Surveillance: Now Appearing at an Attraction Near You

Bad Guys and Good Guys... "Surveillance-software makers may find a market in retail stores, and not just for catching shoplifters. The algorithms that look for intruders could also see whether checkout lines are moving and which displays are attracting the most attention." (New York Times, Jan 25, 2006)

Is it a coincidence that the Wall Street Journal wrote about security surveillance ("'Ring of Steel' for New York?", Jan 25, 2006) on the same day as the New York Times' article above ("The New Security: Cameras That Never Forget Your Face")? Of course not.

Security and surveillance are hot issues today. In San Francisco, a hotel fired an employee because facial recognition software tracked his every movement on the hotel's sixteen security cameras -- "including the back entrance he slipped out of, three hours into his shift." (NYT) Oops.

The City of London guards itself with a "ring of steel" composed of "closed-circuit cameras and narrow roads that encircle ... London's financial district... The narrow roads create just a few entry points to the area that police can block off, if necessary, while cameras photograph anyone entering or exiting the area... Last year, the system read 37 million [license] plates and identified 91,000 positive matches for wanted vehicles." (WSJ)

So what about your real estate? Are you tracking employees and visitors? Are they aware of your surveillance? Do you use facial recognition software? What has been the greatest benefit for you?

Travel Alert... I'm in Europe testing London's "ring of steel." Just kidding. But today I am in Paris, heading to Amsterdam and eventually London. I'm traveling without my laptop, relying on Internet cafes for sporadic Internet connectivity. It's a long, sad story involving the theft of a new Sony Vaio from a FedEx distribution center. (Where's surveillance when you need it?) The next Dispatch will be published on Tuesday, March 7.

-- Peter Pike