[Forward from the politech list ... John]
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From: Declan McCullagh [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, February 01, 2001 4:37 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Cc: [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]; [log in to unmask]
Subject: FC: Cameras at Super Bowl scanned faces looking for criminals
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Date: Thu, 1 Feb 2001 04:42:12 -0600 (CST)
From: William Knowles <[log in to unmask]>
To: Declan McCullagh <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: Cameras scanned fans for criminals
Declan,
Thought you might find this interesting.
William Knowles
[log in to unmask]
http://www.sptimes.com/News/013101/TampaBay/Cameras_scanned_fans_.shtml
January 31, 2001
By ROBERT TRIGAUX
TAMPA -- Were you one of the 100,000 fans and workers to pass through
the stadium turnstiles at Sunday's Super Bowl? Did you smile for the
camera?
Each and every face that entered Raymond James Stadium for the big
game was captured by a video camera connected to a law enforcement
control room inside the stadium.
In milliseconds, each facial image was digitized and checked
electronically against the computer files of known criminals,
terrorists and con artists of the Tampa Police Department, the FBI and
other state and local law enforcement agencies.
Sunday's Super Bowl was the first major sporting event to adopt the
face-matching surveillance system. But the designers of the system
expect other security-sensitive sporting events, ranging from the
upcoming 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City to the
hooligan-plagued soccer leagues in parts of Europe, to express great
interest.
[...]
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http://www.viisage.com/january_29_2001.htm
Press Releases
GRAPHCO TECHNOLOGIES, INC. Provides Surveillance for Raymond James Stadium
to Identify Known Suspects, Deter Crime
On January 28th, Criminals No Longer Another Face in the Tampa Stadium Crowd
Tampa, Florida, January 29, 2001 -Graphco Technologies, Inc. (G-TEC), a
leading developer of technology and solutions for biometric authentication,
secure access, and expert information-sharing systems, announced today that
they provided a surveillance and facial recognition system at both the
Raymond James Stadium in Tampa and at Ybor City, Florida. The system was in
place from January 21 - January 28, 2001 to monitor potential criminal
activities during the sporting events and related activities at the two
locations.
In cooperation with the Tampa Sports Authority, Graphco Technologies
partnered with Raytheon Company's (NYSE: RTNA, RTNB) Linthicum, Maryland
office, Viisage Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: VISG), and VelTek International,
Inc., to provide its FaceTrac facial recognition system to the Tampa Police
Department and other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
"Not everyone comes to sporting events with good intentions," says David
Watkins, G-TEC's Managing Director, "The multiple distractions at the
nation's premier athletic events provide criminals with opportunities to
engage in a variety of illegal activities. G-TEC's facial recognition
system provided the Raymond James Stadium with a superior surveillance
system that not only captures images of individuals but also compares their
facial features against a database of known felons."
The FaceTrac core facial recognition technology provides the ability to
locate faces, to build 'face print' templates and to recognize matches to
images stored in a database. When integrated with G-TEC's law enforcement
database, FaceTrac allows rapid search, comparison and identification of
suspect facial photos within the database. FaceTrac may be used for
surveillance with multiple locations networked to a high capacity site, for
analysis and system-search results. G-TEC installed FaceTrac at the Raymond
James Stadium as a single site system, integrated with a custom designed
database and search result notifications for tracking faces in a crowd and
monitoring access to secure areas.
Tom Colatosti, Viisage President and CEO said, "Places where large crowds
are present, such as sporting events, are tempting targets for all types
mischief, criminal behavior and larger threats. Using patented Viisage
technology, G-TEC has introduced a new generation of tools for law
enforcement officials to more effectively and non-intrusively provide for
public safety. As an integral partner in the project, Viisage Technology
provided G-TEC with the industry's leading and most robust face-recognition
technology."
Viisage Technology's FaceFINDER software drives the FaceTrac surveillance
and identification process. Viisage's industry-leading face-recognition
technology has the world's largest image database deployment in
surveillance and investigative applications. Viisage also provided the
project with image acquisition and integration technology and services.
During the week of January 21st, G-TEC deployed the FaceTrac system
throughout the Raymond James Stadium to detect and identify individuals who
are wanted or suspect, and may present a danger to the public. Using
standard cameras to recognize human faces during entry to the sporting
event, FaceTrac continuously compared faces in the incoming crowd to an
extensive, customized database of known felons, terrorists, and con artists
provided by multiple local, state and federal agencies. A law enforcement
task force of local, state and federal agency personnel monitored the
system. Once individuals were matched with photo files in the database,
officers of the joint task force, circulating throughout the complex, could
be dispatched immediately to make possible arrests, quickly and discreetly.
In addition to installing cameras supplied by VelTek International at the
Raymond James Stadium, G-TEC adapted its FaceTrac capability to cameras in
Ybor City, Florida to oversee the celebrations before and after the
athletic events. Raytheon Company, a global developer and supplier of
high-tech products and services, and a G-TEC partner, provided
sophisticated cameras and expertise to provide police with exceptional
night vision capabilities for poorly lit or darkened areas in Ybor City.
G-TEC, headquartered in Newtown, PA, develops, manufactures, and markets
secure database and secure communications systems worldwide. G-TEC combines
information sharing, biometric authentication, secure access, and secure
data facility technologies to provide technical infrastructure and
applications in support of public and private law enforcement, corporate
security, manufacturing, and secure web-enabled virtual communities.
G-TEC's Intrapol Analysis Center offers secure-access data storage,
sharing, and secure virtual community systems to corporate and law
enforcement entities at the local, regional, state, national, and
international levels. Graphco Technologies is located on the World Wide Web
at www.graphcotech.com.
Viisage Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: VISG), Littleton, Massachusetts, is a
world leader in biometric face-recognition technology and in digital
identification solutions. Viisage's face-recognition technology is widely
recognized as the most convenient, non-intrusive and cost-effective
biometric available. Viisage's patented face-recognition technology,
originally developed at MIT, and its systems integration and software
design capabilities, improve personal convenience, privacy and security
while deterring identity theft and fraud.
Raytheon Company (NYSE: RTNA, RTNB), based in Lexington, Mass., is a global
technology leader that provides products and services in the areas of
commercial and defense electronics, business and special mission aircraft.
The company is now successfully expanding its defense technologies into
non-defense sectors such as air traffic control, data, image and
information management, transportation and communications. Raytheon's
Linthicum, Maryland office has expertise in network security and large
system development and deployment for both national intelligence and
commercial customers, and is the primary Raytheon branch that supported
G-TEC's surveillance efforts at the Raymond James Stadium. Additional
information is available at www.raytheon.com
Veltek International, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of Closed Circuit
Television and security related equipment. Veltek currently offers over 250
different CCTV products through worldwide distribution including standard
and specialty video cameras, housings, video signal, remote transmission,
digital video streaming and digital storage equipment.
FaceTrac is a trademark of Graphco Technologies, Inc. FaceFINDER is a trade
mark of Viisage, Inc,
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