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Posts Tagged ‘cameras’

On Being Recognized

July 10th, 2009
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This is a working demo for an “augmented identity” system. ReadWriteWeb has a great article about this called Augmented ID: Augmented Reality Facial Recognition for Mobile that talks about the program in this video as well as others working in this area. One note: at this point in time and development, you need to capture the person’s face from the front.

That’s people. There is also augmentation for the place where you’re standing, the sounds of your life and more. (The last link is from 2007!)

Coaching moment: Have you ever gone somewhere and wondered about a place you were passing? Or joined a party and wished you remembered someone’s name? Your new glasses might be fitted with a small digital screen to display certain things (like names) discreetly. Your new audio stream might include stories and facts about places you’re walking through. Learning about things will become a whole new experience.

Of course there’s another side: surveillance and public cameras can be matched with face and license plate recognition for pervasive and effective surveillance. In the (near) future, it’s possible that your parent or spouse may not need to ask where you were last night.

Right now, the greatest promises are those we hold in our own hands. Where we control the information that we need, when we need it, we are empowered to benefit from the augmentations (hardware and software). When control of information is in control by unknown interests, be they law enforcement, private organizations, or malevolent forces, we do not enjoy the benefits of safety, security, or helpful information despite the public relations stories.

Here’s a suggestion to help you think about this. Go for a walk and take a note pad with you. Make several brief stops and look around. What would you like to know about where you are? What would you be worried about happening? How will augmented reality tools help or hurt your wishes? Write those things down. Keep writing in your notebook for a week and see what happens.

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Who are you when under surveillance?

June 29th, 2009
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BigLittle from SnitchtownOne of the many ways we identify ourselves is as a member of a city, state, or country. This context brings certain benefits, rights, and responsibilities. People in your community have practices and understandings about what it means to be a member, including beliefs about behaviors that might result in someone being ejected from that community.

A couple of years ago, Forbes.com published Cory Doctorow’s Snitchtown essay. In it Doctorow explored what makes a community and how video surveillance violates a loosely understood “social contract” without returning significant social benefits. From Doctorow’s essay:

The key to living in a city and peacefully co-existing as a social animal in tight quarters is to set a delicate balance of seeing and not seeing. You take care not to step on the heels of the woman in front of you on the way out of the subway, and you might take passing note of her most excellent handbag. But you don’t make eye contact and exchange a nod. Or even if you do, you make sure that it’s as fleeting as it can be.

Doctorow continues,

The irony of security cameras is that they watch, but nobody cares that they’re looking. Junkies don’t worry about CCTVs. Crazed rapists and other purveyors of sudden, senseless violence aren’t deterred. I was mugged twice on my old block in San Francisco by the crack dealers on my corner, within sight of two CCTVs and a police station. My rental car was robbed by a junkie in a Gastown garage in Vancouver in sight of a CCTV.

The irony, as Doctorow points out, is that “When you watch everyone, you watch no one.” This is a classic case of missing the forest for the trees. We have millions of eyes, but with them we can not see.

Emma Byrne published a photoessay on her blog (direct to the PDF) to illustrate Doctorow’s essay. Byrne notes that her photographs include “some of the 4.2 million CCTV cameras currently estimated to be active in Britain.” Yow!

Coaching moment: Do you have cameras in your neighborhood? Look around, I bet you do. Surveillance cameras act as silent and ever-vigilant recordings of our every public move. They don’t come with any indication of why they’re there, or who’s watching.

Have you ever walked to the other side of a street, or taken another path through a store, so as not to be in the middle of the camera? Have you ever noticed a camera then quickly responded by looking down or away? Worn sunglasses and a hat so as not to be as easily recognized? Or does the surveillance make you feel safe? Why?

Note that you may not have anything to hide. You may have done nothing wrong in public. That’s not the question. For most people the surveillance just feels illegitimate, creepy and wrong.

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