among law enforcement as a means of charting the movements of sex offenders and domestic abusers.  Officers, and sometimes the victims, receive a page every time the offender comes within a certain distance of a sensitive area.  Police can also see the offender's position anytime on a Web site map and are alerted if someone becomes disconnected from the box or the bracelet.  Richard Nimer, program director of the GPS department in Florida, notes that the system is an effective deterrent to repeat offenses.  GPS tracking costs less money than housing someone in jail and has yet to spark any legal challenges.
(www.wvgazette.com)
 
 

InfoWorld (09/14/01); Costello, Sam On Thursday, the Senate passed a measure expanding the permissible uses of the FBI's Carnivore email surveillance system in response to the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon last week.  The measure will allows broader use of Internet tapping by law enforcement authorities and calls on the government to increase utilization of its new science and technology devices in fighting terrorism.  In the past, Carnivore has been criticized because of its potential to breach civil liberties of U.S.  citizens.  The approved measure is part of the "Combating Terrorism Act of 2001," which was included in an amendment to the 2002 appropriations budget for the departments of Commerce, Justice, and State, as well as Judiciary.  Following the approval of the bill, the Center for Democracy and Technology urged both the president and Congress to proceed cautiously and calmly on such matters.
(www.infoworld.com)
 
 

Newsbytes (09/19/01); Creed, Adam Hong Kong authorities have boosted the number of officers assigned to combat computer crime from 17 to 42.  The increase in personnel is directly related to the creation of a new cybercrime unit, the Technology Crime Division, which was established by Hong Kong's Commercial Crime Bureau.  The new division will be dedicated to the "development of accredited computer forensics, legal and technical research related to cyber policing, intelligence gathering, and liaison with industry professionals and overseas law enforcement agencies," according to the bureau's senior superintendent, Ng Kam-wing.  The division will hire 31 more cybercrime officers during the next two years. (www.newsbytes.com)
 
 

Los Angeles Times Online (09/04/01); Frith, Stefanie Police across the country are taking notice of gang members who use the Internet to discuss crimes and post membership applications.  Los Angeles Police Department Detective Chuck Zeglin says that the past few years have seen the number of gang-related Web sites climb into the tens of thousands, and some 20 percent to 30 percent are run by gang members--though he says that most of what the department's career criminal apprehension section finds is threats.  More and more police departments are monitoring the Web sites, though the information does not lead to significant criminal charges; officials say their main reason for monitoring the sites is the potential threat of children communicating with gang members online.  Experts contend that the Internet has not yet helped gangs widen their reach or increase enrollment, but former gang founder Leifel Jackson says that the sites attract young people.  (www.latimes.com)
 

"Treasury Sets Sights on Smart Card, PKI Use" Government Computer News Online (08/27/01)

The U.S.  Treasury Department is coordinating a multi-agency effort to understand smart-card and PKI technologies and determine how they could be leveraged by the government.  A team of technology and security experts from all of the Treasury Department bureaus is to form the Smart Card and PKI Managers Forum, which the U.S.  Secret Service will oversee.  Meanwhile, the Treasury CIO's staff is working with representatives from the Secret Service; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms; and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center to conduct a series of pilots that will be used to determine the return on investment the government can expect to see from smart-card and PKI technologies.  (www.gcn.com)

"Scanning of Prison Visitors Under Fire; Inaccurate Drug Detector Prompts Unfair Penalties"

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (08/27/01) P. B5; Bucsko, Mike

A scanner that registers traces of microscopic particles associated with 40 different types of drugs is coming under heat from visitors to the State Correctional Institution Pittsburgh in Woods Run, Pa., after apparently giving several false positive results, including one for a prison guard's shift commander. Normally, if tested positive for the first time, visitors are not allowed on prison grounds for six months, and the information is often shared with other law enforcement agencies, drawing heat from civil liberties organizations. The machine searches for particles that are gathered on paper used to wipe hands or clothing, or through a special vacuum. The scanner used in Pittsburgh is designed by Mass.-based Ion Track Instruments, which provides its Itemiser to federal and state prisons in 30 states, as well as more than 40 airports.

(www.post-gazette.com/)
 
 

"Fake IDs: Battle of Technologies, Wits" Associated Press (08/25/01); Love, Norma

Some Web sites advertise fake IDs, complete with authentic holograms for every state and Washington, D.C., for teens trying to get into bars or buy cigarettes. To fight back, many states have begun to encode information on the back of driver's licenses, usually in the form of magnetic stripes or bar codes, which can confirm whether an ID is authentic and can verify the age of the person. Running from hundreds of dollars to thousands, the equipment necessary to read these cards is readily available to those who stand the most to lose from teens illegally gaining access to their products, such as bars and convenience stores. N.Y.-based Intelli-Check develops such equipment, some of which can be hooked up to a register, say in a bar, and locks it when an order of alcohol is made until an age is entered, thus providing a record that a check was made should one be needed. (www.ap.org)
 
 

"FBI's 'Carnivore' Might Target Wireless Text" Washington Post (08/24/01) P. E1; O'Harrow Jr., Robert

An association of telecommunications carriers are warning that the FBI could soon be using the Carnivore electronic eavesdropping device to capture wireless text messages. In a letter sent to the FCC, Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association general counsel Michael Altschul said that the telecom industry could not devise sufficient standards and procedures to allow FBI investigators to capture the contents of wireless text messages the same way they can listen in on analog communications. Such ability is required by law, and thus the industry's failure to provide the FBI with a solution could mean the use of Carnivore, which privacy and technology experts say gleans far more information than is needed by investigators. Carnivore has not been shown to be as selective in the gathering of information as targeted data collection carried out by ISPs, say privacy advocates. These distinctions--such as those between content and data packet origin and destination--have important legal and privacy ramifications.

(www.washingtonpost.com)

****************************ARTICLES**************************

"Airports Trying Out Iris Identification"

Baltimore Sun (08/06/01) P.  1C; Greenman, Catherine The JetStream Passenger Processing System, an iris-scanning tool developed by EyeTicket, will be used by British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways at Heathrow Airport in London on a trial basis, to see if it can be employed to expedite passage through passport control.  About 2,000 American and Canadian passengers will have their irises scanned at the airport, the image of which will be converted into a code and stored in a database.  The next time the passenger arrives at the airport, he will proceed to a special line in the passport control area of the airline terminal, stand about 14 inches away from a camera, and wait for a few seconds as the system matches the image of his iris with those stored on the server.  Security experts say that iris-scanning technology is more secure then other biometric systems, such as facial recognition and digitized finger prints, because it has 240 unique areas that can be read.  Currently, similar equipment is being used for airline employees in Charlotte, N.C., to limit access to secure areas.  Inspass, which analyzes hand geometry, has been used since 1996 at Kennedy International Airport and Miami Airport, on about 65,000 travelers who are enrolled in the program.  (www.sunspot.net/)
 

"Alabama Bureau to Identify with Biometrics"

Cnet (08/06/01); Mariano, Gwendolyn New Jersey-based identification systems and technologies provider Visionics has announced it is working with the Alabama Bureau of Investigation (ABI) to offer a biometrics technology to identify fingerprints.  Known as FingerPrinter CMS, the live scan system does away with the inconvenience of using ink to obtain fingerprints.  The technology electronically prints and transmits fingerprints based on the employment of biometrics, which are processes of identifying individuals through behavioral or physical traits, including fingerprints, face recognition, voice, and signature.
Visionics says the system will allow ABI to perform background checks by acquiring applicants' fingerprints and then sending the images to the ABI.  The images will then be checked against the Alabama Automated Fingerprint Identification System database.  Visionics states that it got an order from the ABI for 30 live scan systems.  The company says the FingerPrinter will allow the state's prisons and courthouses to electronically submit fingerprint and demographic records in order to meet a recent law approved by the Alabama Legislature that requires agencies to conduct criminal backgrounds checks on individuals applying for jobs.  (www.news.com)
 

"F.B.I.  Use of New Technology to Gather Evidence Challenged"

New York Times (07/30/01) P.  C7; Schwartz, John The case of the United States v.  Scarfo has sparked a major debate over how law enforcement can use technology to collect information and when the accused can claim a violation of their right to privacy.  In the case of Nicodemo S.  Scarfo's case--which involves charges of overseeing gambling and loan shark operations for the Gambino crime family--law enforcement downloaded his personal computer, but after investigators discovered encrypted messages, they returned to Scarfo's house with a key logger system that records all keystrokes ever typed on a computer and found the encryption password that led to the discovery of illegal gambling and loan activities. Scarfo and his lawyers argue that law enforcement should have obtained an electronic communications wire tap order before searching Scarfo's computer with the technology, since the key logger is similar to a wire tap.  Government surveillance expert Mark Rasch is concerned about the key logger technology and suggests constitutional implications be considered before its continued use in the field.  (www.nytimes.com/)

"Sounding Out Snipers" Scientific American (07/01) Vol.  285, No.  1, P.  33

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is preparing law enforcement agencies for urban warfare by commissioning prototypes of specialized technologies.  BBN Technologies, a division of Verizon, has designed a sniper-detection device that will allow soldiers to track the direction of a bullet back to a hidden enemy, which can then be transmitted to a Global Positioning System.  The new battlefield technology will use microphones and a helmet-mounted compass, and the device can also be mounted on trucks, airplanes, streetlights, and buildings.  BBN's technology tracks snipers at long distance by picking up the acoustic vibrations from the muzzle blast and the supersonic crack of the bullet.  The technology is also able to detect the trajectory, caliber, and speed of the bullet.  (www.sciam.com/)

"In U.S.  First, Tampa Cameras Study Crowds for Criminals"

Miami Herald (07/02/01) P.  5B Tampa, Fla., is the first U.S.  city to use face-scanning software linked to high-tech security cameras to search for wanted criminals along city streets.  "FaceIt," developed by Visionics, compares images taken by the cameras to mug shots in a database for people with outstanding warrants.  Some cities in Europe already utilize similar technology, as do government offices, casinos, and banks in the United States.
Tampa's system uses 36 cameras set up in the town's nightlife district, Ybor City.  FaceIt was also used in last years Super Bowl, generating 19 matches to people with outstanding warrants, though all for minor offenses.  To make a match, the computer program needs to line up between 14 and 22 of the 80 facial features it reads, and which time, an alarm is triggered, prompting an operator to make a visual comparison of the image taken and the mug shot in the database.
(www.herald.com)

"New Explosives Detectors Will Doom Your Camera Film"

USA Today (06/29/01) P.  10D; Cadden, Many Travelers are advised not to pack unprocessed film in luggage that is being checked.  The Federal Aviation Administration is installing new explosives-detection systems to screen checked baggage that use the same technology as medical "CAT" scanners, and will likely damage film.  There are currently 116 devices operating at airports nationwide, with plans to expand to all airports in a few years.  (www.usatoday.com)

"Inmates Face Eye Test for Drugs"

Toronto Star (06/27/01) P.  A4 Ontario, Canada, will begin using technology developed by Md.-based PMI Inc.  on its inmate population to test if prisoners are under the influence of contraband drugs or alcohol.  Instead of taking a urine test, inmates simply have to look into a special viewfinder to determine whether they are currently on any illicit substance.  The system is being introduced in advance of new random drug testing policies that will go into effect in 2002.  (www.thestar.com/)
 

"Digital Data Network Closer to Reality"

Ottawa Citizen (06/30/01); Lee, Philip NASA's vision of a worldwide "Digital Earth" database is slowly becoming a reality.  Proponents of the so-called Digital Earth concept--which include Canada's Natural Resources department, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as well as NASA--want to collect, process, and store vast quantities of cultural and environmental information to order to create a digital, multi-layered image of the Earth.  According to Fritz Hasler, a senior scientist at NASA's Goddard Laboratory for Atmospheres, claims that the practical applications of such a database are limited only by people's imagination.  With such a database, land managers, for example, would be able to map climate change, biodiversity, urban sprawl, and deforestation, while law enforcement officials would be able to detect gang activity and crime patterns, and as a result, would be able to send police units to where they were most needed.
Nevertheless, Wayne Walsh, a New Brunswick, Canada, government engineer, who organized a recent Digital Earth conference in Fredericton, Canada, admits that such a database would bring with it certain unresolved issues concerning privacy.  As data collection devices and cameras on the ground are gradually combined with satellite technology, no one will any longer have any privacy.  Walsh added, however, that--because information can be used for both good and bad purposes--what is really important is how the information is managed.
(www.ottawacitizen.com/frontpage.html)
 

"No Shot in the Dark: Thermal Imaging Takes Hide and Seek Out of Police Work"

Asbury Park Press (06/30/01) P.  B2; Larsen, Erik Paid for with a Department of Defense grant, the Barnegat and Stafford police departments in New Jersey have received three pieces of infrared, thermal-imaging, night-vision gear, which helps officers find suspects or dropped evidence using temperature and reflected light.  The equipment, which is worth about $30,000 and is supplied by ITT Industries and Raytheon, can only be used to search through walls for criminal activity after getting a warrant, according to a recent Supreme Court ruling.  The technology turns a dark area into a grainy image through a pair of night binoculars, which allows officers to see hiding suspects or concealed evidence.
(www.injersey.com/app)

"Video System Opens New Doors Creator Pleased With Regional Jail's Use of Technology"

Charleston Daily Mail (06/21/01); Mossavat, Vada Over 1,100 inmates were arraigned in West Virginia courthouses this year, but none had to leave the jail facility, because of new technology.  First Virtual Communications, a Silicon Valley company, developed the audio and visual technology that will eventually be installed in the remaining 19 county courthouses; 36 county courthouses already have the equipment. Steve Canterbury, executive director of the Regional Jail Authority, said the technology will mean that jailhouse distance learning, telemedicine, and trials could eventually be done electronically.  (www.dailymail.com)

"As Crimefighters Turn to High-Tech Video, the Guilty Find No Defense"

Boston Herald (06/26/01) P.  28; Gatlin, Greg Avid Technology, which previously focused on providing digital video editing systems for television and film producers, has developed the dTective video evidence analysis system in partnership with Ocean Systems.  The system clears up blurry videotape images and allows tape to be broken down frame by frame.  The dTective product, which carries a price tag of approximately $28,000, has been purchased by about 50 North American law enforcement entities.  Grant Fredericks, an Avid employee and former Vancouver police officer, says that the department has won every case involving video evidence since it started using dTective.  Fredericks also points out that many crime suspects have pleaded guilty after being caught on film.  (www.bostonherald.com)
 

"State Boosts Felon's DNA Database; Crime-Fighting Cache Becomes Largest in U.S."

San Francisco Chronicle (06/25/01) P.  A1; Goodyear, Charlie; Hallissy, Erin The Berkeley DNA lab in California contains 200,000 genetic profiles of convicted felons, which makes it the largest DNA database of its kind in the nation.  The database covers murder, kidnapping, sexual assault offenses, and spousal abuse, but state Attorney General Bill Lockyer supports a proposal to add robbery, arson, and carjacking to the list.

The development of the database is even more impressive considering the system only had genetic profiles for 65,000 felons in October 1999.  Lockyer said the expansion of the database was made possible through $5 million in additional funding granted by the Legislature and Gov.  Gray Davis.  Lance Gima, who is in charge of the lab, reported that staff at the facility used an assembly-line system to convert thousands of blood and saliva samples taken from convicted felons into digitized DNA profiles.  The database was launched to solve the thousands of unsolved rapes and murders in California.
Currently, technicians check the database several times a month to determine if any recorded profile matches DNA evidence collected from 700 pending cases.  (www.sfgate.com/)
 

"Anti-Hate Site Excels With Speed, Accuracy"

USA Today (06/20/01) P.  3D; Kornblum, Janet The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is helping law enforcement agents combat hate crimes by launching a Web site that will serve as an "instant resource" for hate crime information.  The site will feature information about different hate groups and a calendar of events related to planned extremist activities.
Anyone may visit the site.  Law enforcement groups have confidence in the integrity of the information provided by the ADL, says Douglas Scherzer, the vice president of the New Jersey Association of Chiefs of Police.  (www.usatoday.com) [The ADL site is available at http://www.adl.org/learn/]

"Program Tracks Teen Courts"

Civic.com (06/20/01); Morehead, Nicholas The Information Services Division of Eugene, Ore., has created a computer program to analyze data from teen courts in West Eugene and Bethel.  These courts conduct trials for juvenile first-time offenders who are willing to follow the mandates of a jury the members of which are between 12 and 17 years old, instead of facing juvenile court.  The software compiles statistics on such information as the rate of repeat offenders, jury make-up, program completion rates, and parental data.  The program can also automatically produce the quarterly report that is required by the federal Juvenile Accountability Incentive Block Grants program, which gives $60,000 annually to the teen courts project.  Officials who handle peer courts in the cities of Fern Ridge and Springfield were so taken with the software's ability to save money and time normally spent on paperwork that they requested a copy and received one for the nominal charge of $1.  (www.civic.com)
 

"Technology & Innovation; What Goes Around - Comes Around Immersive, 360-Degree Panoramas are Proliferating Online" Boston Globe (06/25/01) P.  C1; Denison, D.C.

If you can imagine standing still watching as your surroundings turn and sweep around you that is what immersive imaging is about.  The technology is not new, but remains popular to enthusiasts for it's "coolness," yet it hasn't discovered a niche in industry yet to fulfill the grandiose dreams of huge profits it appeared to promise during the rise of dot-coms.  Additionally, business models for companies who do this type of work are few, resulting in the immersive imaging being sandwiched between being considered a really neat hobby and an overload of technology remaining unsought professionally.  Two enthusiasts, Ben Raynes and Holly Archibald, are hoping to sell their immersive expertise to educational institutions, by creating virtual tours of campuses and buildings.  The Boston-based Interactive Tactical Group intends to market their immersive technology to the security and safety industry.  Company operator Michael Quan says his services were conceived following the Columbine High School violence and will give firemen and police officers a detailed view of building interiors.  Until now, law enforcement officers had to rely on building blueprints to "see" inside, but the panoramic capabilities of immersive photography will even show them detail of panel boxes, light switches, writing, etc.  A number of years ago, the industry was thought to be a goldmine, but in reality, immersive imagery still has no huge application that will make it the latest and greatest idea, but it is gaining ground through solid, small applications.  (www.globe.com/boston)
 

"Mini-Devices May Soon Replace Combat Scouts"
USA Today (06/25/01) P.  5A; Stone, Andrea Tiny unmanned aerial devices may eventually replace the combat soldier scout for short-range field missions.  Military engineers are developing a broad range of microaircraft and pack-size vehicles for field surveillance.  Called UAVs, the units will be able to peek over the horizon or around a corner without putting a soldier at risk.  During times of war, many soldiers have been killed performing these same surveillance missions.  The Marines at Camp Pendleton, Calif., have been testing their five-pound UAV, called Dragon Eye, which has a 45-inch wingspan and comes apart in five easily stowable pieces for carrying in a backpack.  It is manually launched, slingshot style with a bungee cord, and controlled by a button in a soldier's vest.  The Army's MAV (micro air vehicle) is a mechanical eye shaped like a coffee can, some as lightweight as one pound and only six inches in diameter.  It is capable of flying as far as six miles away, carries video, infrared, acoustics, and metal detection sensors, and is able to perch and stare for weeks.  (www.usatoday.com/)
 

"Informix Software Unveils Law Enforcement Foundation for Biometrics -- Extending Its Vertical Market Bundling SStrategy" Business Wire (06/26/01)

At the upcoming International Crime Conference in San Diego, the release of the Law Enforcement Foundation for Biometrics will be announced by Informix Software.  The company had the help of Cogent Systems and Visionics in further implementing its plans of meeting the requirements of specific vertical markets through database-driven customized solutions. The new product incorporates fingerprint, palm, facial, voice, and iris recognition capabilities.  The Law Enforcement Foundation for Biometrics utilizes digital watermarking technology to ensure accuracy and to allow law enforcement to provide better security and protection with minimal disturbance to public settings.  Informix Software vice president of marketing Brian Staff says that the new system's ability to offer customized services and handle huge amounts of diverse data demonstrates the company's goal of meeting clients' needs. (www.businesswire.com/)
 

"Aether Announces StopTracker, Gives Police Departments First Wireless Solution to Meet Requirements of New Data Collection and Profiling Laws" Business Wire Online (06/26/01)

Aether Systems, a provider of wireless data products and services, has developed StopTracker for police officers' use on handheld devices and laptop computers.  The tool allows officers to record traffic stops and field interviews, including race, gender, age, reason for stop or interview, type of contact, vehicle make, and any property seized, which can improve efficiency and accuracy in police data.  The data is then exported to the department's central database, where it can be analyzed, tracked, and compared against department trends, local demographics, and other criteria used to combat profiling.  Information collected and produced by the system can be analyzed easily by independent organizations as well.
Another product, PacketCluster Patrol, can be combined with StopTracker to provide police officers with accurate motor vehicle and warrant information.  (www.businesswire.com/)
 

"Stop the Wandering: Electronic Gadgets Can Help Keep Track of Your Kids"

Atlanta Journal-Constitution (06/24/01) P.  1Q; Dilonardo, Mary Jo Technology has offered parents new ways to monitor the safety and behavior of their children.  Parents have different options, with everything from a device called the ChildPro Child Watch Monitor that sounds alarms if people talk to the child or if the child falls in water, to a device that uses Global Positioning technology to locate children during an emergency and mobile phone technology to dispatch police to that location.  Seven hundred law enforcements are using the child-monitoring technology called TRAK, Technology to Recover Abducted Kids, that allows quick missing person fliers to be made that include a high-resolution photo and are able to be electronically distributed to other law enforcement agencies, community groups, and the media.  (www.accessatlanta.com)

Now, some fear Big Brother's roving eye soon will be watching all of Colorado with the arrival of a new European import called "face recognition."

The Department of Motor Vehicles, in an effort to prevent identity theft and driver's license fraud, is buying cameras that will map every driver's facial characteristics like a three-dimensional land chart.

The danger, critics say, is that the technology could eventually be expanded to monitor the comings and goings of ordinary Coloradans.

This week, Tampa, Fla., became the first city in the United States to install similar high-tech security cameras on public streets to scan crowds in the city's nightlife district. Images will be compared against a database of mug shots of people with active warrants.

"There is a danger," said Rep.  Matt Smith, a Grand Junction lawmaker and attorney who serves on a statewide task force studying the issue of privacy.  "The intended purpose of facial recognition is to help the state prevent the theft of identity.  Now the question is, "What will its future use be?' "There has to be a point where the government doesn't have its nose over every shoulder," he said.

Mug shots compared Old driver's license photos will be scanned into a computer database using the new technology.  Then, starting next July, new mugs will be compared with those on file to make sure people are who they say they are when they go to get, or renew, a Colorado driver's license.

It doesn't matter if you gain 200 pounds and go bald between photographs.  Short of plastic surgery, the camera will recognize you.

"Facial recognition deals with spatial details, where a nose is compared with the eyes," said Dorothy Dalquist, spokeswoman for the Colorado Department of Revenue. "Baldness doesn't count, and weight doesn't either.  It's the basic facial structure."

The state legislature authorized the technology during the last session.  State officials won't disclose the cost of the system until they meet later this month with officials from Polaroid, one of the companies involved in making the system.

In the beginning, face recognition will be used to try to prevent criminals from obtaining multiple driver licenses under others' names, Dalquist said.

"We know of cases where individuals steal personal information from other people, forge documents and go to six or seven driver license offices getting licenses with their pictures and other people's identities.  In theory, they have a legitimate license, but in actuality, they're not who they say they are," Dalquist said.  "Now, we will be able to say after the first one, "No, you can't have another one.'"

Or the police could be called in.

"My guess is if we saw something that is an egregious misuse of the system, we might alert law enforcement to that," she said.

The cameras can't prevent the types of fraud that now occur when people make their own driver's licenses using home computers and the Internet.  However, as part of the new program, invisible markers will be added to each new license so stores or banks can scan the card to see if it's genuine.

Privacy concerns The technology has raised concerns about privacy, ethics and government intrusion.
Privacy advocates are concerned that a database of photographs could itself spill into the Orwellian realm.

"We all want to catch as many criminals as we possibly can, but we also have to be concerned about the privacy issues," said Sen.  Ken Gordon, D-Denver, a member of a state task force set up to craft legislation aimed at protecting privacy.  "Information obtained for one purpose is sometimes used for reasons that were not contemplated by people who set up the system to begin with."

Gordon said Colorado already sells driver records to insurance companies for $5 million a year.

"If we're going to create a database of photographs of every driver in Colorado, will it be used only to protect against criminals?" Gordon asked.  "Or will it be used for commercial purposes or marketing or to produce books of people's photos.  We have to be careful."

Colorado's new system could pave the way for expanded use, say for instance tapping into a criminal database and finding out if someone getting a driver license is a fugitive.

"I'm sure law enforcement would appreciate it sometime in the future," Dalquist said.
"Right now, we're not hooking into their data process.  We're trying to protect citizens against identity fraud, and businesses, too."

But some say this latest technology could continue to grow into a Tampa-like monitoring system.

Last month, Denver police used low-tech, hand-held video cameras to catch rowdy partygoers celebrating the Colorado Avalanche's Stanley Cup victory.

"We haven't discussed it," said Denver police Sgt.  Tony Lombard, "not at this point."

By Robert Lemos ZDNet News June 20, 2001 1:42 PM PT Car renters beware: Big Brother may be riding shotgun.
In a case that could help set the bar for the amount of privacy drivers of rental cars can expect, a Connecticut man is suing a local rental company, Acme Rent-a-Car, after it used GPS (Global Positioning System) technology to track him and then fined him $450 for speeding three times.

The case underscores the ways that new technologies can invade people's privacy, said Richard Smith, chief technologist at the not-for-profit Privacy Foundation.

"Soon our cell phones will be tracking us," he said.  "GPS could be one more on the checklist here.  Frankly, giving out speeding tickets is the job of the police, not of private industry."

Rental car companies have used GPS devices since the mid-1990s, installing systems to give drivers directions while they're on the road.  "Fleet management" companies such as AirIQ and Fleetrack are also selling newer tracking services that help companies monitor their vehicles.

The New Haven Small Claims Court case pits New Haven resident James Turner against Acme.  Turner also filed a claim with the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection.

Turner paid for the rental car with a debit card last fall and, after returning the car, was shocked to find that an extra $450 had been taken out of his account, according to an article in the New Haven Advocate, where the case was first reported.

Turner could not be contacted for this article, and his attorney did not return phone calls.

When Turner contested the charges, Acme was able to point out on a map exactly where he exceeded the company's threshold speed of 79 mph.

For Acme, however, the policy is not about penalizing customers but about protecting its cars, said Max F.  Brunswick, the attorney representing the company.

Acme recently decided to equip its cars with GPS technology and uses tracking services from AirIQ to find stolen rental cars and charge customers for "dangerous" conduct.  The policy is stated in bold at the top of the rental agreement, Brunswick said.

"You have a problem in rental cars that people don't treat them like their own cars,"
Brunswick said.  "The main reason to put in the GPS receivers is not to track the people but to track the vehicles.  With this device you can track within a city block anywhere in the world."

That's not all that GPS and AirIQ can do.  Calls to Acme itself were not returned, but information on the company's Web site promotes the service's ability to track the vehicle's location, notify the company when the car has crossed into another country or state, alert for "excessive speed," and even disable the car remotely.

Other car companies and vehicle monitoring services have embraced GPS as well.
General Motors' roadside assistance service, known as OnStar, uses GPS to locate subscribers when they call for help.  The company expects its subscriber base to climb to 4 million by 2003.

However, both GPS and cell phone technologies have raised privacy concerns.

"The challenge right now is to ensure, before these services and capabilities are widely deployed, that rules are in place," said David Sobel, general counsel for the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, D.C.

At present, both Turner and Acme have left the decision in the hands of the Department of Consumer Protection.  The judge in the small claims court case has delayed hearing the claim until the department has issued a ruling.

Brunswick said Acme plans to abide by the Department of Consumer Protection's ruling.
"If they say it's not a fair practice, we will give him his money back," he said.  "We are not out to make money on this."

 Beginning tomorrow, Applied Digital Solutions will begin beta testing on humans an implant technology capable of allowing users to emit a homing beacon, have vital bodily functions monitored and confirm identity when making e-commerce transactions.

The first production run of "Digital Angel®" devices has begun, the Florida-based, NASDAQ-traded company has announced.

While the manufacturers of the technology bill it as a potential lifesaver, others fear the advent of the device threatens personal privacy – and even raises the ugly specter of the Bible's "mark of the beast." Applied Digital Solutions, an e-business-to-business solutions provider, acquired the patent rights to the miniature digital transceiver it has named "Digital Angel®." The company plans to market the device for a number of uses, including as a "tamper-proof means of identification for enhanced e-business security."

Digital Angel® sends and receives data and can be continuously tracked by global positioning satellite technology.  When implanted within a body, the device is powered electromechanically through the movement of muscles and can be activated either by the "wearer" or by a monitoring facility.

"We believe its potential for improving individual and e-business security and enhancing the quality of life for millions of people is virtually limitless," said ADS Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Richard Sullivan.  "Although we're in the early developmental phase, we expect to come forward with applications in many different areas, from medical monitoring to law enforcement.  However, in keeping with our core strengths in the e-business to business arena, we plan to focus our initial development efforts on the growing field of e-commerce security and user ID verification."

Dr.  Peter Zhou, chief scientist for development of the implant and president of DigitalAngel.net, a subsidiary of ADS, told WorldNetDaily the device will send a signal from the person wearing Digital Angel® to either his computer or the e-merchant with whom he is doing business in order to verify his identity.

But e-commerce is only one field to which Digital Angel® applies.  The device's patent describes it as a rescue beacon for kidnapped children and missing persons.  According to Zhou, the implant will save money by reducing resources used in rescue operations for athletes, including mountain climbers and skiers.

Law enforcement may employ the implant to keep track of criminals under house arrest, as well as reduce emergency response time by immediately locating individuals in distress.

The device also has the ability to monitor the user's heart rate, blood pressure and other vital functions.

"Your doctor will know the problem before you do," said Zhou, noting peace of mind is possible for at-risk patients who can rest in the knowledge that help will be on the way should anything go wrong.

Indeed, peace of mind is Digital Angel®'s main selling point.

"Ideally," the patent states, "the device will bring peace of mind and an increased quality of life for those who use it, and for their families, loved ones, and associates who depend on them critically."

Referring to the threat of kidnapping, the patent goes on to say, "Adults who are at risk due to their economic or political status, as well as their children who may be at risk of being kidnapped, will reap new freedoms in their everyday lives by employing the device."

Digital Angel®'s developer told WND demand for the implant has been tremendous since ADS announced its acquisition of the patent.

"We have received requests daily from around the world for the product," Zhou said, mentioning South America, Mexico and Spain as examples.

One inquirer was the U.S.  Department of Defense through a contractor, according to Zhou.  American soldiers may be required to wear the implant so their whereabouts and health conditions can be accessed at all times, said the scientist.

But for critics, military use of the implant is not at the top of their list of objections to the new technology.  ADS has received complaints from Christians and others who believe the implant could be the fulfillment of biblical prophecy.

The Book of Revelation states all people will be required to "receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark." (Rev.  13: 16-17)

In an increasingly cashless society where identity verification is essential for financial transactions, some Christians view Digital Angel®'s ID and e-commerce applications as a form of the biblical "mark of the beast."

But Zhou dismisses such objections to the implant.

"I am a Christian, but I don't think [that argument] makes sense," he told WND.  "The purpose of the device is to save your life and improve the quality of life.  There's no connection to the Bible.  There are different interpretations of the Bible.  My interpretation is, anything to improve the quality of life is from God.  The Bible says, 'I am the God of living people.' We not only live, we live well."

Sullivan, responding to religious objections to his product, told WorldNetDaily no one will be forced to wear Digital Angel®.

"We live in a voluntary society," he said.  According to the CEO, individuals may choose not to take advantage of the technology.

Zhou alluded to some Christians' objection to medicine per se, adding such opposition wanes when the life-saving, life-improving benefits of technology are realized.

"A few years ago there may have been resistance, but not anymore," he continued.
"People are getting used to having implants.  New century, new trend."

Zhou compared Digital Angel® to pacemakers, which regulate a user's heart rate.
Pacemakers used to be seen as bizarre, said Zhou, but now they are part of everyday life.  Digital Angel® will be received the same way, he added.

Vaccines are another good comparison, said the scientist, who noted, "Both save your life.  When vaccines came out, people were against them.  But now we don't even think about it."

Digital Angel®, Zhou believes, could become as prevalent as a vaccine.

"Fifty years from now this will be very, very popular.  Fifty years ago the thought of a cell phone, where you could walk around talking on the phone, was unimaginable.  Now they are everywhere," Zhou explained.

Just like the cell phone, Digital Angel® "will be a connection from yourself to the electronic world.  It will be your guardian, protector.  It will bring good things to you."

"We will be a hybrid of electronic intelligence and our own soul," Zhou concluded.

ADS, DigitalAngel.net's parent company, received a special "Technology Pioneers"
award from the World Economic Forum for its contributions to "worldwide economic development and social progress through technology advancements."

The World Economic Forum, incorporated in 1971 with headquarters in Geneva, is an independent, not-for-profit organization "committed to improving the state of the world."

When delivery and beta testing begin tomorrow, it will enlist the support of a limited number of pre-registered subscribers and end users and last for a period of 90 days.

For more information on NLECTC and the web version of this news summary, please visit JUSTNET at http://www.nlectc.org.
NLECTC may also be reached at 1-800-248-2742.

Reproduction of this text is encouraged; however copies may not be sold, and the NLECTC Law Enforcement & Corrections Technology News Summary should be cited as the source of the information.  Copyright 2001, Information Inc., Bethesda, MD.
 

****************************ARTICLES**************************

"Lawmakers Crack Down on Identity Theft"

Wall Street Journal (05/16/01) P.  B10; Gavin, Robert Washington is one of the most recent states to get tough on identity theft.  Gov.  Gary Locke passed into law last week a bill sponsored by state Sen.  Margarita Prentice that would allow identity theft victims to file police reports with credit agencies as a way to block negative credit reports.  The bill also imposes harsher punishments for identity theft crimes.  California and Idaho have similar laws on the books.
Florida, Alabama, and Arizona have also taken legislative action on identity theft.  Financial Services Roundtable President Steve Bartlett says that although identity-theft legislation is a good thing, it would be better addressed by the federal government rather than a patchwork of state laws.
(www.wsj.com)

"Will Robots Match Human Smarts?"

United Press International (05/09/01); Hearn, Kelly Before machine minds become like the minds of men, computers need to become much faster; human and machine interfaces need to become much more sensitive; algorithms that reflect the human brain's neurological processes need to be developed; and machines need to learn from, and react to, unpredicted circumstances.  Computer systems' understanding of human language also must be improved.  Researchers at Austin-based Cycorp have programmed a million or so common sense human rules into a computer that enable it to respond accurately and logically to spoken questions.  Such advances in the computer sciences are expected to contribute significantly to law enforcement, industrial, and uses.  The president of Cycorp said, "We have reached a point where the system now knows enough that it can productively, effectively help in its own growth, in its own education."
 

"River of Drugs; Smuggling Swelss as Cross-Border Trade Rises"

Fort Worth Star-Telegram (05/14/01) P.  1; Rodriguez, Rebeca The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) brings promising economic rewards and a welcoming atmosphere for goods to flow across the U.S.-Mexican border, but with it comes an increase in vehicles, and the likelihood of a rise in illegal drug smuggling.  Last year, inspectors seized more than a half-million pounds of marijuana, cocaine, heroine, and methamphetamines after inspecting more than 48 million passenger vehicles and 3.1 million commercial vehicles that crossed into Brownsville, Texas, from the El Paso-Mexican border.  Total confiscation of drugs was up by 71 percent for cocaine, 130 percent for marijuana, and 400 percent for methamphetamines.  At many international borders, special teams are waiting to inspect cars and officers still wander through the waiting traffic with drug-sniffing dogs, making spot checks of vehicles that appear in the least unusual. Armed with high-tech equipment, agents can now see inside a gas tank using a powerful scope.  Another gadget will detect areas of density inside a vehicle where drugs might be hidden; they are armed with brass hammers capable of striking fuel tanks without producing sparks and gamma-ray machines that can scan an entire truck in just three minutes.  In addition to all the gadgets, however, Roger Maier, an El Paso customs spokesperson, comments that inspectors must know how to read a situation and be able to spot unusual things, like someone's knees being abnormally high while sitting in the car, possibly indicating a false floor.  Likewise, inspector M.  Gomez spotted a nervous driver, and on closer inspection, found something odd about the car's trunk bed, which turned out to be hiding
98 pounds of marijuana worth $100,000 on the street.  Nearly $50 million has been allocated in the 2002 federal budget to help Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California counties effectively crack down on drug smuggling.
(www.star-telegram.com/)
 

"Transit Cops' Camera Turning Up the Heat"

New York Daily News (05/10/01) P.  17; Donohue, Pete The $13,000 MSA Evolution 4000 TIC thermal-imaging camera is currently being used by the NYPD Transit Bureau to detect homeless trespassers in subway tunnels with body heat.
Heat-generated images are displayed for law enforcement officers on a hand-held screen and show body heat even if someone is hiding behind a pillar or under a blanket.  The camera can also display recent palm marks and footprints that point in the direction of travel.  Using the 68 cameras, the Transit Bureau's homeless squad found 14 people in tunnels who were trespassing.  Eventually, the technology will be used to find vandals and track fleeing suspects. (www.nydailynews.com/)
 

"Report: Wireless Snooping on the Rise"

Wireless NewsFactor (05/04/01); Wrolstad, Jay Wireless wiretaps accounted for 60 percent of all 1,190 federal court-authorized taps during 2000, according to an Administrative Office of the U.S.  Courts report.  Wireless taps include cellular and cordless phones, while electronic taps of pagers, emails, and faxes accounted for only 8 percent of federal court-authorized wiretapping.  As a result, the ACLU and Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT) have written the U.S.  Attorney General to question whether wiretapping of cell phones that can reveal an individual's physical location should be authorized under traditional wiretapping standards, suggesting instead that more stringent standards may be needed.  The CDT has charged the FBI with using wiretapping of cell phones as physical tracking, not authorized under the
1994 Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA), which covers wiretapping protocol.  The ACLU also used the letter to challenge the FBI's Carnivore email wiretapping program, suggesting that Carnivore technology should be turned over to ISPs to ensure the program is being used for court-prescribed narrow searches.  (www.ecommercetimes.com)
 

"Night and Day, Computers Collect Information"
Washington Post--Wired Life (05/16/01) P.  G10; O'Harrow , Robert Jr.

With marketing firms collecting data to harness profit from even the most mundane aspects of an individual's day, online and offline data collection is becoming a ubiquitous part of U.S.  society, a trend receiving attention from Congress, which in the last few years has passed laws protecting online medical data and restricting online data collection from children.  Web portals usually either collect data by implanting "cookies" on a user's hard drive to track movements over the Web, or voluntarily obtain data in exchange for portal access or product discounts.  All this information allows marketers to create personal profiles of consumers in order to target particular consumers with specific ads.
"Information allows marketers to try and bring the personal touch back in," says Jerry Cerasale, the Direct Marketing Association's senior vice president for government affairs.
"Part of the vibrant economy is that Americans have all the choices," Cerasale says.  "If we restricted that flow of information, it would reduce those choices." Law enforcement is increasingly turning to mass surveillance, most notably perhaps the FBI's Carnivore email filtering program.  In the workplace, companies are also turning to email and Internet monitoring to ensure employees use these tools for work purposes only.  (www.washingtonpost.com)

"'Cult of the Dead Cow' Invents Browser That Enables Oppressed to Circumvent Web Censorship"

Guardian, The (05/14/01) P.  8; Millar, Stuart Police report that the 'Cult of the Dead Cow,' a group of hackers, is developing a browser that would give users access to banned information found on the Web.  The group plans to launch the Peekabooty browser in July.  Since the browser uses the network for data storage instead of a central server and employs encryption technology, the browser offers secrecy for the person accessing the information.  Free speech advocates and law enforcement are at odds over the issue.  Law enforcement agencies fear the browser could be used to deliver illegal material, such as child pornography.  Police agencies outside the United States are also concerned about the potential for Peekabooty to conceal illegal information.  Tim Snape of the Internet Service Providers Association warns that the browser could circumvent Britain's Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act, which allows police to monitor data systems and forces those suspected of committing Internet crimes to disclose transcription keys.  (www.guardian.co.uk/)
 

"UK Government: Hi-Tech Scheme to Chip Away at Business Crime"
M2 Communications (05/08/01)

The United Kingdom's Chipping of Goods Initiative has developed two pilot projects to demonstrate the effectiveness of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology in its efforts to reduce property crime.  A silicon chip will be embedded into a boat's structure, will contain information about the manufacturer and owner of the boat, and the information and tag identifier will be entered into the TRI-Mex satellite tracking system.  The police will be able to use the system to identify stolen marine property by providing an audit trail, which traces where a boat has been and who handled it last.  About 10 to 20 sport boats and leisure craft are stolen per day.
 

"CyberExtruder Lands Series A Funding; Proceeds to Expand Market for CyberX3D Facial Imaging Technology"
PR Newswire (05/08/01)

After the announcement of the $600,000 financing deal between CyberExtruder Inc.  and undisclosed investors, CEO Larry Gardner commented that the financial backing would enable the firm to continue developing new ideas in conjunction with several technology associates.  Among the new product lines are a facial animation kit, called CyberX3D, for instant messaging and chat.  The application allows users to stream a photo to a secure Web site where it will be analyzed and distinctive facial characteristics traced, resulting in a recreation of the face in 3 dimension within seconds.  The new file is returned to the originator and can be used in video games or personal websites.  The uniqueness of CyberX3D is that it works from one photo and is completely automated.  And, although the patent is still pending, the technology is currently available on some Internet games.  Site visitors to www.cyberextruder.com can upload and convert as many as six photos at one time for conversion to a 3-D screensaver that can be downloaded for free.  The $20-billion Internet gaming industry is currently keeping revenue flowing into CyberExtruder, but the firm is in the process of securing licensing contracts from Web development firms, law enforcement, security, and medical applicants, as well as online advertisers that may want to use the CyberX3D as a media enhancement tool.  (www.prnewswire.com)
 

"Visionics FaceIt Ported to ViA's Next Generation Wearable Computer to Create Mobile Security System"
Business Wire (05/08/01)

Visionics Corporation and ViA have teamed up to install FaceIt, a facial recognition technology, into a mobile security system, or wearable computer.  The system captures a facial image and cross-references it with a database of images to confirm an individual's status.  The mobile security system can aide military police in their daily duties, improve effectiveness, and locate other personnel through a GPS data system.  The system could be applied to law enforcement, as well as to surveillance, banking, and information security.
(www.businesswire.com/)
 

"Armoring Patrol Cars" Law Enforcement Technology (04/01) Vol.  28, No.  4, P.  76;
Yates, Tom The cost of armoring police patrol cars plus the warranty complications it could entail does not outweigh the possibility of requiring it, according to law enforcement writer Tom Yates, who uses the comparison of having a parachute on an airplane: "when you need it, you really, really need it.  Vehicle manufacturers advise police departments who might be considering armoring their patrol cars to think about several things: level of protection, automobile weight restrictions, manufacturing warranty issues, and impact on occupants in a crash.  The extra weight carried by the auto may affect the performance and operation of other devices inside the car, which would mean warranties might not be honored if an upgrade such as armor were to negatively impact the standard operational values of otherwise covered parts and components.  Or, the extra weight may cause the car to exceed the GVW restriction.  Armor manufacturers deny that their product would affect car performance, but representatives from Ford and GM both said that although testing has not been done, they believe that the added weight would alter acceleration and braking.  Tests performed by the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) produce the standards by which armor manufacturers rate their products protectiveness, by the means of categorizing the caliber of bullets from least to greatest threat levels.  Generally, manufacturers define their product as having a Level IIIA protection, which will protect the vehicle and occupants from .44 Magnum lead, semi-wadcutter, and gas checked and 9mm full-metal jacket rounds.  Both permanent armor that can be installed by police motor pool technicians and portable armor that can be attached to the car in modular pieces and stored in the trunk when not used are available.  (www.letonline.com)
 

"Making Crime Pay"

Teledotcom (04/16/01) Vol.  6, No.  8, P.  41; Prince, Paul Current economic conditions lend themselves to a move toward diversification, and cable and telecom firms are changing their focus from more conventional services to new areas.
These types of companies have the experience in wiring and connecting houses, customer service and billing, and managing network-monitoring facilities that are necessary to create a home security business.  Atlanta's Cox Communications is among the cable companies moving into the area of security and is working on a new kind of video security service that operates via broadband.  Cable companies are connecting with security firms, Internet service providers, and phone companies, hoping that new services will ensure customer retention and revenue.
Austin-based @Security Braodband Corp.  is working with Cox, Comcast Corp., Cablevision Systems, Charter Communications, and Rogers Communications to connect the security company to what is happening in a house, via video, through a system that would also offer Web-based audio security features to customers.  The company has tested the system and found it to be very reliable, without putting a large strain on the operator's infrastructure.  The service should go on the market in the United States in a few months.  No one knows yet, however, whether the public will buy into the concept.
(www.teledotcom.com)
 

"Collecting Traffic Stop Data Is a Means to Identify Profiling and Stop It in Its Tracks"

Law Enforcement Technology (04/01) Vol.  26, No.  4, P.  100; Garrett, Ronnie L Many people are uncomfortable with the idea that the police are collecting personal data when stopping traffic violators, and some individuals allege that it the information is unjustly used for racial profiling.  Racial profiling as defined by the Department of Justice is any collection of data initiated by police authorities that categorizes people by race, ethnicity, or national origin.  Today, however, those data banks are filling up with more than physical descriptions, including personal characteristics such as sex, age, dress, and type of vehicle.  According to a 1999 Gallup pole, over one-half of all Americans believe police authorities are engaged in the practice of racial profiling and 81 percent of Americans believe it is wrong.  Despite the ambiguousness surrounding the uses of the data collected and having gone to court in several class-action lawsuits on behalf of victims of profiling, the American Civil Liberties Union still advocates traffic stop data collection, because it means the difference between obtaining facts, as opposed to getting anecdotal experiences.  Years ago, state and local law enforcement agencies were trained by the Drug Enforcement Administrations (DEA)s Operation Pipeline to stop motorists by type definition; in other words, stop those who by their definition of likely suspects are more likely to be carrying drugs.  Because stopping someone for a traffic violation is really an officers choice, King believes biases may play a significant role in who they stop.  King points to the data collection recommendations of the Department of Justice as hiding racial profiling, especially in stop and search incidents.  Two significant problems exist in facing the profiling issues: how the data is gathered and how it is analyzed after the fact.  (www.letonline.com)
 

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NLECTC Law Enforcement & Corrections Technology News Summary Thursday, May 3, 2001.

The National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC) provides the following information as a service to law enforcement, corrections, and forensic science practitioners.  The summary includes abstracts of articles from major national newspapers, business magazines, Web sites, national and international wire services, and periodicals focusing on law enforcement and corrections technology.
Please note that providing synopses of articles on law enforcement and corrections technology or the mention of specific manufacturers or products does not constitute the endorsement of the U.S.  Department of Justice or NLECTC.

For more information on NLECTC and the web version of this news summary, please visit JUSTNET at http://www.nlectc.org.
NLECTC may also be reached at 1-800-248-2742.

Reproduction of this text is encouraged; however copies may not be sold, and the NLECTC Law Enforcement & Corrections Technology News Summary should be cited as the source of the information.  Copyright 1999, Information Inc., Bethesda, MD.
 

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"Police Upgrade City's Helicopters to Go High-Tech With Software"

Sunday Oklahoman (04/29/01) P.  10; Plumberg, Jean Oklahoma City has finished testing technology that brings together the global positioning system (GPS) with the city's geographic information system.  The technology will allow police helicopters to locate addresses sooner.  The city's geographic information system has every location within Oklahoma city mapped out.  The pilot and copilot will be able to switch from the helicopter's current infrared system to the new system by pressing a toggle switch.  A mini keyboard and mouse is used to operate the system, which provides a detailed map of a crime scene when an address is entered.  The system also provides icons showing the helicopter's position in relation to its destination, and has a zoom in feature for a more detailed view of surrounding streets.  A trial of the system was conducted in September.
 

"Be Very Afraid, the Cyber Cops May Be Watching You"Guardian, The (04/26/01) P.  7;

Gaines, Sarah Detective Chief Superintendent Keith Akerman, who is also the Chairman of the Internet Crime Forum, had a key role in last week's launch of the National Hi-Tech Crime Unit ( NHTCU).  The unit consists of 40 cyber cops, which monitor the Internet's activities of suspected pedophiles.  Partnerships between police agencies of different nations is vital when dealing with crimes perpetuated over the Internet.  Online crimes have increased in frequency as more people use the technology.
According to Web Police, 640 online crimes were reported in 1993 and 47,000 were reported in 1998.  The NCIS has also seen a rise in the distribution of child pornography on the Internet, with incidents rising from 215 in 1997 to 1,124 in 1999.  The NCIS plans to enlist the aid of police agencies and computer experts from around the world.
(http://www.guardiannews.com)
 

"County to Decide on 'Reverse 911' System"
Tampa Tribune (04/30/01) P.  1; Samolinski, Candace J.

The Pasco County Commission will decide whether or not to accept a $72,400 grant from the state of Florida that pays for the initial costs of implementing "Reverse 911" technology, because if accepted, the county would have to pay $63,000 to make the system operational.  "Reverse 911" technology uses computer software, phone lines, and a residential telephone database purchased from local telephone providers to automatically call people in certain areas to warn of floods or other emergencies.  Law enforcement could benefit from the system, because a large group of people can be alerted about crimes and prevention techniques.  Pawn shop owners could also be contacted with the system to watch for specific stolen merchandise.  The county's 911 system could get a new communications dispatch center in Land O'Lakes.  "The county dealt with 145,900 calls to 911 last year, which is an average of 14,000 calls per month", says 911 manager John Schroeder. (http://www.tampatrib.com)
 

"Gadget Sees Through Concrete"

USA Today (04/26/01) P.  8D; Vergano, Dan A new radar "flashlight" has proven effective in detecting people hiding behind house siding, drywall, and wooden doors.
The Justice Department's Office of Science and Technology (OS&T) has been under pressure from its advisory body to develop long-range tools for weapons and perpetrator detection.  Besides the radar gun, other inventions currently being tested include night vision goggles, a concealed weapons detector that uses sound waves, and a magnetic screen that spots handguns.  Radar gun inventor Gene Greneker originally developed it for use in the 1996 Olympics for measuring an athlete's breathing and pulse rate from a distance after testing a theory about how target shooters synchronized their breathing and pulse by the pull of a trigger.  The detection device has raised issues regarding privacy rights, according to David Sobel, general counsel of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, D.C.  A man in Oregon recently went to court after police used a heat-imaging device to determine whether his house had marijuana grow lights inside.  Sobel feels that rules need to be established regarding how far technology can be permitted to intrude into people's privacy prior to the issuance of a search warrant. (http://www.usatoday.com)
 

"Law Enforcement and Private Security (Leaps) Conference to Showcase Technology as Key Crime Fighting Tool"
PR Newswire (05/01/01)

ADT Security Services, a part of Tyco Fire and Security Services, announced recently that it is taking part in the Law Enforcement and Private Security Conference (LEAPS) 2001.
During the conference, which will be attended by the Los Angeles Police Department, business leaders from a number of different industries, and other electronic security companies, ADT will provide real-life demonstrations of the capabilities offered by its SecurVision remote digital video surveillance system.  SecurVision is a powerful surveillance device that can distinguish a human intruder from other motion stimuli--such as changes in weather, lighting conditions, or animals--and can provide digital video recording and storage similar to a VCR for up to 30 days in the hard drive of a computer.
According to ADT West Regional Director of Sales and Marketing, Curt Hilliard, SecurVision helps provide accurate, around-the-clock monitoring that can enhance the efforts of law enforcement or security personnel.  Hilliard adds that the benefits of capturing and accessing the real-time images of a criminal act as it is taking place are pretty self-evident from a law enforcement point of view.  From a business management perspective, Hilliard says, CCTV and SecurVision in particular can provide added value in the area of alarm verification, employee job performance, training, operational audits, merchandising, and liability control.  The Leaps 2001 Conference, which is currently in its second year, is an outgrowth of alliances formed between private security companies and local police departments to share information and ideas and to work cooperatively toward the common objective of preventing crime.  Specifically, the conference provides a forum at which to raise awareness about advances in technology that could have a law enforcement application. (http://www.prnewswire.com)
 

"What Do Red-Light Cameras See?"

Atlanta Journal-Constitution (04/23/01) P.  2C; Ledford, Joey Red-light cameras have been in use since 1997 in Maryland, issuing 11,000 citations in March and reducing the number of crashes in accident-prone intersections by 43 percent.  Though Georgia's red-light cameras have not resulted in citations being issued to motorists, they have captured vehicles making improper lane changes, a school bus nearly missing another car, and motorists that could be exonerated if they were given a citation by a pursuing officer.  However, critics of the red-light cameras claim that in college towns, where students and individuals change addresses often, individuals might not receive their citations or summons since they are sent by regular mail instead of by certified mail or delivered in person as required by law.  However, those that receive the citations and photos in the mail often pay the fine without contesting the summons.  (http://www.asscessatlanta.com)
 

"U.S.  Ponders Letting 'Carnivore' Off Leash"

NewsFactor Network (04/20/01); Lyman, Jay Online privacy advocates such as the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), recently lobbied Attorney General John Ashcroft to cancel the FBI's Carnivore email-reading program, which can scan millions of emails per second to retrieve targeted subject matter.  Ashcroft is reconsidering Carnivore, which has drawn criticism from such groups as EPIC and the ACLU, but law enforcement agencies have been urging Ashcroft to extend the program with increased measures to protect citizens' privacy.  Law enforcement has argued for using more refined search targets and maintaining a log of every user, which would protect privacy by limiting search areas and ensuring that Carnivore abuse can be tracked to specific users.  EPIC is hopeful that Ashcroft will work to at least curtail Carnivore.  Some ISPs have refused to open their networks to Carnivore.  EarthLink, for example, took the FBI to court and won the right to open its network only in conjunction with specific, targeted investigations.
(http://www.ecommercetimes.com)
 

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NLECTC Law Enforcement & Corrections Technology News Summary Thursday, May 10, 2001 The National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center (NLECTC) provides the following information as a service to law enforcement, corrections, and forensic science practitioners.  The summary includes abstracts of articles from major national newspapers, business magazines, Web sites, national and international wire services, and periodicals focusing on law enforcement and corrections technology.
Please note that providing synopses of articles on law enforcement and corrections technology or the mention of specific manufacturers or products does not constitute the endorsement of the U.S.  Department of Justice or NLECTC.

For more information on NLECTC and the web version of this news summary, please visit JUSTNET at http://www.nlectc.org.
NLECTC may also be reached at 1-800-248-2742.

Reproduction of this text is encouraged; however copies may not be sold, and the NLECTC Law Enforcement & Corrections Technology News Summary should be cited as the source of the information.  Copyright 2001, Information Inc., Bethesda, MD.
 

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"Those Dimples May Be Digits"

New York Times (05/03/01) P.  G1; Newman, Andy Casinos, driver's license registration places, and police departments are among the growing number of entities making use of face-recognition software.  The software converts images into a string of numbers that can be matched to strings in other images.  Problems with lighting, camera angles, cameras quality, and other factors have made the technology less useful for general law enforcement than it is for computer log-ins, security checkpoints, and casino surveillance.  Face recognition is also less effective when enough time has passed for a person's face to change.  Biometric Test Center director Jim Wayman states that police can make good use of facial recognition if they have reasonable expectations about its efficacy and realize that decreasing the number of possible suspects is still a positive step.  Face-recognition technology has incited the ire of privacy advocates in the United States and Britain, although a majority of residents in the Newham borough of London feel that the enhanced feeling of safety they get with the system is more important.  Viisage Technology and Visionics are the two main providers of software for the $10 million market.  (www.nytimes.com)
 

"Is Big Brother Taking a Drive on the GW Parkway?"

Washington Times (05/08/01) P.  A1; Sorokin, Ellen; Godfrey, John The Interior Department's Park Service has installed surveillance cameras on Virginia's George Washington Parkway by the CIA headquarters and near Gravelly Point.  House Majority Leader Dick Armey and others are opposed to the cameras because it would constitute an invasion of privacy, but the Park Service disagrees.  According to the agency, the parkway was not intended as a freeway and was not designed for that purpose, which has limited the availability of turnarounds or shoulders for police cruisers to monitor speeders.  However, red light cameras in the district have erroneously issued about 20,000 tickets.  (www.washtimes.com)
 

"Senate Passes Anti-Crime Bills" Associated Press (05/03/01)

The Michigan Senate has voted unanimously to pass bills broadening DNA sampling and mandating that DNA profiles of convicted felons and some misdemeanor assault perpetrators be stored by the state police.  The high-tech crime-fighting tools are meant to solve old, unsolved cases by matching crime scene evidence with the profiles of people already convicted for other transgressions, according to Sen.  William Van Regenmorter.  The House will now decide whether to enact the proposals into law.  (www.ap.org)
 

"Imagis Releases Biometric Facial Recognition SDK for New Security and Access Applications"
PR Newswire (05/02/01)

Imagis Technologies has introduced a new software kit called ID-2000 SDK which can easily and relatively quickly be integrated into any existing application to provide biometric facial recognition capabilities.  The system is designed for use in areas such as e-commerce, airports, customs and immigration, access control, and auto theft.  Field testing of the software proved it to be very effective in identifying millions of records in a matter of seconds.  The software is a mapping program that captures physical facial features in such detail that even characteristics obscured or disguised can be identified.  When law enforcement officials installed the ID-2000 SDK, the leader in the facial recognition technology sector of law enforcement, in the Toronto International Airport, they were rewarded by the recognition of individuals who, when investigated, turned out to be wanted criminals.
(www.prnewswire.com)

“The day will come when you put your finger on a scanning device to prove who you are before you engage in transactions at retail stores, ATMs, banks and even when you buy groceries.  One company making such a device is engaged in a pilot project with the nation's largest grocery chain.

Biometric Access Corp.  has teamed up with four Kroger stores in the Houston area to test a point-of-sale finger scanning device for retail transactions.  The pilot project has been under way for just over a year and is working well, even though some customers don't like it, according to Kroger spokesman Gary Huddleston.

The Kroger stores are using the device to provide positive identification for payroll check cashing, not for actual sales.  Huddleston says customer acceptance is one of the challenges that must be overcome if the device is to be used for all transactions.  ‘Many customers have seen the value of the security in the system.
The finger image is positive identification,’ Huddleston told NewsMax.com in a phone interview.  He said a personal identification number was not very secure.
‘Will the finger image scanner become common in all retail stores in the future?  I'm sure it will,’ said Huddleston.  ‘Customer acceptance is one challenge, and cost is the other challenge.  As soon as we overcome those’…"

FINGERPRINTS USED TO BUY SCHOOL LUNCHES January 19, 2001

ABCNews.com reports: “A new system which uses fingerprint scanners to let kids pay for school lunches is getting raves from students and school administrators, but is making privacy advocates nervous.  The scanners make stealable lunch money, lose-able swipe cards and the stigma of being known as the free-lunch kid things of the past, says Walter Curfman, superintendent of the Tussey Mountain School District in western Pennsylvania.  "You always have your finger with you, unless you cut it off,” he said.
But Andrew Shen of the Electronic Privacy Information Center worriesabout how well the information will be protected from being spread aroundthroughout the government.  "Once you have a collection of fingerprintsstarting from such an early age, I can imagine this being used for otherpurposes in the future" such as law enforcement, he said.

The system from Altoona, Penn.-based Food Service Solutions is currently being piloted in middle and high schools at Tussey Mountain and neighboring Penn Cambria School District in rural western Pennsylvania, and Lower Merion School District in suburban Philadelphia.  So far, it’s unique tothe Keystone state, FSS president Mitch Johns said.  It works on a debit account system -- parents put money in, and students order food.  When the account runs low, a letter goes out to the parents.  Parents can also restrict students’ shopping “a la carte" -- buying extra foodnot on the day’s set menu.  Students can also choose to buy itemswith cash.

FSS wants to expand its fingerprint system for use in attendancetaking and on school door locks, as the use of biometric scanners is spreadingin U.S.  schools.  Eagen High School in St.  Paul, Minn.,for instance, has been using fingerprint scanners to check out books atthe school library since last academic year"

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"Fingerprints Go High-Tech in Beaumont: Police Can Identify Bad Guys in Minutes With Their New Computerized Live Scan System"

Riverside (Calif.)Press-Enterprise (12/28/00) P.  B1; Moore,Steve In California, the Beaumont Police Department will shortly be usinga Live Scan computerized fingerprint identification system from a Sunnyvale,California based company, according to the department's support servicesanalyst, Kari Mendoza.

Lt.  John Acosta says that everyone arrested by Beaumont police will be fingerprinted from now on, regardless of whether they were arrested for a felony or a misdemeanor.  In the past, Acosta said, some misdemeanor suspects were not fingerprinted.
Prisons and jails are already using the technology, and throughoutthe area, a number of law enforcement agencies are using the fingerprintmachines.
 

"Cleveland Man's Invention Will Pinpoint Criminal Activity"

Chattanooga Times (12/27/00) P.  B2; Lusk, Kevin The owner ofCleveland, Tenn.'s Cleveland Electronics, Richard Mifflin, claims to havedeveloped a microchip that could be used to locate stolen property, kidnappedchildren, and escaped convicts.  According to Mifflin, the microchipcan be fitted in a keychain or wrist watch, and it can be located anywherein the world within a city block by using the Global Positioning System,a satellite system that provides receivers on the ground with accuratepositioning information.  Mifflin recently received a provincial patenton the microchip, which grants him the rights to the product for one yearin both North and South America.
 

"Database Protection, or a Kind of Prison?"

Washington Post (12/29/00) P.  A31; Hopper, D.  Ian Moreand more states are putting up online databases of inmates and parolees,so citizens can look up convicted neighbors and employers can screen jobapplicants. However, civil liberties groups say that such sites makeit harder for ex-convicts to reenter society.  Eighteen states haveWeb sites with names, records, sentences, and photos of current inmatesand parolees, and some have federal records as well.  Others havelimited databases for sex offenders, fugitives, and death row inmates. Florida was one of the first states to create such a site, and officialsthere say the information is public record and can contribute to publicsafety; in addition, once parolees finish parole, their names are removedfrom the site.

Although the listings appear to be popular, American Civil Liberties Union legislative counsel Larry Spalding notes that the databases can harm people who are trying to rebuild their lives after prison.  Formerfederal inmate William Stillwell says his record made it hard for him tofind housing or work.
Stillwell says he favors public information on those who presenta risk to society, but that a listing for everyone is unreasonable. Center for Democracy and Technology policy analyst Ari Schwartz says puttingsome records online can expose people to identity theft, bank fraud, andother problems.
 

"Shell Would 'Kill' Electronic Equipment but Not Humans"

Washington Times (12/27/00) P.  A11; Smith, Michael A secretgroup of researchers in Britain has created an artillery shell that canrender electronic equipment useless without killing anyone.  The weaponcould be used in a conflict with a foreign power to disable their militarycapabilities and disrupt their command infrastructure.  The rockethas several grams of explosives that are set off in order to open up theprojectile as it approaches a target.  When opened, the rocket sendsout aerials used to transmit a sudden burst of radio frequency that renderselectronic equipment with its vicinity useless.  The rocket is evencapable of disabling computers in sophisticated equipment, such as tanksand airplanes.
 

"High-Tech Homing Devices Worry Privacy Advocates"

Scripps Howard News Service (01/01/00); Deibel, Mary Startup companies such as eWorldtrack and larger players such as Siemens are filling a nascent market niche for tracking devices that allow parents to keep tabs on their children's whereabouts.  Some 350,000 children are kidnapped by family members every year, with most of the nabbings occurring during custodybattles, according to the FBI.  Trucking companies and backwoods hikers,among others, have also found a use for the tracking devices.  Someof the devices are about the size of small cell phones, and eventuallythey are expected to shrink to the size of computer chips.  The deviceshave raised the hackles of privacy advocates, who foresee a future wherepeople's locations are constantly monitored.  "This technology isgoing to happen, and we have to find ways to put people in control of howinformation about their location is collected and used," says David Sobelof the Electronic Privacy Information Center.  But one of the foundersof eWorldtrack, Bill Brown, says that the privacy concerns are overblownbecause the devices use personalized Internet numbers and codes. "Parents are the best judge of a child's privacy and safety," says Brown. Meantime, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children says thatits Web site and computer imaging technology have played a large part inraising the recovery rate for children to 90 percent, up from 66 percentin 1989.
 

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For more information about the NIJ Ballistic Resistant Body ArmorCompliance Testing Program, visit The National Law Enforcement and CorrectionsTechnology Center's Body Armor Compliance page at http://www.nlectc.org/National/bodyarmor.html.
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"Iowa Puts the Shackles on Offenders"

Government Technology (12/00) Vol.  13, No.  16, P.  9; McKay, Jim In Des Moines, Iowa, authorities are equipping some high-risk criminal offenders with surveillance devices to monitor where they go and what they do.  Usually, the global positioning surveillance devicesgo on criminals on parole or work release.  Information concerningthe equipped person's whereabouts is transferred to a monitoring station,which also holds data concerning where an individual should not be. The equipment includes an ankle bracelet, a small box with a cellular telephone,a motion sensor, and a clock device.  The equipment is designed towork together to alert authorities of where an offender is and where andhow fast he or she is going.  The phone allows communication betweenthe offender and authorities.

Williams, Molly AuthenTec recently unveiled a new chip that recognizes fingerprints and is expected to be integrated into the products of computer makers, cell phone companies, and other hardware manufacturers.  The technology, backed by 36 patents, could be used to start computers or access sensitive emails or Web sites, including online bank accounts.  Corporations could also use finger scanning to save money on password maintenance, and could employ the scanners in lieu of keys or number combinations to limit access to buildings and rooms.
Biometric Group says sales of hardware and software that uses uniquephysical characteristics to identify users will jump from $58.4 millionin 1999 to $594 million in 2003, with finger scanning comprising 46 percentof the biometric market share by 2003, up from its current 34 percent. As the size of scanners get smaller, prices go down, and accuracy increases,they will become much more attractive to corporations, experts say.

Secret plan to spy on all British phone calls Kamal Ahmed, political editor Sunday December 3, 2000 Britain's intelligence services are seeking powers to seize all records of telephone calls, emails and internet connections made by every person living in this country.

A document circulated to Home Office officials and obtained by TheObserver reveals that MI5, MI6 and the police are demanding new legislationto log every phone call made in this country and store the informationfor seven years at a vast government-run 'data warehouse', a super computerthat will hold the information.

The secret moves, which will cost millions of pounds, were last night condemned by politicians and campaigners as a sinister expansion of 'BigBrother' state powers and a fundamental attack on the public's right toprivacy.

Last night, the Home Office admitted that it was giving the plansserious consideration.

Lord Cope, the Conservative peer and a leading expert on privacyissues, said:
'We are sympathetic to the need for greater powers to fight moderntypes of crime.  But vast banks of information on every member ofthe public can quickly slip into the world of Big Brother.  I willbe asking serious questions about this.' Maurice Frankel, a leading campaigneron per sonal data issues, called the powers 'sweeping' and a cause forworry.

The document, which is classified 'restricted', says new laws areneeded to allow the intelligence services, Customs and Excise and the policeaccess to telephone and computer records of every member of the public.

It suggests that the Home Office is sympathetic to the new powers,which would be used to tackle the growing problems of cybercrime, the useof computers by paedophiles to run child pornography rings, as well asterrorism and international drug trafficking.

Every telephone call made and received by a member of the public,all emails sent and received and every web page looked at would be recorded.

Calls made on mobile phones can already be pinpointed geographically, as can those made from land lines.  The police would be able to use'trawling' computer techniques to look through millions of telephone andemail records.
Campaigners say innocent people could have such highly personalinformation accessed.

The document admits the moves are controversial and could clash with the Human Rights Act, which gives people a right to privacy, European Union law and the Data Protection Act, which protects the public against official intrusion into private lives.

The office of the Data Protection Commissioner, Elizabeth France,has already expressed 'grave concerns' .

'A clear legislative framework needs to be agreed as a matter ofurgency,' says the document, which is dated 10 August and is thought tohave been sent to Home Office Minister Charles Clarke.

'Why should data be retained?  In the interests of justice,to preserve and protect data for use as evidence to establish proof ofinnocence or guilt.  For intelligence and evidence gathering purposes,to maintain the effectiveness of UK law enforcement, intelligence and securityagencies to protect society.' The document is written by Roger Gaspar,the deputy director-general of the National Criminal Intelligence Service,the Government agency that oversees criminal intelligence in the UnitedKingdom.  Gaspar, as head of intelligence for NCIS, is one of themost powerful and influential men in the field.

The report says it is written 'on behalf of Acpo [the Associationof Chief Police Officers], HM Customs and Excise, security service, secretintelligence service and GCHQ [the Government's secret listening centrebased at Cheltenham]'.

Gaspar argues telephone companies should be ordered to retain allrecords of phone calls and internet access.

At the moment many telephone and internet service providers keepdata for as little as 24 hours.

'In the interests of verifying the accuracy of data specificallyprovided for either intelligence or evidential purposes, CSPs [communicationservice providers such as telephone or internet companies] should be underan obligation to retain the original data supplied for a period of sevenyears or for as long as the prosecuting authority directs,' the documentsays.

'Informal discussions have taken place with the office of the dataprotection commissioner.  Whilst they acknowledge that such communicationsdata may be of value to the work of the agencies and the interests of justicethey have grave reservations about longer term data retention.' The documentsays the new data warehouse would be run along similar lines to the NationalDNA Database for profiles of known criminals.

It would cost about £3 million to set up and £9m a year to run.

The report demands that the Government 'should be prepared to defend our position'.

A spokesman for NCIS refused to be drawn on the report.  'Iam not going to comment on a classified document that is in unauthorisedhands,' he said.

Meanwhile a Home Office spokesman said it had received the proposals and was considering them.
http://www.observer.co.uk/Distribution/Redirect_Artifact/0,4678,0-406191,00.html

USA Today reported: A short walk from Arlington National Cemetery, up a hill from the Pentagon, there is an inconspicuous two-story brickbuilding in which a group of technicians monitors the activities of millionsof Americans over closed-circuit television.

This is neither a super-secret spy network nor an Orwellian mind-control project.  This is the domain of Carlene McWhirt, a supervisor withthe Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, accustomed to 'Big Sister' jibesfrom co-workers.  She and a team of technicians observe and controlthe flow of traffic along nearly 100 miles of the interstates linking Washington,D.C., to its booming suburbs. Whether as motorists or pedestrians; as visitors to convenience stores, banks, ATM machines or the post office; as shoppers with credit cards or telephone users; even at leisure, in parks, playgrounds and golf courses, we're constantly on candid camera.  Full-time surveillance is a reality of modern life. But if improperly used that equipment coulde asily see into the homes and offices along the interstates. Your expectationsof privacy depend on where you are in public, on your own property orsomeone else's, says law professor Michael Froomkin of Miami Universityin Florida. With some technical ingenuity, authorities today can easilyreconstruct large portions of an individual's life using cameras andother equipment at banks and office buildings, on street corners and highways,in parking garages, subways and buses...

Reproduction of this text is encouraged; however copies may not besold, and the NLECTC Law Enforcement & Corrections Technology NewsSummary should be cited as the source of the information.  Copyright1999, Information Inc., Bethesda, MD.
 

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"Computer Technology Aids Criminal Justice System"

Detroit News (11/22/00) P.  4; Lynch, Kevin

Officials in Michigan's Oakland County are hoping that a new computer system known as Probation Automated Management will help them manage suspects awaiting trial.  Probation Automated Management (PAM) is currentlybeing used to keep track of criminals on probation and parolees. Using the PAM system, a person awaiting trial uses an unstaffed computerkiosk to periodically check in with the jail.  A scanner confirmsthe suspects' fingerprints to prove that they have not fled before theirtrial.  George Miller, Manager of the Oakland County Community CorrectionsDivision, commented that "the criminal justice system is finally comingto understand that there needs to be a continuum of restriction. We need to move people gradually from the more restrictive settings tothe lesser ones because our ultimate goal is to move them back into a freesociety."
 

"The Big, Bad, Fun Gun"

New York Times Magazine (11/26/00) P.  106; Porter, Bruce

The .50-caliber sniper rifle has been attracting more attention from proponents of gun control as its popularity has increased.  Supporters of gun control say that citizens should at least have to go through anextensive background check before being allowed to purchase the weapon. Presently, purchase requirements for the .50 caliber are equivalent tobuying a .22 caliber rifle: a purchaser of the weapon only has to passthe Federal Brady test, which only inquires about general information,such as felony arrests or stays at mental institutions.  The .50 caliberhas become a favorite target of anti-gun activists because of its use ofthe Browning machine gun round.  The ammo, which was initially developedto pierce German armor during World War I, was not used extensively untilWorld War II.  The cartridge weighs roughly one-third of a pound andmeasures close to six inches.  When shot from semiautomatic or single-shotrifles, the bullet reaches speeds close to 3,000 feet per second and canaccurately hit targets over four miles away.  When an instructor atthe Marine Corps Scout Sniper School demonstrated the rifle last year beforestaff members of the House Subcommittee on Government Reform, the destructivepower of the rifle became more widely apparent: a shot made from a .50-caliberat 200 yards pierced through a three-and-a-half inch mancover.  Thegun's performance, especially in Desert Storm, has increased its popularityamong gun enthusiasts.  After the war, gun producers went from makinga small amount of .50-calibers per year to increasing production to thepoint that over 20,000 guns to date have been sold.  But some politiciansin Washington have been concerned about potential misuses of the weapon. In fact, Rep.  Henry A.  Waxman of California, Rep.  RodR.  Blagojevich of Illinois, and California Sen.  Dianne Feinstein have proposed identical bills in both houses of Congress that call forpotential and present owners of .50-caliber weapons to meet the requirementsestablished under the National Firearms Act 1934.  While the act,which applies to such military-style weapons as flame-throwers, does notprohibit consumers from purchasing a .50-caliber, it does require an extensiveregistration procedure and a $200 tax payment.  However, the presentpolitical climate of the country does not appear to favor the added restrictions,since both bills have not moved through committee.

"Nobody's Watching Your Every Move"

Business Week (11/13/00) P.  16; Blank, Dennis

The growing field of motion-recognition security is making humansurveillance of monitors obsolete.  One of the first significant commercialtests of electronic monitoring will begin in November in Orlando. The city has installed four surveillance cameras in one of its high-crimeneighborhoods. The system, which replaces a lot of mindless monitor watching,can detect fires and any "unusual" body movements.  After the camerasdetect any suspicious movements, it alerts a live officer to investigate.

USA Today reported: “A short walk from Arlington National Cemetery, up a hill from the Pentagon, there is an inconspicuous two-story brickbuilding in which a group of technicians monitors the activities of millionsof Americans over closed-circuit television.

This is neither a super-secret spy network nor an Orwellian mind-control project.  This is the domain of Carlene McWhirt, a supervisor withthe Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, accustomed to 'Big Sister' jibes from co-workers.  She and a team of technicians observe and controlthe flow of traffic along nearly 100 miles of the interstates linking Washington,D.C., to its booming suburbs. Whether as motorists or pedestrians; as visitors to convenience stores, banks, ATM machines or the post office; as shoppers with credit cards or telephone users; even at leisure, in parks, playgrounds and golf courses, we're constantly on candid camera.  Full-time surveillance is a reality of modern life. But if improperly used that equipment couldeasily see into the homes and offices along the interstates. Your expectationsof privacy depend on where you are in public, on your own property orsomeone else's, says law professor Michael Froomkin of Miami Universityin Florida. With some technical ingenuity, authorities today can easilyreconstruct large portions of an individual's life using cameras and otherequipment at banks and office buildings, on street corners and highways,in parking garages, subways and buses...

An FBI official involved with the test stressed Friday that although Carnivore has the ability to grab a large quantity of e-mails and Web communications, current law and specific court orders restrict its use.

Nevertheless, privacy experts said they are worried about the breadth of Carnivore's capability and questioned why the FBI even conducted sucha test in June if it intends to use the tool only for narrow purposes.

"That really contradicts the explanation that the FBI has providedas to the purpose of the system and how it works," said David Sobel, general counsel for the Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center.
"We've been led to believe that the purpose of Carnivore is to filterand pinpoint the particular communications that the FBI is authorized toobtain.  If that's true, then why are they testing the system's abilityto store and archive everything?"

Sobel's group recently obtained the FBI documents providing the test results as part of litigation it brought under the Freedom of Information Act.

In the lab report, FBI officials said Carnivore "could reliably capture and archive all unfiltered traffic to the internal hard drive" and couldsave the information on removable disks as well.

Marcus Thomas, head of the FBI's cybertechnology section, said inan interview with the Associated Press that the test was only done to checkCarnivore's "breaking point." He said the tool wouldn't be used to capturebroad swaths of Internet communications in a real-world situation.

"Certainly, in operation, you could set the filters up to do nothing," Thomas said.  "But our procedures are very detailed, we'll only dowhat we're allowed to in a court order."

The difference of opinion is the latest in what has become a debate between Carnivore's capabilities and its actual use.

While law enforcement officials have admitted that Carnivore cancapture much more than e-mail, including Internet chats and Web browsing,FBI officials insist it is only used to copy e-mail to or from a criminalsuspect in accordance with a court order.

Opponents say the "black box" nature of the system keeps the public from knowing what it can really do, and its installation at an Internetprovider may cause network problems.

The New Jersey State Police Department is considering a new program that uses a mobile scanner to identify drivers by their fingerprints.  State troopers would use handheld fingerprint scanners to identify wanted and missing persons who are stopped on the highway.  The scannersconnect to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's new National Crime InformationCenter 2000 database, which stores fingerprint templates of individualsconvicted of crimes, as well as missing persons.  Officers can callthe database and remotely compare a suspect's fingerprints to those storedin the computer.  After the officer scans the suspect's print, theprint is stored as a digital fingerprint image.  A mobile computerreceives the file, which transfers the information to the FBI computerfor comparison.  The entire process takes about four minutes. Cross Match Technologies of West Palm Beach, Fla., manufacture the scanners,which are expected to sell for about $1,000.  Cross Match expectsto test the systems with several other law enforcement agencies withinthe next several months, says Scott Clinton, Cross Match Marketing Manager. As for the state of New Jersey, several unresolved issues remain.  The implementation of the system requires the state attorney general office's approval, and the legality of the new procedure is unclear regarding civil rights issues.

According to officials, New Jersey laws do not specifically allowpersons to be fingerprinted outside of police stations. Fingerprint scanningtechnology may also be beneficial to the private sector, such as for entryauthorization, weapons purchase background screenings, and check fraudscreenings.

A NASDAQ-traded company has finally unveiled its long-touted andhighly controversial "Digital Angel" -- a subdermal microchip implant designednot merely for keeping tabs on pets, but for widespread, worldwide usein tracking human beings.

The high-tech device, engineered by Applied Digital Solutions, Inc.  had its debut Monday before an overflow crowd of more than 300 invitedguests at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City.

The audience included U.S.  Secretary of Commerce Norman Mineta, who addressed the crowd, as well as other government officials, potential joint-venture/licensing partners and press representatives.

Richard J.  Sullivan, Applied Digital Solutions' chairman andCEO, waxed eloquent about the market potential of Digital Angel, claimingthe company has "uncovered a total marketplace that is conservatively estimatedto exceed $70 billion."

Randy Geissler, chairman and CEO of Digital Angel.net Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary, zeroed in on potential applications.

"Our analysis shows that we are well-positioned to move quickly into certain applications while developing a number of others.  Two areas ofparticular interest are in the healthcare arena," he said, "monitoringheart disease and respiratory disease patients." The tracking and monitoringof pets, he added, is also "right up our alley."

The demonstration, which was conducted by Dr.
Peter Zhou and Dr.  Keith Bolton, showed how Digital Angel"can be used to monitor a person's key body functions -- such as temperatureand pulse -- and transmit that data wirelessly, on a real time basis, alongwith the accurate location of the person, to a web-enabled ground stationor monitoring facility," according to a press statement.

The technology consists of a miniature sensor device, designed tobe implanted just under the skin, that captures and wirelessly transmitsthe "wearer's" vital body-function data, such as body temperature or pulse,to an Internet-integrated ground station.  In addition, the antennareceives information regarding the location of the individual from theGPS satellite. Both sets of data -- medical information and location --are then wirelessly transmitted to the ground station and made availableon Web-enabled desktop, laptop or wireless devices.

A more sophisticated version of microchip technologies currentlyused as electronic ID tags for pets, Digital Angel is powered electromechanically through muscle movement, or it can be activated by an outside monitoringfacility.

As WorldNetDaily has reported, in addition to locating missing persons and monitoring physiological data, Digital Angel will be marketed as ameans of verifying online consumer identity for the burgeoning e-commerceworld.

In August, Sullivan told WND, "We are currently talking to a watchmaker who is interested in placing the device on the back of their watches."He added that "technology is being developed that would allow Digital Angelto function from the back of a cellular phone, transmitting bio-sensorinformation when carried by the user."

And in an interview last March, the chief scientist, Zhou, told WorldNetDaily he believes the implant will be as popular as cell phones and vaccines.

Digital Angel "will be a connection from yourself to the electronic world.  It will be your guardian, protector.  It will bring good things to you," said Zhou.

"We will be a hybrid of electronic intelligence and our own soul,"he added.

Austin American-Statesman (10/06/00) P.  H1; Moore, CharlotteA heartbeat monitor is among the first technological investments that theTexas Department of Corrections has made under the newly formed TechnologyReview Team (TRT).  These investments are made, in part, to reducethe time it takes to perform menial tasks, such as the one for which theheartbeat monitor was created.  Trucks take decomposed food from correctionalfacilities to farmers to feed their pigs.  The heartbeat monitor readsthe contents of the truckbed to prevent a prisoner from hiding in the slopwhen the truck leaves.  Without the monitor, a guard would prod astick or rod through the slop.  Meanwhile, Los Angeles County's TwinTowers Correctional Facility puts the latest technology to practical use. The $400 million project boasts of glass doors in the maximum securityfacility; automatic locks equipped with manual override; state-of-the-artcamera equipment placed throughout the building; intercom systems thatallow officers to communicate easily; climate controlled inmate cells;and fingerprint scanning.  Numerous United States prisons are pilotinga PepperBall Launcher, thermal images to detect heat sources, ionspectometrydevices to detect narcotics and the B.O.S.S.  (Body Orifice SecurityScanner) to find metal objects hidden in body cavities.

USA Today (10/05/00) P.  9D; Vergano, Dan A foreign affiliateof DNA Technologies has created a method to beat counterfeiters by usingDNA strips to put code marking on clothes and other items signed by Olympicathletes.  DNA from several unnamed Australian athletes was mixedwith ink to mark officially licensed goods, and the technology may nowbe used to mark artwork or "one-of-a-kind" sports souvenirs.
However, it remains to be seen whether the DNA will survive a long-term wear and tear, such as repeated washings.  It is suggested that those people who purchased such souvenirs at the Olympics keep them out of thesun and do not put bleach on them. (I'm sure thiswill lead to everything being marked with DNA!!)

Newsbytes (10/09/00); Krebs, Brian Sen.  John Edwards (D-N.C.) has introduced legislation that would help protect the privacy of Web users' surfing habits.
The Spyware Control and Privacy Protection Act mandates that companies provide a clearly worded and highly visible privacy warning on productsthat contain data-collecting spyware code.
This warning would inform customers as to how their data would becollected and how it would be shared.  Just as important, Edwards'legislation would allow consumers to disable the spyware.  The billfurther empowers consumers with the FTC's Fair Information Practices' Accessand Security sections, which give consumers the right to access collecteddata and change errors found therein.  Consumers could sue for damagesof $50,000 each time a software maker violates its own policy. Edwardssays he has a long-time interest in privacy, but remains shocked at howoften new forms of privacy invasions crop up.  "Spyware is among themore startling examples of how this erosion is occurring," Edwards said.

St.  Louis Post-Dispatch (10/09/00) P.  1; Moore, DougJerry Dinges, an alderman in Belleville, Ill., suggests that the city emulateO'Fallon by purchasing a traffic device that tells drivers what speed theyare moving compared to the speed limit.  When the radar trailer wastested in Belleville, Dinges notes that many motorists slowed down afterviewing their speed.  Southwestern Illinois Law Enforcement Commissiondirector Roger Richards says that the device's ability to lower speedshelps address one of the top concerns of residents.  The number ofspeeding tickets issued can be decreased when people are gently warnedto drive slower, states Gerrit Gillespie, police chief of Collinsville.O'Fallon police use the radar trailer and other equipment to help determinewhere extra police are needed or where the speed limit should be amended. Dinges is hoping that Belleville will purchase a high-end radar trailerthat has the ability to photograph passing license plates.

Los Angeles Times (10/08/00) P.  B1; Risling, Greg The Los Angeles Police Department will install four cameras at dangerous intersectionsin Los Angeles in an attempt to reduce red-light running and the accidentsit causes.  The camera will take a photograph of any vehicle and itsdriver when it enters an intersection after the light turns red. The city will receive one-third of the resulting fines, but will pay nothingfor the cameras, their installation, maintenance or monitoring, which willbe the responsibility of the manufacturer, Lockheed Martin IMS, who willget the remaining portion of the fine.  The cameras shoot two picturesin which the front-license plate and the driver must be visible for a citationto be issued; the system has a 60-70 percent success rate.  The cameraswill be challenged by civil liberty lawyers as an invasion of privacy andother cities, notably San Diego, have witnessed local news media criticismof the cameras.

Local law enforcement sees the cameras as useful, however. "I don't see this program as one of enforcement, but rather one of education," said Lt.  Al Munoz-Flores of the Beverly Hills Police Department.  "When people see these cameras, they generally aren't going to push theenvelope."

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The JUSTNETNews Mailing List is maintained by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center.  Regular postings include the weekly Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology News Summary and announcements from NLECTC and the National Institute of Justice Office of Science andTechnology (NIJ/OS&T).

In May, WorldNetDaily reported on a bill, the Methamphetamine Anti-Proliferation Act, which contained a section that would have authorized federal agentsto enter a citizen's home or office with a warrant, to search and copyfiles from his computer and not tell him what items were taken until monthsafterwards.  The bill also exempted law enforcement officials fromever telling suspects that certain "intangible" items were seized or copied.

After a bipartisan coalition of Republican and Democratic membersof the House Judiciary Committee, including Rep.  Sheila Jackson Lee.D-Texas, and Rep.  Bob Barr, R-Ga., expressed serious reservationsabout the so-called "sneak-and-peak" searches, the measure was pulled fromthe bill.

The latest assault of the Fourth Amendment is contained in section3(g) of the Fugitive Apprehension Act, S.  2516, which would authorizethe attorney general to issue "administrative subpoenas" for personal informationand records without court authorization.  A delayed reporting requirementalso found in the bill allows Department of Justice attorneys to ask thecourt to conceal the subpoena from the target of the investigation.

The bill has already passed the Senate, and opponents of the measure are concerned that it might be brought to a vote in the House as earlyas this week.

David Kopel, an attorney and constitutional expert for the Denver-based Independence Institute told WorldNetDaily the U.S.  Marshall Service is pushing the administrative subpoena provision to broaden their searchpowers in fugitive cases, but that the provision is unneeded.

"There is absolutely no reason for this provision, because any agency pursuing a fugitive can go to court and get the search warrants they need almost immediately," Kopel said.  "What this provision does is cutthe court out of the process, which is a very dangerous precedent. The Fourth Amendment envisions courts issuing warrants, not unaccountablebureaucrats."

Rachel King, legislative counsel for the ACLU's Washington, D.C.,office, says the current battle illustrates the problems of protectingpersonal privacy in the digital age at a time when government officialsare playing with the boundaries of the search and seizure requirementsof the Constitution.

"A lot of this debate is what kind of privacy you have with personal documents and information that used to be kept by individuals in theirhomes, but now is kept by third parties," King said.  "Now that mostprivate records are not kept solely at home, the government is arguingthat the Fourth Amendment doesn't apply any longer.  Not recognizingthe constitutional protection that the Fourth Amendment gives to itemslike this would give the government huge power and access to most of ourpersonal information."

King also said that while House leaders may not allow the bill tobe brought up to a vote, it could reappear in the closing days of thissession in one of the mammoth appropriations bills that will need to bepassed before Congress adjourns before the November elections.

"The problem with something like this is that the threat is not somuch that it might pass the House, which we are trying to stop, but thatit will end up getting stuffed in one of the spending bills in the nextfew weeks, and then we will never be able to get it taken out," King said.

If supporters of the administrative subpoena authorization are able to get the provision inserted into appropriation legislation, the entirespending bill would need to be voted down in order to defeat the measure.

Events at the end of congressional sessions in recent years indicate that such a scenario might be likely:

In 1998, Rep.  Bill McCollum, R-Fl., successfully inserted aroving wiretap provision into the "Intelligence Authorization Act," a spendingbill that funded various intelligence agencies, after that bill had alreadybeen voted on by both the House and Senate.

In 1996, Rep.  Lamar Smith, R-Texas, included a bill establishing national ID card regulations in the 1,600-page Omnibus Appropriations Act.  After a massive response by the public to the regulations issued by theDepartment of Transportation, Congress revisited the issue and de-fundedthe program.

In 1994, Congress enacted the Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act in the closing hours of the congressional session, which required telephone firms to make it easy to wiretap the nation's communication system, evenafter Justice Department lobbyists had told civil liberties groups thatthey would not push the measure. (This was (is) anasty bill.)
   ==============================================================

        Published by the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) Washington, D.C.

           http://www.epic.org/alert/EPIC_Alert_7.17.html
 

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Table of Contents
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[1] EPIC and PI Release Third Annual Privacy and Human Rights Survey [2] It's Baaack ...  Mandatory Filtering Returns to Congress [3] Banned Books Week Celebrates Freedom of Expression [4] Privacy Foundation Investigates :CueCat Scanning Device [5] Int'l Data Protection Conference Brings Together NGOs [6] Upcoming Forum Presents ICANN Candidates [7] EPIC Bookstore -Privacy & Human Rights 2000 [8] Upcoming Conferences and Events

On September 19, EPIC and Privacy International (PI) released their third annual Privacy and Human Rights survey.  "Privacy and HumanRights 2000: An International Survey of Privacy Laws and Developments",reviews the state of privacy in over fifty countries around the world.

The report finds worldwide recognition of privacy as a fundamentalhuman right.  Many countries around the world are enacting comprehensivedata protection laws to safeguard individual privacy.
Many of these countries, especially in South America, South Africaand Central Europe, are introducing such laws to remedy privacy violationsthat occurred under previous authoritarian regimes.  Others, suchas in Asia, are developing information privacy laws in an effort to promoteelectronic commerce.  Others still, such as countries in Central andEastern Europe, are hoping to become members of the European Union andare adopting laws based on the 1995 European Union Data Protection Directive.

At the same time, both law enforcement agencies and private corporations are extending surveillance powers through the use of new technologies.  The report notes that many of the recent threats to individual privacyresult from new Internet-based commercial services, such as interactivetelevision -- or "SpyTV" -- that record the preferencees of individuals. The report recommends improved oversight and stricter enforcement of currentlaws to prevent such practices.

The report also argues that the United States government is leading a multi-tiered effort to limit individual privacy and enhance law enforcement surveillance powers.  For example, on the domestic front, it is promoting domestic laws such as the Communications Assistance for Law EnforcementAct (CALEA) that make it mandatory for all companies developing telephoneswitching, cellular, and satellite communications technologies to buildin surveillance capabilities.
The government has also sought to limit the development and dissemination of encryption products that protect individuals' private communications.  At the international level, the report finds that the U.S.  has been vigorously promoting greater use of electronic surveillance and pressurizing countries, such as Japan, into adopting wiretapping laws.  It hasalso been working through international bodies such as the European Union,the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), theCouncil of Europe and the G-8 to promote surveillance and place restrictionson online privacy, anonymity, and encryption.

"Privacy and Human Rights 2000: An International Survey of PrivacyLaws and Developments" by David Banisar is available at:

http://www.epic.org/phr/

In what is becoming a perennial end-of-session strategy, proponents of mandatory Internet filtering are again trying to push legislation through Congress.  Sen.  John McCain (R-AZ) and Rep.  Ernest Istook (R-OK) have attached a federal filtering mandate to the appropriationsbill for the Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services (HHS).The "Children's Internet Protection Act" would require all public schoolsand libraries that receive federal funding for Internet access to installInternet blocking software on their computer terminals.

Proponents of controversial measures often attempt to attach themto major appropriations bills when it appears unlikely that the legislationwould survive if considered independently.  Supporters of Internetcensorship and filtering have often resorted to such tactics; the ChildOnline Protection Act (since ruled unconstitutional) was attached to anomnibus spending bill last fall, and there have been several unsuccessfulattempts to enact filtering requirements in similar fashion.  Withthe election campaign now in full swing, members of Congress are likelyto feel political pressure to support efforts to "protect" children, nomatter how misguided or ineffective they might be.

The McCain-Istook mandate would deny local schools and librariesthe ability to establish Internet policies and practices that conform withthe values and desires of their communities.  For instance, the citizens of Holland, Michigan rejected a mandatory library filtering initiativeearlier this year (see EPIC Alert 7.04), despite a strong campaign financedby a national pro-filtering group.  That community decision, however,would be overturned by the "one-size-fits-all" filtering requirements nowpending before Congress.  In an effort to preserve local choice, mostof the major education and library organizations are opposed to the McCain-Istookamendment.

More information on Internet filtering, including ways to weigh inon the pending legislative mandate, is available at the Internet Free Expression Alliance website:

http://www.ifea.net

A group of publishers, booksellers, and libraries have launched the Nineteenth Annual Banned Books Week, to run from September 23rd throughthe 30th.  The week-long event highlights the importance of FirstAmendment freedoms and the need to protect controversial expression againstattempts at censorship.

For the period 1990-1999, 5,718 attempts to remove or restrict materials have been reported to the American Library Association's Office of Intellectual Freedom.  The top ten list of most challenged books for the decadeincludes works such as "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou,"The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" by Mark Twain, and "The Catcher inthe Rye" by J.D.  Salinger.  In 1999 alone, there were 472 challengesto various publications.  The popular Harry Potter books topped thelist of the past year's most challenged books due to the series' referencesto wizardry and magic.

As an illustration of the need for protecting free expression, one-third of the Modern Library's list of the 100 best novels of the 20th centuryhave been previously banned or challenged in bookstores, libraries, orschools.  The banned books include notable works such as "The Grapesof Wrath", "The Great Gatsby", and "Brave New World".
In the words of past ALA President Ann K.  Symons, "Ideas canonly flourish-and democracy survive-if the right of everyone to choosefor themselves what they wish to read, hear and view is guaranteed".

More information about Banned Books Week is available at:

http://www.ala.org/bbooks/index.html Exercise your right to free expression at the EPIC Bookstore:

http://www.epic.org/bookstore/bannedbooks/

The Privacy Foundation, a privacy research center based in Denver,has completed an analysis of a new product produced by Digital:Convergencecalled :CueCat.  The device raises privacy concerns due the incorporationof unique identifiers that potentially facilitate user tracking.

The device, distributed for free with upcoming issues of Forbes and Wired magazines, attaches to a personal computer and scans bar codes appearing in print advertisements and articles that will bring consumers to web pages featuring the selected products.  The :CueCat can also be attachedto televisions and will present similar features in response to audio signals included in broadcasts.  The information gathered through the device will be provided to its marketing partners as "demographic and psychographic data".  Digital:Convergence plans to make the devices widely available, distributing up to 10 million by the end of this year and 50 million bythe end of 2001.

The privacy concerns of the product arise due to its use of uniqueidentifiers.  Unique identifiers have been at the center of recentprivacy controversies such as the Intel Processor Serial Number (PSN) andonline profiling conducted by Internet advertiser DoubleClick. Much asin the situation surrounding those companies' products, when a consumeruses :CueCat, the device will send an unique identifier with the transmitteddata.  Digital:Convergence also collects personal data such as names,email addresses, and zip codes via registration but claims to have no plansto link this information with profile data about what individuals are scanning.

The Privacy Foundation recommends that the company distribute a software patch that can disable unique identifiers and explicitly disclose its information collection practices.

The :CueCat Bar Code Reader Privacy Advisory is available from thePrivacy Foundation:

http://www.privacyfoundation.org/advisories/advCueCat1.html

On September 27, EPIC and Privacy International will host a conference, "The Public Voice in Privacy Policy," in Venice, Italy.
The meeting will be held in conjunction with the annual meetingof the International Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners to beginon September 28.  Both events will be webcast live.

The conference will bring together leading academic experts, NGOleaders, and privacy officials from around the world to explore currentissues in privacy protection.  Panel discussions will focus on theglobalization of surveillance; copyright protection and privacy; the EU-USnegotiations on transborder data flows (Safe Harbor); and the need foran international convention on data protection.

The first of these conferences was organized by Privacy International and held in Sydney in 1992.  Subsequent meetings have taken placein Manchester (1993), The Hague (1994), Copenhagen (1995), Ottawa (1996),Brussels (1997), and Hong Kong (1999).

For program and registration details see:

http://www.epic.org/events/publicvoice_venice/ For the webcasts and the International Data Protection Commissioner's conference agenda, visit the Italian Data Protection Commission's homepage at:

http://www.dataprotection.org/

Herald-Sun (Durham, N.C.) (09/07/00) P.  C5; Michael, KammieDurham County, N.C., sheriffs now have laptop computers that allow themto write instant reports, communicate car to car, and learn about drivers,stolen cars, and warrants without using their radios.  Portable modemsenable Durham deputies to write reports outside of their car and send themto headquarters.  When deputies are sent to a call, a computer dispatchsystem will tell them if there have been prior calls at the address andif there are any hazards such as weapons.
Also, deputies will be able to view maps that show the locationsof their patrol cars, and the routes to calls.  The computer systemcost nearly $1 million and includes equipment for over 100 vehicles. The system was developed by HTE Corp.

Washington Times (09/08/00) P.  C1; Drake, John Washington,D.C., police will soon have access to a 24-hour "tactical operations commandcenter" that can collect crime data in real-time, scour it for patternsand statistics, and then shoot it back to officers on the beat almost immediately.The center will be especially helpful now that the city's police departmenthas put 250 extra officers on the streets.

Previously, crime data and trends were relayed during briefings atroll calls, a method which was not particularly thorough.  The newcenter will disseminate crime reports to officers within an hour aftera crime is committed, and will also be used to direct officers to seriousincidents as they are occurring, by detailing locations of emergency callsvia electronic maps, highlighting the crime history of a particular location,and listing possible suspects in the case.  For example, the centercan alert an officer about to enter a residence as to whether anyone inthe house has been arrested before or has a warrant out for their arrest,and whether there is a likelihood of firearms being on the premises. The center may be partially operational by next week, but will not be fullyoperational for several months.
 
 

Copley News Service (09/11/00); Fenly, Leigh A machine called theCTX-5500, made by InVision Technologies, uses CT-scanning to detect anythingthat looks like a bomb among passengers and luggage at airports. CT-scanning is a medical technology that can see through the contents ofluggage, and is becoming more widely used at airports and border crossings. New ideas to detect explosives are aimed to stop drug trafficking, weaponssmuggling and illegal immigration.  The BodySearch technology allowscustoms officials to produce a detailed image of a body that could havea gun strapped to a person's back or cocaine propped on someone's shoulder. The BodySearch has been criticized for taking away personal privacy, sinceit gives a picture of someone naked.  Customs officials believe itis more useful because it takes away the need for patting down travelersand is more thorough.  Similar backscatter technology is used at theU.S.-Mexican border in California, detecting drugs, illegal immigrants,and poisonous puffer fish among smugglers.
There are nine CargoSearch systems along the border, which helpcustoms spot-check 55 percent of containers.  Another technology calledthe Body Cavity Screening System (BCSS) uses magnetic resonance technology(MRI) to screen body cavities for swallowed drugs.  Currently, BCSSrequires the person lie down, but a chair form is being created. Facial recognition technology has been in use for awhile, employing fingerprints,eyes, or faces to prevent access to restricted areas.  North Carolina'sCharlotte/Douglas airport uses iris scanning technology for its secureareas.  Quantum Magnetic makes Gun Tracker, a 3-D facial recognitionsystem that measures changes in the Earth's magnetic field and can detectguns via a sensor on a camera.  The tracker would be useful in banks,embassies, and at border crossings.  Arsev Eraslan, chief scientistof the Law Enforcement Face Identification System at the Office of LawEnforcement Technology Commercialization, stated that creating 3-D imagesfrom 2-D police mugs will help process images quicker and detect criminalsthrough video surveillance.
 
 

The RCMP detachment in the greater Vancouver area have successfully used ID-2000 biometric facial recognition software to identify and convict criminals.  The software, designed by Imagis Technologies, can beused to identify criminals from pictures a database of more than 8,000offenders.  The system has been used to identify criminals operatingunder different aliases, criminals from drawings, and criminals from tattoos.
 
 

Rifle-Launched Entry Munition (RLEM), which was designed by RAFAELof Israel, will be marketed and sold to the U.S. military and law enforcement markets by Primex Technologies, according to a recent agreement betweenthe two companies. RLEM is designed to cause little damage to surroundingproperty while taking down a reinforced door.  Most rifles are capableof firing RLEM through the use of the bullet-trap concept.  If thetechnology is used at a safe stand-off distance, it is effective againstdoors without causing harm to the user.
 
 

Jim Pasco, executive director of the National Fraternal Order ofPolice, says that his organization will talk to federal officials becauseit feels that the requirement of applying online for Local Law Enforcementblock grants hinders rural police department ability to know about thegrants and apply for them.  Many South Carolina law enforcement agencieshave been informed by Sen.  Strom Thurmond about their eligibilityto apply online for the grants.  National Rural Law Enforcement directorLee Colwell notes that his organization can help provide Internet servicesfor police departments without such capabilities.  Jimmy Nobles, computerservices coordinator for the center, also recommends that local librariesor other government agencies be used as sources for Internet access.
 

"Pinellas County, Florida, Arms Law Enforcement With Autodesk MapGuide for Crime Tracking and Analysis"
PR Newswire (09/11/00)

Law enforcement in Pinellas County, Fla., is saving money, bettering communication, and improving access to comprehensive crime informationby using Autodesk MapGuide Internet mapping and information software todrive its "Enforcer" intranet-based application.  Integrating lawenforcement information across jurisdictions, allowing for any officerto easily access the system, the ability to perform crime mapping, andcreating an infrastructure for delivery of the application are among thereasons that the county implemented the Enforcer project.  The countyhas been able to use the technology to track the location of sexual predators,base police beats on the prevalence of crime in certain regions, and toengage in anti-crime measures in the most crime-infested areas.  Thetechnology is currently being used to ensure that sexual predators stayat least 1,000 feet from day-care centers, schools, and other places wherechildren get together; the county hopes to eventually utilize the technologyto mail warnings to residents concerning sexual predators living nearby.
 
 

NASA technology known as Video Image Stabilization and Registration (VISAR) is now being used by law enforcement to help improve TV imagesof crime scene videos.  NASA initially began working with the FBIin 1996 when scientists from the space agency used VISAR technology tohelp agents analyze video of the Olympic bombing in Atlanta.  Thesystem nullifies the effects of jitter, rotation, and zoom from frame toframe in videos, and then combines the registered video images for a clearpicture.  Intergraph Government Solutions recently signed a licensingagreement with NASA to use VISAR in its video tracking and enhancementVideo Analyst System, which is employed by law enforcement agencies, themilitary, and even home computer users.
 
 

As part of a five-year plan to install NiceVision's advanced digital video and audio surveillance system in all of Maricopa County jail facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, a surveillance and audio solution was recently installed in the Madison Street Jail, a maximum-security correctional facility, announces ASIS International 2000.  The surveillance and audio solution, which is valued at more than $400,000 and is located in the facility's housingand booking areas, will provide the facility with continuous video surveillance at 15 fps per camera.  Such fast monitoring will allow the prisonto determine what each prisoner is doing at any given time.

NiceVision also allows the Madison Street Jail to record and storequality tapes of events, which will enable the prison to protect itselffrom false suits filed by released inmates.  A control room recordsvideo from the facility onto multiple recorders that are connected to thecounty network; the information is then organized and can be easily viewedby authorized users on designated workstations at any location.
 
 

Bismarck Tribune (09/08/00) P.  1A Bismarck, N.D., Police Chief Deborah Ness announced last Thursday that her interests in converting the city's Public Works' building into a police department should not be misinterpreted as being in opposition to the construction of a regional communicationcenter at the same facility.  However, Ness said that if a architectis hired for the conversion, he will not be given any specific instructionsto plan for the construction of the communication center.  Instead,he will only be told to be aware that a communication center for the Bismarck-Burleigh County area may be established at the facility.  The task force handling the planned move is now assessing which type of communication technologywill best meet the needs of the department.  Ness stresses that thepolice department requires a new home, independent of the constructionof a communications center at the proposed site.

Corporate Security (09/12/00); Brooks, Susan Sonnesyn The Department of Energy, the Department of the Treasury's Federal Transit Administration, the Justice Department's National Institute of Justice, and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority have jointly created the PROTECT task force to study the efficacy of using micro-sensors in public areas to detect and identify chemical and biological warfare agents.  The initialtest site is a Washington, D.C., subway station because of its potentialas a political target; the Metro system's position as a leader in chemicaland biological warfare protection efforts; and the fact that releasingtoxic chemicals in a subway system is a quick means of inflicting widespreaddamage on a city.  While Department of Energy scientists have beenworking with detection technology for evaluation purpose for a number ofyears, the application has only recently become possible.  A majormotivation for PROTECT's efforts is the death of 13 people and the injuryof  5,000 more in a sarin gas attack on a Tokyo subway in 1995.

The problem was made worse in that the initial responders to theincident had trouble identifying the agent, and were unfamiliar with howto protect themselves, dealing with mass fatalities, and with knowing howto stem the spread of the chemical.  Though a subway system's heatand dust may be an obstacle to the sensors' ability, PROTECT attempts touse a system's unique capabilities to its advantage in combating a terroristattack.  A potential snag to the widespread use of the sensors insubway station is the expense, with each sensor costing approximately $15,000. The sensors may decrease in cost as further technological advances aremade and user demand increases.
 
 

Corrections Technology & Management Online (08/29/00); Topham,Jim The OC powder firing capabilities of Jaycor Tactical Systems' PepperBallSystem gives law enforcement officials a less-lethal means to subdue prisoners.  The major advantages of the system are that big groups of inmates can becontrolled with less officers and the system can be utilized to eliminateaccess to certain areas.  Other benefits of the PepperBall Systemare its simple and quiet operation, safety at point-blank range, less crossfireconsequences, accuracy, lack of recoil, and high capabilities.  Thefact that the weapon may not be effective on heavily clothed targets andthat its high firing ability can lead to police misuse are the major disadvantagesof the PepperBall System.  The problem of penetrating clothing maybe solved by aiming at the shins, knees, and large leg muscles or by saturatingthe surrounding area with OC powder.  Officers should not aim theweapon at the throat, face, or eyes.

Law Enforcement Technology (08/00) Vol.  127, No.  8, P.  18 California's Sacramento Police Department will begin handing out Taser International's Advanced Taser M26 to its police officers this year, making it one of the biggest agencies in the nation to have the lasers in general use.  American and Canadian police are joining a growing movementtoward technology upgrades in weapons that are less lethal.  Tasersenable police to lower officer and suspect injury during "suicide by cop"situations and other scenarios mandating the use of force.  The AdvancedTaser M26 is a chassis-shaped like a handgun equipped with a built-in lasersight that fires two wires tipped with darts that grab on to clothing orskin, sending a strong but safe electrical signal throughout the body ofan attacker.

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August 28, 2000 Fox News reported: "Big Brother never forgets a face.  Or, at least, he won't if the State Department implements cutting-edgefacial-recognition technology to track anyone entering or leaving the country. A traveler's mug would appear not only on a passport or visa, but wouldalso be digitized and entered into a massive database of smiles and grimaces. This would ‘enhance the security of [the nation's] borders [due to] increasing threats to U.S. citizens and property,’ according to an official State Department request for information recently issued to surveillance firmsand obtained by FOXNews.com.  The online collection of eyes, earsand noses would be used by Immigration and Naturalization Service agentsto weed out fraudulent or duplicate applications, and to positively identifytravelers — and ‘minimize known security threats from excludable, criminal, or high-risk persons,’ the document says.  The software would attemptto match the live face of a border-crosser or visa applicant with the facialimage under the same name in the database, and then do a cross-search tosee if either face is also listed under another name.  Widespreaduse of the technology to track travelers is still under review, and implementation is at least a year away..."

 Antony Barnett, publicaffairs editor Sunday July 30, 2000 Police are to be given new powers totrack people using satellite technology that can pick up signals emittedfrom mobile phones.

In a move denounced as sinister by civil liberties campaigners, software being fitted into the new generation of mobiles will enable police to pinpoint the exact whereabouts of a person whenever the phone is switched on.

But privacy campaigners fearthe police could use the new phones as homing devices that will allow themto carry out mass surveillance without those targeted knowing about itOne campaigner likened it to putting an `electronic tag' on large swathesof the population.

The Government and the police say the powers are needed to fight certain crimes, including drug trafficking.  They believe the technology will guide paramedics and firefighters to the locations of emergencies.

These unprecedented powers are part of the Regulatory of Investigatory Powers Bill which received RoyalAssent on Friday. They will allow the security services to intercept privateemails.

Privacy campaigners and Opposition peers urged the Government to ensure that the read-outs of physical location produced by the new mobile phones should be made available only after awarrant is obtained from a judge.  But the appeals were rebuffed. The police will be able to track somebody's movements on the authorityof a police superintendent.

Caspar Bowden, who runs the Foundation for Information Policy Reseach, the internet policy think-tank which brought these concerns to light, last night expressed alarm over the move.

`Anyone using the new phoneswill be able to be tracked with pinpoint accuracy at the click of a mouse,for very broad purposes,' he said.  `It's like putting an electronictag on most of the population.' John Wadham, of the civil liberties groupLiberty, said: `This technology is of great concern, and the legislationis simply not keeping up with it.  It is frightening what the policewill be able to do without having to go before a judge.  Under theAct, the only authority overseeing these capabilities will come from anInterception Commissioner, who does not have to be notified pro-activelyof their use, or whether tracking data is passed between government departmentsonce acquired.

Currently, police can obtaininformation about where a call was made from a specific mobile, if theycan satisfy telephone operators there is sufficient evidence for theirsuspicions.  Under the RIP Act, the authorities will be able to bypassthe phone companies.

The mobile phone companies believe these new location facilities in their products will be hugely popularbecause they will allow users to find the nearest bank or Indian takeaway,and then get precise directions to the restaurant.  The companiesalso believe it will give callers greater security knowing that the emergencyservices can track them down in a crisis.

A spokeswoman for Vodafone said: `It is true that under this new Act the police will not have to get ourapproval to access this information any more.  But we believe thenew software in the phones will bring many benefits to our customers andwill be warmly welcomed.' The National Criminal Intelligence Service deniedthat the new technology would mean the age of mass surveillance in thiscountry .  A spokeswoman said: `We will not speculate about how policewill use technology that does not yet exist.  But we will still begoverned by Data Protection Act and believe the RIP bill has strengthenedthe rights of individuals, not weakened it.

antony.barnett@observer.co.uk

EU REGISTRATION NUMBER TO BE NECESSARY ON ALL FOOD IN THE EUROPEAN UNION
July 22, 2000

     TheLondon Telegraph reported: All food sellers, ranging from supermarketsto hot- dog stand operators, will have to carry an official registrationnumber under new European Union food safety regulations. A compulsory registration scheme affecting more than half a million small businesses, due to be implemented within four years, means that no traders will be licensed to sell food unless they meet strict hygiene requirements. They will also have to keep detailed records of all the ingredients they use in their foods, including their place of origin. A new breed of food police, overseen by veterinary and environmental health officers, will be employed to ensure that the rules are obeyed. The measures, which go beyond anything imposed on British food businesses before and could cost the food industry millions, cover virtually everyone selling food, including restaurants, ice-cream booths,farm shops and tearooms. David Byrne, the EU's health and consumer protection commissioner, said in London yesterday that the measures were designed to harmonize and simplify a mass of existing legislation in the EU. Eventhe smallest food businesses would have to follow hazard analysis procedures now employed by major food processing companies. Caterers and other foodsellers would have to ensure full trace ability of all food and ingredients. To that end, the registration of  food companies will be made compulsory...

July 14, 2000 ZDNET reported: “Governments world wideare attempting to increase surveillance powers in an effort to crack downon Internet-related crimes.  However, the latest tool in the war againstonline crimes and illicit attacks on networks has international privacy advocates up in arms.  The so-called black box in reality, acomputer in its own secured case -- may soon be required by the Britishgovernment to be connected to the networks of Internet service providers. Running modified intrusion detection programs, the boxes will be capableof "sniffing" traffic between the ISP and citizen's computers, gleaninginformation upon demand.  Russia has already embarked on a similarproject.

In the United States, meanwhile, some ISPs are vowing to resist the FBI's new Carnivore surveillance system, which has the potential to keep tabs on all of the communications on an ISP's network.  Intelligence agencies stress that the black boxes will help them fight computer hackers.  Opponents counter that, not only will the boxes be ineffective in practice, the snooping tools could easily be abused.  The capability is thereto spy on everyone, said Yaman Akdeniz, director of CyberRights &CyberLiberties, a prominent British campaigner, who is concerned that anincrease in surveillance powers could be open to covert abuse, a topicof much concern following recent revelations regarding Echelon. Whether they do or not is the question.  I think nobody trusts the securityservices now.

WASHINGTON (AP) - Civil liberties and privacy groupsrailed Tuesday against a new system designed to allow law enforcement agentsto intercept and analyze huge amounts of e-mail in connection with an investigation.

The system, called ``Carnivore,'' was first hintedat on April 6 in testimony to a House subcommittee.  Now the FBI hasit in use.

When Carnivore is placed at an Internet Service Provider, it scans all incoming and outgoing e-mails for messages associated withthe target of a criminal probe.

In a letter addressed to two members of the House subcommittee that deals with Fourth Amendment search-and-seizure issues, the AmericanCivil Liberties Union argued that the system breaches the Internet provider'srights and the rights of all its customers by reading both sender and recipientaddresses, as well as subject lines of e-mails, to decide whether to makea copy of the entire message.

Further, while the system is plugged into the Internet provider's systems, it is controlled solely by the law enforcement agency.  In a traditional wiretap, the tap is physically placed and maintained bythe telephone company.

``Carnivore is roughly equivalent to a wiretap capable of accessing the contents of the conversations of all of the phone company's customers, with the 'assurance' that the FBI will record only conversations of the specified target,'' read the letter.

``This 'trust us, we are the government' approach is the antithesis of the procedures required under our wiretapping laws.''Barry Steinhardt, associate director of the ACLU, said citizens shouldn'ttrust that such a sweeping data-tap will only be used against criminalsuspects.  And even then, he said, the data mined by Carnivore, particularlysubject lines, is already intrusive.

``Law enforcement should be prohibited from installing any device that allows them to intercept communications from persons other than the target,'' Steinhardt said in an interview.  ``When conducting these kinds of investigations, the information should be restricted toonly addressing information.'' A spokeswoman for Rep.  Charles T. Canady, R-Fla., who heads the Constitution subcommittee, said that thecongressman had no immediate comment on the letter.

In testimony to Canady's subcommittee, Robert Corn-Revere, a lawyer at the Hogan & Hartson law firm in Washington, said that herepresented an Internet provider that refused to install the Carnivoresystem.  The provider was placed in an ``awkward position,'' Corn-Reveresaid, because the company feared suits from customers unhappy with thegovernment looking in to all the e-mail.

``It was acknowledged (by the government) that Carnivore would enable remote access to the ISP's network and would be under theexclusive control of government agents,'' Corn-Revere said.

Corn-Revere told the committee that current law isinsufficient to deal with Carnivore's potential and that the Internet providerlost their court battle in part because of the Internet's connection totelephone lines, and that the law was stretched to cover the Internet aswell.

Corn-Revere would not reveal the name of his client, and the client lost the case. He said that the FBI has been using Carnivore since early this year.

James X.  Dempsey, senior staff counsel at the Center for Democracy and Technology, said that the main problem with Carnivore is it's mystery.

``The FBI is placing a black box inside the computer network of an ISP,'' Dempsey said.  ``Not even the ISP knows exactly what that gizmo is doing.'' But Dempsey said that Internet providers contributed to the problem, by saying that current technology does not allow the Internet provider to sort out exactly what the government is entitled to get under a search warrant.  The carriers complained that they had to give everything to the FBI.

``The service providers said they didn't know how to comply with court orders,'' Dempsey said.  ``By taking that position, they have hurt themselves, putting themselves into a box.'' Marcus Thomas, who heads the FBI's Cyber Technology Section, told the Wall Street Journal that the bureau has about 20 Carnivore systems, which are PCs with proprietary software.  He said Carnivore meets current wiretapping laws, but isdesigned to keep up with the Internet.

``This is just a specialized sniffer,'' Thomas told the Journal, which first reported details about Carnivore.

Encrypted e-mail, done with an e-mail encoding program like PGP, still stays in code on Carnivore, and it's up to agents to decode it.

Dempsey has a possible solution to the problem, though one that's probably unlikely - show everyone what it does and how it does it, allowing Internet providers to install the software themselves.

``The FBI should make this gizmo an open-source product,'' he said.  ``Then the secret is gone.''

--- On the Net: Federal Bureau of Investigation:
http://www.fbi.gov American Civil Liberties Union: http://www.aclu.org Center for Democracy and Technology: http://www.cdt.org Pretty Good Privacy (PGP): www.pgp.com Copyright © 2000 The Associated Press.  All rights reserved.  This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

     USA Today reported: “The Britishgovernment is seeking expansive powers to eavesdrop on Internet traffic through a controversial measure known as ‘Big Browser.’ The proposal would,among other things, allow the government to require people to surrender the text of electronic messages or the ‘key’ needed to decode them; thosewho refuse or are unable to comply face up to two years in jail. If successful,the initiative also might affect Net privacy debates in the USA and elsewherein Europe, analysts say. Next month, the Labor government of Prime MinisterTony Blair faces a showdown with opponents in the House of Lords. The dogfightillustrates the delicate balance between the freewheeling Internet andpolice and spy agencies in a country with no ‘bill of rights’ or writtenconstitution...”

      Reuters reported:“Tuesday took a major step to support biometrics, the security technologythat uses fingerprints and eyeballs as an alternative to passwords to verifya computer user's identity. The company acquired biometric authenticationtechnology from I/O Software Inc. and said it will begin incorporatingit into its Windows software as early as this summer. Biometrics have longbeen promoted as a more secure and convenient alternative to passwords,social security numbers or even mothers' maiden names, which can be hardto remember and may easily fall into the wrong hands. Industry expertssay Microsoft's move could be pivotal in helping to speed widespread adoption…Unlike passwords, it is virtually impossible for so-called biometric keysto get into the wrong hands, since the fingerprint is a literally partof the individual user's hand. But while many computer users would     happily swap a long list of passwords for a simple fingerprint reader,such biometric technology has until recently been prohibitively costly.Microsoft said its decision to embrace this security solution was madepartly in response to growing consumer demand. Along with being perceivedas simpler and more secure than passwords, many companies believe biometricswill save them money in the long run… Microsoft says it plans to offerbiometrics support to users of its Windows 2000 software by this summerand will fully incorporate the security into Windows in the future...”

· will set the trend for multi-function 'reprogram on thestreet' city cards

Southampton, UK - This coastal English City of 215,000 citizens will soon boast Information Age advantages likely to be the envy of all of Europe. Through the EU-supported SmartCities pilot project, scheduled to conclude in November 2002, Southampton residents will experience access to transportation, entertainment, education and services without the need to carry cash. The result will be increased efficiency for the City Council and ease-of-usefor the citizens and shopkeepers. The City of Southampton, which will putthe concept to the practical test, is one of nine European organisations taking part in the project coordinated by smart card integrator Schlumberger.

The new SmartCities card will allow Southampton citizens to use and pay for leisure, library and transport services in the City without using cash. It will also be used to access services and for payments at Southampton University. Use of the card could be extended to other services throughout the City in the future. Essential to the viability of the scheme is theability to add and remove applications from the smart card, using eithera public-access city terminal, dual-slot mobile phone or Internet-connectedPC.

"Southampton has established itself as a leader in innovative citymanagement with projects such as the city-wide Romanse road managementsystem for Europe - which has been crucial in improving trafffic flow throughthe City and is now being expanded to cover the surrounding counties -and our CityWeb Internet site," says Council Leader, City of Southampton,June Bridal. "SmartCities brings together the specialist skills we needto create a blueprint for an open, easily-replicated solution that otherEuropean cities can implement with minimum start-up costs."

"Everyone understands the benefits that smart cards can bring tocity management - the issue for local government is how to harness thosecapabilities effectively within a complete smart card-based infrastructure,"says Gerard Leger, President Geomarkets, Schlumberger Test & Transactions."The expertise and entrepreneurial skills of Schlumberger will prove invaluablein developing the smart card infrastructure technology that will dramaticallysimplify everyday life for the citizens - and governments -of cities throughoutEurope."

With their computer chips and memory, smart cards provide a uniquepersonal, portable and highly secure means of accessing facilities andpaying for goods and services. Today's smart cards can store many different,complementary programs covering many aspects of city life -travel, parking,access to sports and leisure facilities, access and
payments.

SmartCities aims to design a dynamic smart card and multi-application management architecture which will enable mid-sized cities to reap thefull benefits of smart cards, without being tied to one unique proprietarymodel.
The project - a public and private sector partnership with a trueEuropean dimension - combines the knowledge, technology and skills of thefollowing strategic partners:

· Schlumberger - smart card solutions to enhance city-lifeand people flow   management

· Southampton - requirements analysis, 'proof of concept'and project evaluation

· Europay International - e-commerce solutions and smart card payment   services, especially the international e-purse - Clip

· Motorola - leading international developer of mobile terminals

· University of Southampton - campus-level 'proof of concept' by staff and   students

· IT Innovation - high-performance web-based information analysis

· Technolution - automation technology underpinning smartcard

· CRID (Facultés Universitaires Notre Dame de la Paix) - clarify and consult   on IT laww, especially on privacy, authentication and liability issues

· The City of Göteborg - requirements analysis and project evaluation

The role of the partners is to define an architecture that will support multiple industry-standard interfaces and then demonstrate the technicaland commercial feasibility of a 'plug-and-play' management platform. Theproject members will also address the important security, legal, institutionaland commercial issues involved with the analysis and reporting of datacollected from the population.

The SmartCities project plan calls for the first working technology demonstrator to be evaluated within 12 months, and a second commercialfeasibility demonstrator 12 months later; this will be followed by a six-monthperiod of detailed evaluation and exploitation planning. Project memberswill use the results as a major contribution to national and internationalstandardisation bodies, and as the basis for a single integrated set ofapplication programming interfaces for smart cards, terminals and interfaces.

 NEW X-ray machines that reveal the naked truth are appearingat American airports.

 They can see through passengers' clothing and are being usedto search for drugs and weapons.

The devices may soon be ordered for British airports too, according to the US makers. HM Customs has been showing interest but is still considering the privacy issue.

 This question has already stirred controversy in the US. TheAmerican Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has protested that the X-rays amountto an electronic strip search.

Pictures show back and front views of a man as seen by the X-raymachine. Back view: He has a Glock
 handgun taped to the small of his back and a metal file istaped to the back of his left leg. He also has a dummy packet of "drugs"on his left shoulder, two more on either side of his waist and anotheron the outside of his left thigh. There is a faint outline on the backof his right calf which is a Plexiglass knife.

 Front view: (An American newspaper placed a grey dot over the genital area) The same packets of fake cocaine are visible. The item just below the navel is his belt buckle and his zipper fly is beneath that.The dot on his right thigh is a coin in his pocket. The handgun taped tohis right leg is a Smith and Wesson. You can even see the outline of hisshoe soles.

However, the makers, American Science and Engineering Inc. bridleat comparisons between the Body Search and the X-ray glasses worn by JamesBond in The World is Not Enough. In one scene, Bond strolls through a casinoeyeing the guns and in one case a garter belt. Robert Peters, vice-presidentof marketing for the manufacturer, said: "You simply cannot do what JamesBond and others do with X-ray glasses."

 He added that it does not define underwear, or skin colour,birthmarks or even tattoos. But it does show weapons and drugs taped tothe body. And genitals, of course.

 Gregory Nojeim, counsel for the ACLU, complained that the scanners not only show body parts clearly, they can also be enlarged.

 ACLU is asking Congress to ban the scanner as a violation ofthe US Constitution's protection against unreasonable search and seizure.

 However, Raymond Kelly, the US Customs Commissioner, said:"People object to being physically touched. That was why we brought inthe scanners."

http://cgi.zdnet.com/slink?/adeska/adt0306ba/4515:881580

Berst Alert
MONDAY, MARCH 06, 2000

Online fraud is the Net's dirty little secret. Sooner or later, we'll all be victims. That's why I want you to know about the scale of the fraud problem. About the biometric solutions. And about the implications for you and your business.

Once the gee-whiz stuff of James Bond flicks, biometrics is the use of physical attributes -- your fingerprints, your voice, your iris -- to verify identity. (Go to Page 2 for the basics on biometrics.) What I'll explain here is why cost-conscious e-businesses are eyeing such expensive solutions as biometric technologies. And what it ultimately means to you.

THE FRAUD PROBLEM As ecommerce grows, so grows the risk of onlinefraud.

Consider:

Travel site Expedia revealed last week it will take a $4 to $6 million charge to cover stolen credit cards used to book travel. The Russian hacker believed responsible for raiding CD Universe's creditcard database in January is linked to an underground theft ring that'sincreasingly savvy. Online auction complaints are skyrocketing, prompting a Federal Trade Commission probe. To succeed onthe break-neck Internet, companies hurry to get sites up and running --and often skimp on security. Click for more.

BIOMETRIC SOLUTIONS Biometric technology isn't an obvious solutionfor every e-business. It's expensive. For that reason, few use it today. But that's changing:

ING Canada next month rolls out a program to identify its online banking customers by their fingerprint on a computer mouse DrugEmporium.comis testing an app that allows physicians to order prescriptions over the
Internet with biometric ID. It may add biometric authentication for all shoppers later this year Charles Schwab is testing voice recognition to authentic users of its phone banking option. It has not ruled out biometric
technology for its trading site

It's easy to see why fraud has e-businesses looking at biometrics.But will customers willingly participate?

WHAT THIS MEANS FOR YOU Privacy ranks top-of-mind in every Internet poll. Samir Nanavati of International Biometric Group notes it is hardto convince consumers to supply something as personal as a fingerprint."If you have trust issues with a business, you can change your password or make up a name," he says. "You can't change your fingerprint." 

My bet: over time, consumers will accept biometrics, just as they accept entering credit card numbers online. And as fraud escalates -- ande-businesses raise prices to make up for their losses -- there will be an economic incentive to do so.

What's more, "Biometrics is in a way much better than passwords, which are easily forgotten of stolen," reminds security consultant BobGeiger of Info-Defense.com.

      USA Today reported: Next time youwander through your local supermarket, you won't be too paranoid in thinking that the shelves are watching you. Technology being developed by IBM will trace shoppers by their thermal signature, keeping note on where they wander and where they are prone to congregate. It sounds rather sinister, but it could also mean an end to queues at the checkout. The prototype system has been dubbed Footprints by its developers. It consists of a networkof sensor panels, all about the same size as a smoke detector. The units would be mounted on a store's ceiling. The body heat of passing shoppers is picked up by the detectors, which are so sensitive they can even differentiate between individuals in a group and follow their progress. Coupled witha video camera feed, a shopper's sex, age and approximate income groupcan also be registered. The collected information is beamed by radio waves to a central computer, painting a digital map of the trails that customers are taking. This provides store authorities with two important abilities: tailoring store layout to capitalize on consumer behavior and enabling the real-time management of staff and customer services. The placement of products within a store has become a major avenue of retail research. Shops that make the most efficient use of their floor plans can make millions more dollars than their competitors..."

RESEARCHERS ‘MATE’ HUMAN CELLS WITH TINY ‘BIONIC CHIP’
                                                                                February 25, 2000

      Fox News reported: “Don't look forthe Six Million Dollar Man just yet, but researchers say they have found a way to mate human cells with circuitry in a "bionic chip" that couldplay a key role in medicine and genetic engineering. The tiny device —smaller and thinner than a strand of hair — combines a healthy human cellwith an electronic circuitry chip. By controlling the chip with a computer,scientists say they can control the activity of the cell. The computersends electrical impulses to the cell-chip, triggering the cell's membranepores to open and       activating the cell.Scientists hope they can manufacture cell-chips in large numbers and insertthem into the body to replace or correct diseased tissues. The cell-chipalso gives them greater control over the difficult process of gene therapybecause they can more precisely open the cell's pores, said lead researcherBoris Rubinsky..."

      Wired News reported: “A government plan to monitor networks for intrusions goes too far and will lead to increased surveillance and privacy violations, a civil liberties group told a Senate panel on Tuesday. The Electronic Privacy Information Center said a memoit obtained last week shows that the Clinton administration's FIDNET      proposal for ‘information systems protection’ will result in unwarrantedspying on Americans. Documents the group received through a Freedom ofInformation Act request indicate the administration is considering broad access to credit card and phone records of private citizens and monitoring of government workers' computers, EPIC director Marc Rotenberg told theSenate judiciary subcommittee on technology and terrorism. ‘The FIDNETproposal, as currently conceived, must simply be withdrawn. It is impermissiblein the United States to give a federal agency such extensive surveillanceauthority,’ Rotenberg told the panel chaired by Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican.The privacy problems of FIDNET and similar government efforts are exaggerated,said Critical Infrastructure Assurance Office director John Tritak..."

                                                                                 January 29, 2000

      The London Independent reported: “Almost every modern form of communication, from satellites to the internet, isbeing intercepted by a multi-billion pound global surveillance operationdominated by the US and Britain, according to a report for the EuropeanParliament. The scale of communications monitoring in the cyber age islaid out in a document, due to be debated next month, which puts the price-tagof the global snooping operation at 15 to 20bn euros annually. The reportsparked claims yesterday that the UK is aiding American economic and commercialespionage at the expense of its European partners by assisting it in surveillancework through a long-standing arrangement. According to the document, writtenby the researcher Duncan Campbell, more than 120 satellite-based systemsare working simultaneously to collect intelligence...Thedocument also argues that a previously unknown international organizationcalled ‘Ilets’ has "put in place contentious plans to require manufacturersand operators of new communications systems to build in monitoring capacityfor use by national-security or law-enforcement organizations."In addition, it says that industrial or economic espionage is common becausethere is ‘wide-ranging evidence indicating that major governments are routinelyutilizing communications intelligence to provide commercial advantage tocompanies and trade.’ The paper is one of a series which has been commissionedby the European Parliament ahead of a set of public hearings in Brusselsnext month, against a backdrop of mounting concern over the erosion ofcivil liberties..."

Three teenagers are facing charges after the stolen car they weredriving was stopped by remote control on Islington Ave.

Provincial police were waiting as an alarm-monitoring company usedsatellite technology to stop the wheels of the 1999 Chrysler Intrepid andthe surprised occupants bailed out.

Police say Monday's incident is among the first cases in GreaterToronto where a stolen vehicle was stopped through the use of a computertracking device inside the car.

Vehicle-tracking devices are commonly installed in luxury cars aswell as rental vehicles, said Andrew Dolan, business manager of Bob BannermanDodge Jeep on Don Mills Rd.

"It's an alarm system and a tracking device at the same time," hesaid. "When the car is stolen, the company notifies the customer througha pager system. Then the company will track (the car) via satellite becausethere is
a chip in the car."

The remote control system can turn off the car's engines and lockthe doors, trapping the thief in the vehicle.

Police said the Intrepid, which had been stolen from a Thrifty Carand Truck Rental lot in Kitchener, was equipped with a Global PositioningSystem tracking device monitored by Navlynx Canada Inc.

The car was stolen around 2:15 p.m. and was seen travelling on Highway 401 toward Toronto, said Constable Lisa Anderson of the Port Credit detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police.

"As officers were getting into position to intercept the stolen vehicle, they received information updates (from the police dispatcher, in contact with the monitoring company) as to the exact speed of the vehicle, itsexact location, how much gas was left in the fuel tank, even informationas to which doors on the motor vehicle were locked or unlocked," Andersonsaid.

"Officers were also informed that there was no need to attempt tostop the vehicle because the monitoring company had the capabilities todisable the vehicle once it reached a safe location to do so."

Police say the vehicle left Highway 401 and travelled south on Islington Ave.

Navlynx disabled the vehicle as it came to a stop at the intersection of Islington Ave. and Norseman St., where officers moved in and nabbedthe three teenagers as they ran from the disabled vehicle.

The security system, which can be used in any vehicle, costs about$400 installed, and the customer pays a monthly fee of around $20, Dolansaid.

"This kind of device could be the answer to many of our ills," said Ontario Provincial Police Superintendent Jay Hope, regional commander for Greater Toronto. "This is the first time I know of a stolen car being stopped this
way on our highways.

"Company officials said they've used it before in finding rentalvehicles that have been stolen, but this is the first time it's ever beenused for stolen vehicle being stopped by police and the occupants arrested.

"This technology would greatly assist all police officers in protecting all persons against property damage, serious injuries and deaths in relation to police pursuits."

A 17-year-old youth was charged with theft over $5,000, possessionover $5,000, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, failure to complywith probation, breach of recognizance and driving a motor vehicle withouta
licence.

Also arrested and charged with possession over $5,000 was a 16 year-old and a 15-year-old.

The 15-year-old also is charged with possession of a controlled substance.

The names of the youths are protected by the Young Offenders Act.

General Motors has issued a purchase order to American MillenniumCorp (AMCI) for 50 Subscriber Communicators (SCs), antennas, and vehicleinterface boards to be used for tracking and communication with GM vehiclesvia the ORBCOMM low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite system.

According to AMCI VP of Engineering and Chief Technology OfficerBruce R. Bacon, "the General Motors Truck Group (GMTG) will utilize these50 systems for the first deployment in their fleet of test vehicles.

"With one of these systems installed in the vehicle, from the desktop and using only a web browser, GMTG's staff can see where the vehicle islocated on a map, view engine start and stop events, and communicate directlywith
the vehicle's onboard data network.

"The ability to have affordable worldwide wireless communicationwith the electronic modules in the vehicle is revolutionary. Near real-timeaccess to vehicle diagnostic and operating data opens up all kinds of pre-and
post-production opportunities," Bacon said.

Additionally, Bacon noted that GMTG encompasses GM's lines of sport utility vehicles (SUVs) such as the Jimmy, Blazer, Suburban, Yukon, andTahoe, small pickups, the Silverado and Sierra light trucks, the van andutility vehicle
lines, and medium-duty commercial trucks.

"It has been extremely gratifying to work with engineers from GM,ORBCOMM, and Dolphin Software in order to take this AMCI-ORBCOMM remotetracking and communication solution to the next level with the world'slargest automobile manufacturer.

"AMCI had originally provided two SCs to GM for testing proof ofconcept, which was in turn followed by the purchase of 12 units by GM forfurther testing and software development in a pilot program," Bacon stated.

"This volume purchase validates our opinion that low-cost satellite-based solutions are the future of tracking, monitoring, and communication withwidely mobile assets. Unlike terrestrial wireless data networks, whichrely
on a patchwork system of towers optimized primarily to cover population centers, the ORBCOMM satellites pass over the entire globe providing ubiquitous nationwide and worldwide geographic coverage," he continued.

Andrew F. Cauthen, CEO and President of AMCI, commented, "We arevery enthusiastic about the sale of these SCs and other hardware to GMand the following revenue from the monthly sale of airtime that goes witheach unit.

"This is where our recurring monthly revenue is generated and welook forward to a continuing enrollment of subscribers for AMCI's services.We believe that there exists a huge market for low-cost monthly monitoringwith
the kind of mass-market appeal that brings the service within economic reach of nearly everyone in almost any situation.

The government is reported to be considering using satellite technology to control the speed of cars on Britain's streets. Under the system, motorists would be automatically limited according to the local speed restriction.

While electric cars are still struggling along in the slow lane,electronically-controlled cars are moving into the fast lane.

 One of the latest features is the satellite-based Global Positioning System (GPS) which directs drivers from A to B via an electronic map intheir vehicle.

 And now researchers at Leeds University and the Motor Industry Research Association (Mira) have proposed using the system to limit speeds on Britain's roads.

GPS is the key element in their Intelligent Speed Adaptation (Isa)system, and allows you to find your exact position on the Earth to withinan accuracy of one metre.

The researchers found GPS can be linked to a vehicle's electronicengine management, thereby controlling fuel supply ignition and braking.

So just as a driver enters a 30mph zone, the vehicle's speed is cut accordingly.

Research project leader Mark Fowkes of Mira, told BBC News Online:"The satellite is just giving the system the car's place on the map. Isatells it what to do."

The researchers originally thought electronic signals from speedsigns would do the same job as GPS.

But Mr Fowkes said: "There are an awful lot of speed limit signs,so that would have been very expensive.

"With GPS becoming more widely available, it seemed an obvious step to make."

Early in-car GPS systems were notoriously inaccurate, but Mr Fowkes said the technology was now sufficiently advanced for it to pinpoint cars accurately enough for use in speed reduction.

He admitted that manufacturers, who sell many cars on their ability to exceed the speed limit, may not be keen to introduce such a system intheir cars.

 However, in the 1997 Master project, financed by the European Union, a field study was carried out in Sweden, the Netherlands and Spain with a car equipped with an automatic speed limiter.

 Twenty people in each country test-drove the car and half said they would accept the limiter voluntarily in their own vehicles.

Mr Fowkes admitted it could be difficult getting systems imposedon car drivers, without an override system to turn it off.

"We still want to see how people respond to it," he said.

"But an override system might make it more acceptable."

Skies spy on farms

 3jan00

 EVERY Australian farmer will be monitored by satellite by May 1 in an agricultural revolution that is changing the face of global foodproduction.

 Canberra-based company Agrecon is behind the move to monitorevery square metre of farming land in the nation.

 Land owners will be told via the Internet how productive their property has been over two decades.

 Problem areas will be isolated to as little as 10sqm for examination, with data on soil condition provided.

 Farmers will be updated on everything from crop yields to temperatures and rainfalls.

 The satellites will also provide evidence to settle neighbor's disputes over spray drifts and the effects of chemicals.

 The Agricultural Monitoring System (AMS) is part of a satellite-led agricultural revolution which will see international surveillance satellites operating by the end of the year.

 They will monitor our global trading competitors, identifying crop performances to give Australian commodities a leading edge in theinternational marketplaces.

 Agrecon, in a joint venture with the University of Canberra,is putting the AMS on the Internet to service the Australian Wheat Boardby May 1.

 Two months later it will be available to anyone in the worldfrom individuals to corporate giants.

   Any time, anywhere: that is the promise the captainsof technology make us, even as we struggle with our existing machines, our cranky software and our creaky Internet. They mean it too. Imagine this: computers that enfold you, like a second skin. Rooms that come alive with sensors, cameras and embedded chips, allowing them to "know" you and adjust to your preferences when you arrive. Cars that monitor not onlytraffic but also your vital signs, and tell you when you're not fit tobe on the road.

   These all belong to a family of devices on the drawing board at places like IBM, Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) andthe Media Lab at the Massachusetts Institute for Technology. Some are in advanced stages of prototyping. They include such things as microchips farmers till into the soil to measure moisture and acidity; building materials that adjust resistance to wind and earthquake; insulation that changes according to weather conditions. The idea is simple: computing must become ubiquitous, pervasive. And nowhere will it be more pervasive than when it is closest to us. As Michael Hawley put it in the mission statement for his Things That Think project at the MIT Media Lab, "We wear clothes,put on jewelry, sit on chairs and walk on carpets that all share the same profound failing: they are blind, deaf and very dumb. Cuff links don't, in fact, link with anything else... Glasses help sight, but they don'tsee."

   They will if the engineers have their way. Eye glassesare the medium of choice for an idea variously called BodyNet and the Personal Area Network, or PAN. You would wear glasses with a camera in the frame,a photo diode sensor to monitor your eye movements, a voice transmitter in the earpiece and a short-range radio connection to a pager like deviceworn on a belt or in a handbag. That device would contain whole libraries of personal information, about both you and everyone you've ever met while wearing the BodyNet.

   One effect would be to displace at a smaller size the multiple electronic devices we carry today, such as laptops, mobile phonesand personal digital assistants. But BodyNet goes further. Thus equipped, you could be prompted with the name and business of an acquaintance approaching on the street. (The device would compare the image with its database, andyour glasses would whisper the result in your ear.) You could, with the help of a phased array of microphones embedded in the fabric of your jacket whatHawley calls "underware" respond knowingly to conversations: if your acquaintance mentions an investment opportunity, your device could connect to the Internetand call up all relevant information about the company in question, using your glasses as a display screen. Dinner parties would never be the same.

   Sound good? It certainly does to the digerati. They are prone to such statements as "If computers are everywhere, they better stay out of the way" (Mark Weiser and John Seely Brown, senior scientists at Xerox   PARC), and "The idea is nothing less than to make the world itself programmable" (Alan Daniels, then of Georgia Tech).

   In their view, computing will, by the year 2005, shift decisively from domination by the personal computer to reliance on a variety of "information appliances." At first most of these devices will be handheld: Web-ready telephones and palmtops, for example. Increasingly, though, they will be embedded in the background in ways
almost invisible to us. Wearable computers will arrive soon after,though it will take some time to make them small and light enough to actually embed them in clothing. Cameras will be everywhere, feeding visual datato the Internet, and some researchers believe that by 2020we will be on camera nearly nonstop.

   The world of ubiquitous computing raises a number ofquestions. High among them is the issue of inescapability. "In practice,"says Ann Livermore, president of enterprise computing at Hewlett-Packard,"the slogan 'Any time, anywhere' means 'All thetime, everywhere '." Even greater, though, is the problem ofprivacy, when pervasive in fact means invasive. There is no precedent forthe idea of self-executing devices that are ubiquitous, networked and always on. If your car knows when you're intoxicated, why can't it also informa police car? If a communicating pacemaker can tell your doctor that you'reon the verge of a cardiac event, why can't it also tell your insurance  company?

   All such devices will, of course, be presented as having benefits so obvious as to pre-empt objection. It's hard to quarrel witha car that deters drunk driving, even at the cost of a little self-incrimination. It's even harder to argue against a networked pacemaker, if it saves lives. But, says Coralee Whitcomb, president of Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, it never stops there: "All these things develop other uses... Any time you create a technology that is inherently invasive, it'll get used that way. And there's always a million good reasons for it."

   Technologists do expect resistance to such devices,at least at first. "We are naturally squeamish about ideas like electronicsthat are worn, ingested, implanted," says Hawley. "Maybe it's rooted inour deep fear [of] being eaten, or disgust at being the host for a parasite. But once we cross these bridges they seem to become second nature." Healthcare is only the most immediate use of ubiquitous computing, he says. He envisions a world in which the ability to put entire systems on a singlechip, creating such devices as voice-activated "metaphones" the size ofa lapel pin, effectively abolishes distance as a barrier to human interaction.

   Some high hurdles remain. Power supplies must be miniaturized. Current network-management tools are wholly inadequate to ubiquitous computing. Nor will there be enough network capacity for another 10 years. But these are susceptible to engineering attack. The same might be said of privacy: protection will come from some combination of encryption and digital fingerprinting, in which people who gain access to your personal data leave electronictraces of their presence, allowing you to hold them accountable. These technical fixes aren't durable, though. As David Brin, a scientist andauthor of "The Transparent Society," notes, "Each year's 'unbreakable'encryption   standard is broken within less than three yearsby groups of amateurs." A new and stronger standard then emerges, onlyto be itself broken, in a permanent game of digital leapfrog.

   In any case, privacy is not just a condition. It's also a state of mind, a feeling of security that owes more to the possibilityof anonymity than anything else. And anonymityis one thing that the next wave of computing will abolish.
 

                           © 2000 Newsweek, Inc.

AN X-ray scanner that shows airport customs officers the naked bodies of passengers has been greeted with outrage by American civil libertieswatchdogs.

The BodySearch machine has been in place in New York and five other American cities for several months. Security officers can look at pictures of the human body in outline regardless of how much clothing passengersare   wearing.

According to a spokesman for the manufacturers, the images of thebody are not clear, although genitals and breasts are clearly distinguishable. "It is not like you are getting a photograph of a naked person," the spokesman said.

Anyone seeking to smuggle drugs or weapons was most likely to hidethem in areas untouched by body searches, such as the groin and, in women,the chest. Raymond Kelley, commissioner for the Customs service, said the            machine was introduced in response to passengers' concerns about intimate searches.

 "People object to being physically touched and in responseto that we brought in the scanners," Mr Kelley said. The Customs serviceis facing several lawsuits, mainly from women and members of ethnic minorities,claiming         discriminationin singling out passengers for body searches.

 The American Civil Liberties Union said it was consideringlegal action to prohibit use of the X-ray machine. "If there is ever aplace where a person has a reasonable expectation of privacy, it is undertheir clothing," Gregory      Nojeim, an ACLUlawyer, said yesterday.

The Customs service has refused to say where and how the machinesare being used, but confirmed that it was planned to install them at allinternational airports in America by next June. The machines are expectedto scan only passengers selected by Customs officers for special attention.

Newsweek Magazine reported today: “The National Security Agency isnow drafting ‘memoranda of understanding’ to clarify ways in which it canhelp the FBI track terrorists and criminals in the United States, territoryin which it is generally off-limits, Newsweek has learned. The FBI, neverknown for its technical know-how, welcomes the help from the high-tech NSA, but some senators are uneasy about letting the NSA eavesdrop morein the United States, report Washington Correspondent Gregory Vistica andAssistant Managing Editor Evan Thomas in the current issue of Newsweek.While a secret court must approve any national-security wiretaps on U.S. citizens, there is still the risk of abuse. Under pressure to perform better,the NSA and CIA could overreach. Under the existing rules, the NSA andCIA are supposed to spy on foreign threats while the FBI tends to crimeat home. But the Internet has blurred boundaries, and as the bombing ofthe World Trade Center in 1993 demonstrated, foreign terrorists have targetedthe United States...The old tools, such as spy satellites and global-listeningstations to pick up broadcast transmissions and massive computers to sortand decipher them, are relatively ineffective on the new Info Highway...”

       The London Times reported today: “Microscopic planes, with cameras not much bigger than insects, are beingdeveloped by American scientists to spy on enemy positions in wars of thefuture. An extraordinary array of micro air vehicles (MAVs), all easily held in the palm of the hand, is emerging from experimental laboratoriesthroughout the United States. Most are only six inches long. Although theirsize would limit their operational range, research is under way to designsmall rockets that could propel them long distances. Compared with the103ft wingspan of manned American U2 spy planes that take photographs froman altitude of more than 70,000ft, the MAVs will be tiny cousins. But theidea of minute surveillance planes taking pictures of enemy troops fromonly 300ft up is being taken seriously in the US, according to the latestedition of Jane's International Defence Review. One MAV being developedby the US Naval Research Laboratory has electric motors on each wingtipto drive folding propellers. The report says that the US Navy is mainlyinterested in a MAV capable of radar jamming, and its tactical electronicwarfare division is designing one with sufficient power for flights ofup to 30 minutes. One idea is for a pencil-shaped motor ‘weighing no morethan six grammes’. Its speed would be about 30ft a second - as fast asan Olympic sprinter..."

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in a split opinion, has heldthat the police did not violate the Fourth Amendment when they used a thermalimaging device to search for evidence of marijuana cultivation. The thermalimager detected high levels of heat emission in an apartment indicatingthe presence of heat lamps used in growing
marijuana.

The defendant Kyllo claimed that the thermal scan intruded into activities within his home, in which he had an expectation of privacy, and that thepolice were required to obtain a warrant before conducting the search.

Judge Hawkins, writing for the court, said that "the use of thermal imaging technology in this case did not constitute a search under contemporary Fourth Amendment standards."  The court said that the emissions were "waste heat," entitled to no more privacy than the garbage that is placed on the street.  The court said that there was no government intrusion into activities in Kyllo's home, in which he expected privacy, rather there was simply a measurement of heat emissions radiating from his home.

Writing in dissent, Judge Noonan said that the warrantless use ofthe Agema 210 clearly violated the Fourth Amendment.

 I have no doubt that Kyllo did have an expectation of privacy as to what was going on in the interior of his house and that this expectation was infringed by the government's use of the Agema 210 although the machine itself never penetrated into the interior. The closest analogy is use ofa telescope that, unknown to the homeowner, is able from a distance tosee into his or her house and report what he or she is reading or writing.Such an enhancement of normal vision by technology, permitting the governmentto discern what is going on in the home, violates the Fourth Amendment.

Both the Washington state Supreme Court and the Montana Supreme Court have held that thermal imaging is a search under their respective stateconstitutions.

USA v. Kyllo, 96-3033 (CA9 1999)

     http://www.ce9.uscourts.gov/web/newopinions.nsf/f606ac175e010d6488
    2566eb00658118/b686f731840272eb882567e7005de14a? OpenDocument#top

Known affectionately as “robofly,” the gadget is exactly what itsname implies: a flying robot about the size of a housefly. It even looksa bit like a fly, although it will have four wings instead of two and oneglassy eye instead of two beady ones.

Uncle Sam, who is bankrolling the project to the tune of $2.5 million and wants to see robofly airborne by 2004, will add the flying robot toits espionage toy box.

“The potential application of a robot based on a fly might be, inan urban environment, clandestine surveillance and reconnaissance,” saidTeresa McMullen of the Office of Naval Research. In other words, that flymight be a spy. Just the thing for keeping tabs on terrorists. Or wandering spouses. Its creators are not mad scientists but Ph.D.s. They envisiona nifty gizmo that will do all sorts of wonderful things, like fly throughthe rubble of an earthquake searching for survivors.

“I really do envision, in every fire station, a jar of robotic insects,”Michael Dickinson, a biologist working on the project, said with a perfectlystraight face. “You could scatter them around and have them send a signalwhen they find something.”

But why a fly? Because the aerodynamic principles that keep 747saloft do not work on such a small a scale.
“If we want to develop something with stealth, we have to look at nature,” McMullen said. “There are no man-made objects that small thatcan fly.” But why a fly? Why not something with a little more pizzazz like,say, a dragonfly?

Two reasons, said Ron Fearing, the top gun behind the micromechanical flying insect. First, dragonflies have four wings. “That automatically doubles the complexity of the project,” Fearing said.

More importantly, flies, for all their faults, are outstanding pilots. They can take off and land in any direction, even upside down. They canchange course in just 30-thousandths of a second. And they process informationat speeds that make a supercomputer look like an abacus. “They’re the fighterjets of the animal world,” Fearing said. Robofly will weigh about 43 milligrams—roughlythe weight of a fat housefly. Its body will be made of paper-thin stainlesssteel and its wings of Mylar, which looks and feels a lot like Saran Wrap.

“Instead of gears and cogs and cams, we’re using pieces that aremore like origami,” Dickinson said. Robofly will be powered by the sun,and a tiny device called a piezoelectric actuator will flap its four punywings 180 times a second.

Fearing and his pals cleared their first big hurdle in April whenDickinson figured out how flies fly. It was a question that had perplexedresearchers for decades, and Fearing sheepishly admits that he had no cluehow flies fly when he pitched robofly to the Office of Naval Research.

Lucky for him that Dickinson solved the riddle. Dickinson discovered that insects use three different wing motions that, taken together, create backspin and air vortices that create lift. The complexity of the movement means robofly will need four wings to do what flies do with two.

That problem solved, Fearing is scratching his head trying to figure out how to control robofly once it is airborne. After all, there is notmuch use for robots that can only hover over a desk. “Flies have 100 million years of evolution to tell them how to fly,” Fearing said. “We’re not goingto be there instantly.”

He is hoping to crib from colleagues at California Institute of Technology in Pasadena who are developing tiny gyroscopes just one millimeter in diameter. And some of the tricks Caltech researcher Kris Pister is developing for“smart dust”—which will pack sensors, communicators and computing power onto tiny silicon motes—also could come in handy.

Robofly was hatched in early 1998, when the Office of Naval Research sought ideas for tiny robots. Fearing, who has been fascinated by robotssince he was a teenager, jumped at the chance. He got together with somecolleagues who let their imaginations run wild. Really wild. One idea wasfor a tiny, walking robot not much larger than an ant. (“Basically a siliconchip with legs,” Fearing said.) Another idea was for a hopping robot modeled after an octopus. And then there was robofly.

The Navy loved robofly. It also loved robolobster, now being builtat Northeastern University, and robopike, which swims in a tank at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology.

The robomenagerie is the vanguard of biomimetics, a strange fieldwhere scientists reverse-engineer nature’s greatest tricks. “There areall kinds of things nature can do that we don’t know how to do yet,” Fearingsaid. The idea is to copy Mother Nature’s nifty tricks—things like a lobster’sability to navigate pounding surf or a bat’s sonar that allows it to findmosquitoes in the dark.

The pint-size, or, in the case of robolobster, quart-size, robotsalso represent a move among engineers and researchers toward microrobotics.

The idea is to use a bunch of little robots to do the work of onebig robot—or human. The Defense Department likes the idea of sending robobeasts to do things far too dangerous for humans—nasty little tasks like clearing land mines or inspecting nuclear reactors in submarines. Robot, after all, comes from the Czech word robota, which means drudgery.

The best example of the microrobotic trend is NASA, which has embraced the “smaller, faster, cheaper” philosophy of sending lots of little spaceprobes to do the work of one big space probe.

With a single big robot, it’s “one giant accident, and you’re hosed,”Dickinson said. “But if you throw up 1,000 little robots and lose a fewof them, or even half of them, you’ll still be getting a lot of information.”While Fearing has been fascinated with robots since high school, Dickinsonis new to the game. He was drafted by the team because of his expertisein the arcane field of insect aerodynamics but admits he likes the ideaof tinkering with a robot.

“A lot of biologists,” he joked, “are nerdy geeks who, but for atwist of fate, would have been engineers.”
©1999 San Francisco Chronicle   Page A17

Most parents do not know it, but in the name of education, the federal government is out to grade the home life of the nation's school parents.In Pittsburgh, an uproar over governmental intrusion has begun in connection
with a project called the Pittsburgh School-wide Intervention Model,or PSWIM for short. The project, which is partly funded by the NationalInstitute of Mental Health, asks teachers to record the behavior of theirpupils on everything "from fidgeting and humming to stealing, startingfires and forcing others into sex," reports Insight magazine. "Other elementsof the process include giving students a page of photos of classmates andinstructing them to put an 'X' next to the three they disliked most."

Chaperoning school playground activities is one thing. Turning teachers into behavioral analysts is another. The researchers claim that identifying youngsters with problematic attitudes or behaviors will lower the dropout and unemployment rates and curb crime. But what this kind of oversightwill really do is turn America's 110,000 public schools into mental healthclinics and its 50 million public school students into guinea pigs.

In the Pittsburgh program, youngsters were subjected to intense and personal interrogation at school, and some of those youngsters, including 5-year-olds, were coerced into discussing their sexuality. Some were questioned in rooms by teachers and researchers who were strangers to them, and they "were not allowed to leave the room until they had given the answers theresearchers wanted," according to the Virginia-based American Center forLaw and Justice, a public-interest law firm. One question asks youngsters:"Have you ever forced sex on anyone?" Pittsburgh parents, as you mightimagine, are outraged at these secret probing sessions. At first, theywere mystified by a change in their children's mood, then after learningof the PSWIM project, they were angry that such inappropriate lines ofquestioning were being conducted without their permission. Sandra Delaney,whose third-grade son participated in PSWIM, told Insight that "neither(the researchers nor the school) thought they needed parents' permission--or else they didn't care. . . . [I] still don't know who has informationabout my son or how it was interpreted."

Truly disturbing as well is the fact that school systems around the country are considering similar projects as the Clinton administrationpushes such invasive programs, programs funded by not just the Instituteof Mental Health but also the U.S. Department of Education and the federalCenters for Disease Control and Prevention. A project conducted by theUniversity of Oregon, for example, is called Positive Behavior Interventionsand Supports (PBIS), which focuses on students in kindergarten throughthird grade. Insight quotes Renee Bradley, a special
education researcher with the U.S. Department of Education, as sayingthe Oregon project "is our biggest investment right now." Note the words"right now," because Education Secretary Richard Riley and Attorney GeneralJanet Reno, no less, are urging Congress to appropriate $50 million inthe FY 2001 budget to finance more experimental projects.

Ms. Delaney, who now home-schools her son, and more than 70 otherparents are not standing for it. They have filed a federal lawsuit againstthe Pittsburgh school district and the researchers, including the Universityof Pittsburgh's Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic. That case isexpected to go to trial in the spring.

Meanwhile, California parents are in for an equally unpleasant surprise. California Gov. Gray Davis, who vowed to take a "common sense" approachon education reform, is considering signing legislation that would, inthe words of the San Francisco-based Pacific Research Institute, "turnCalifornia school teachers into Big Brother's home snoops." The bill, whichwas authored by state Assemblywoman Nell Soto, Pomona Democrat, would allowschools to create home visitation programs and to compete for tens of thousandsof dollars to fund them. The teachers purportedly would assess the homeenvironment and lifestyles of the family to strengthen the bond betweenparent and child.

Any reasonable parent, teacher or lawmaker must see the risk of turning teachers into snoops. It is an obvious invasion of privacy, and it woulddivert teachers' attention from their primary objective.

Parents and teachers are the first to say that children should behave in school and should not be permitted to disrupt a school's academic setting. Still, old-fashioned discipline levied at home and at the hands of parents remains the most effective way to shape and, when necessary, reshape achild's behavior.

Copyright © 1999 News World Communications, Inc.

As I have said many times previously, as long as the issue is with regard to “protecting your privacy,” and as long aseveryone is looking to government to facilitate that so-called protection,the government will gain ever more control over the subject information.

The following article explains how Clintonis going to “protect” your private medical records. Congress has, justthis month, passed a blatantly unconstitutional law to “protect” your motorvehicle and driver’s license records.

Congress is presently debating laws to “protect” you financial data as it is exchanged amongst and between members of thegreatly expanded “financial community.” Laws are also under consideration by government agencies to “protect” you on the Internet and to “protect”the privacy of your email. (One such law was just recently vetoed by California’sgovernor.) You are assured that your tax records are “privacy protected.”

But, guess what single provision all of these “privacy protection” laws have in common? They all include “exceptions”to assure that government agencies, at both state and federal levels, haveaccess to all of that securely “protected” information.

What the government means when it says “privacy protection” is that the information must be encrypted and access controlled with government having the “encryption keys” and access to the data. Italso means that they control who else may have access. I guess as longas you trust Clinton and the rest of government, that’s O.K. From the government’sperspective, these “privacy protection” measures are even better than the“V chip” as a method to assure that they have controlled access to your“private” information.

Scott MacDonald
October 27, 1999

By ROBERT L. JAMIESON JR.
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Spurred by fears that a proposed city computersystem to track them will step on personal freedoms, a group of streetpeople will meet with city officials today to send a terse message: Noway.

Members of the homeless issues group SeattleHousing and Resource Effort say the tracking plan also deflects attentionfrom a shortage of emergency shelter beds in the city.

Group members say they will withhold from case workers personal information that could be compiled and used against thehomeless.

“It’s not paranoia. It’s just wrong,” saidJohn Steetle, a homeless man who is part of SHARE. “We have no assuranceson how the information will be used. People are frightened....  MaybeI have a warrant out. Will I be cast as a bad homeless person?”

But the concern is not universal among social service providers.

Bill Wippel of the Union Gospel Mission inSeattle said tracking would allow his agency to better handle its caseloads.He said case workers could study personal histories, share informationwith other shelters and social programs and learn which people are seriousabout getting off the streets.

“It’s like being a doctor,” Wippel said. “Youcan’t treat the patient without having proper information. The doctor alwayshas his file. We are interested in better management, not snooping.”

The controversial tracking system is part ofthe city’s Safe Harbors program, a multipronged plan unanimously approved by City Council last week to address the housing and service needs of about 5,500 homeless in Seattle.
The council has authorized $90,000 to hirea consultant to design the program. Under the plan, a homeless person wouldbe given a unique number. Any time he or she went to a soup kitchen orslept at a shelter, the number would be registered in a computer network.

A case manager could review a homeless person’s file and determine whether there is a pattern or potential solution fora case—drug rehabilitation or job referrals, for examples.

City Councilman Peter Steinbrueck said thecity and surrounding area have about 2,350 emergency shelter beds, in addition to transitional housing rooms. But an exact number of homeless people and shelter beds, he said, is hard to pin down. “We don’t have a system toaccurately measure the number of homeless people and the needs they represent—substanceabuse, mental illness, out of jobs,” Steinbrueck said. “The entire systemis either fragmented or uncoordinated.”

In Seattle, city leaders currently spend $9.1 million on the homeless, including $5 million for emergency shelter. Butofficials felt the homeless services network needed to be more efficient.

So they convened with a wide range of people, from homeless advocates to people on the streets to social service providers, and discussed the best approach. They learned other cities— including Philadelphia,New York and Boston—were using computer tracking system for years. Encouragedby success in those places, Seattle officials imported the concept.

Dennis Culhane, an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania, who developed computer software to track thehomeless, said the concept “is an idea whose time has come.”

“There are tremendous benefits,” Culhane said.“It is not possible to develop an efficient system of services and deliverthem without having good data.”

In Philadelphia, civic leaders learned a surprising fact from the computer tracking: The number of unduplicated homeless people using the city's services was several times greater than the most liberal estimates, Culhane said.
In addition, he said, shelters in Philadelphialearned specific information about who was using the shelters a chronichomeless population that tended to be disabled, mentally ill, and older.

Such detailed facts, allowed the city to better fashion solutions for homeless people—and save money.
But in Seattle, some homeless people havecalled Safe Harbor unsafe” and no harbor,” lambasting what they perceiveas an invasion of privacy.

Culhane, however, said laws require confidentiality of personal information used by social agencies. In addition, computerprograms can be tailored to ensure that certain data is shared or analyzed between certain social service agencies.

     Those who read the information are incredulous. The shocking realization that the idea of such a program has actually been patented in the U.S. and tied to a program of buying and selling is jolting some to their foundations.

     A U.S. patent was applied for in 1996 andgranted (see: U.S. Patent #5,878,155) on March 2, 1999 for a "method for verifying human identity during electronic sales transactions." An abstract with the government patent office describes it as "A method is presented for facilitating sales transactions by electronic media. A bar code ora design is tattooed on an individual. Before the sales transaction can be consummated, the tattoo is scanned with a scanner. Characteristics about the scanned tattoo are compared to characteristics about other tattoos stored on a computer database in order to verify the identity of the buyer.Once verified, the seller may be authorized to debit the buyer's electronic bank account in order to consummate the transaction. The seller's electronicbank account may be similarly updated."