Tag Archives: surveillance state

US working overtime to ready crowd face scanning capabilty

August 21, 2013 · by · in Coming Next, News · Leave a comment

The federal government is making progress on developing a surveillance system that would pair computers with video cameras to scan crowds and automatically identify people by their faces. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/21/us/facial-scanning-is-making-gains-in-surveillance.html?ref=us   The Department of Homeland Security tested a crowd-scanning project called the Biometric Optical Surveillance System — or BOSS — last fall after two years of […]

Google to unleash eavesdropping phone in August

August 4, 2013 · by · in News · Leave a comment

Google-owned Motorola has announced a phone that is “always listening”. Saying “OK Google now…” will prompt the Moto X’s Touchless Control system to listen for instructions. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23536936   The device is the first to have been designed from scratch since Google’s $12.5bn (£7.9bn) takeover of Motorola last year. While the company has released handsets since then, […]

Department stores tracking customer behavior with wi-fi

July 16, 2013 · by · in News · Leave a comment

When Nordstrom posted a sign telling customers it was tracking them, shoppers were unnerved. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/15/business/attention-shopper-stores-are-tracking-your-cell.html?pagewanted=all  Nordstrom wanted to learn more about its customers — how many came through the doors, how many were repeat visitors — the kind of information that e-commerce sites like Amazon have in spades. So last fall the company started testing […]