Dear All,
I yesterday attended the Seventh International Crime Science Conference
(http://www.ucl.ac.uk/jdi/events/crime-science-conf/icsc-current).
Here are a few notes I made about talks that referenced surveillance. If
anyone has any questions then please ask and I'll see if I can provide more
information.
-----
Rob Coleman - Centre for Applied Sciences and Technology (CAST), Home Office.
Remit of CAST is to invoke Home Office proposals.
Says that the Home Office recognises that there is a trade-off between
security and privacy - the division is constantly changing.
Focus of CAST:
Cyber / Digital investigations - protect UK people online - sift data -
hand more tools to front-line officers - move digital capture to front-end
(police on duty).
He did not articulate what this involved but my impression is that officers
'on the beat' are increasingly given the ability to identify suspects (take
fingerprints) which would previously have involved them bringing the
suspects back to the station.
Digitise crime scenes - "Live Time Forensics" - from people in custody.
He again did not expand on what this meant but the idea is that DNA and
suchlike is acquired and processed before the suspect is able to leave custody.
Identify ringleaders in a crowd in order to arrest them at a later stage.
Automatic Face Recognition (AFR) - apparently works well in airports with
compliant populations - less good elsewhere in public - but getting better
all the time.
-----
Nick Ross, Former Crimewatch presenter.
Here to promote his new book: How to Bring Crime Down.
Apparently opposed to 'Big Brother'.
Wants ISPs rather than the British government to regulate content. However,
he described ISPs as "immoral".
Pro-EU - approves of the European Arrest Warrant and Eurojust.
-----
Detection, Localization, and Tracking of Hazardous Substances in Public or
Military Facilities - Dr Wolfgang Koch, FKIE.
Idea - create sensors that can detect the smell of explosives - install
them in public areas e.g. tube stations.
Difficult task as destructive scenarios are rare, complex, and usually
involve groups of bad actors.
Aim is to exploit multiple sensors - nexus between chemical sensors and
CCTV watching people move past those sensors.
EU Project - Hazardous Material Localization and Person Tracking (HAMLeT).
Not particularly effective - too many variables - temperature, humidity,
number of people.
Also - not all explosives smell especially those that are professionally
made - the sensors will only catch amateurs.
-----
Urban Area Surveillance Using Wireless Networks - Dr Kevin Chetty, UCL.
Idea - use existing Access Points (APs) and wireless networks to detect
intruders.
Passive radar - a/k/a parasitic or piggybacking radar.
Wireless signals reflect - in this case off people - key issue is that the
intruder/s are moving in the monitored environment.
AP sends out wireless signals, intruder reflects them, the change in
signals is monitored by wireless receivers.
Accurate to 10 meters.
Could be used to monitor large stretches of land like coastlines as long as
there are sufficient receivers.
Passive - no need to have access to AP encryption key (WEP / WPA).
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