City Of Raleigh Quietly Installs Spy Cameras Downtown, On Police Cars
The City of Raleigh has quietly installed two video cameras in downtown Raleigh to videotape possible crime in the Tarboro Street area. In addition, the Raleigh Police Department has also installed license plate scanners on some police cars to automatically run the license plates of parked vehicles as they drive past them.
From The Raleigh Telegram, April 01, 2010
Senate Committee Considering Electronic Privacy Laws
Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter has announced his plans to introduce legislation to ensure electronic privacy, telling a Congressional subcommittee that current wiretap and video-surveillance laws to not do enough to protect individuals.
Specter's call to action comes on the heels of a lawsuit, filed by a student of the Lower Merion School District in the Senator's home state, over a high school's attempt to locate 42 missing laptops by activating webcams.
From RedOrbit, March 30, 2010
Specter calls for stronger federal privacy laws
The alleged use of cameras in school-issued laptops for surveillance shows a need to extend the type of privacy protections found in federal wiretap laws to images, U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (D., Pa.) said here yesterday.
After conducting a Senate subcommittee hearing on technology and privacy in the federal courthouse, Specter said he intended to propose that law himself.
From Philadephia Inquirer, March 30, 2010
Martinsburg (W.Va): Traffic detection cameras installed
Motorists traveling through the Eastern Panhandle may have noticed new cameras mounted above area traffic signals.
These cameras will be used to assist the West Virginia Department of Transportation to assist in regulating traffic flow throughout the region.
From The Journal, March 29, 2010
Million dollar video deployment scheduled for equestrian games
EMC Corporation, Arecont Vision, Orion Systems Group, Theia Technologies and Verint Systems have teamed to provide security technology and services for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. The 16-day event will be hosted in the United States for the first time since its inaugural event, at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Ky.
From Security InfoWatch, March 26, 2010
Vancouver TransLink deploys Nextiva transit security solution from Verint Video Intelligence Solutions
Verint ® Systems Inc. today announced that TransLink, Vancouver's regional transportation authority, has implemented the Nextiva ® Transit video solution from Verint ® Video Intelligence Solutions ™ . Part of a planned, multi-phase security deployment, TransLink's first investment in the video security technology took place onboard its fixed-route bus fleet to help enhance passenger and operator safety and security.
From Security InfoWatch, March 26, 2010
Feds Try Mobile Video, 3G Tethering
n many ways, the federal government has long been playing from behind when it comes to mobile computing, but that's about to change at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Internal Revenue Service, which are experimenting with mobile video and tethering phones to laptops for mobile broadband.
The ATF is currently running a pilot with Windows Mobile 6 on about 150 Samsung and HTC smartphones, testing both enterprise applications and mobile video. Within the next two months, ATF will also move to begin testing iPhones, ATF CIO Rick Holgate said Wednesday at the FOSE federal IT trade show.
From InformationWeek, March 24, 2010
Video Surveillance deployed inside London Public Bathrooms
You can imagine my surprise after I paid my 50pence to use the public bathroom, walked in and found myself staring at not just one but three ceiling mounted video surveillance cameras. I had to get real close to their enclosures to convince myself that I wasn't seeing things. Not only was it really there, but it was a Pan-Tilt-Zoom model with a microphone to top it off.
From NetworkWorld, March 23, 2010
Europe: New video surveillance guidelines aim to protect privacy
The European data protection supervisor has issued new guidelines on video surveillance aimed at minimising its impact on privacy and other fundamental rights.
They set out how to evaluate the need for video surveillance and how to conduct it without infringing people's privacy and other rights.
The guidelines apply to existing as well as future systems, and each institution has until 1 January 2011 to bring its practices into compliance.
From Computer Weekly, March 18, 2010
Cost allocation for surveillance and security in today’s gaming economy
As the gaming industry feels the woes of the world economy, mission-critical operations like surveillance and security have come under scrutiny as management looks at every expense to reduce overhead. Fortunately, professional security systems are making the long-overdue leap towards networked infrastructure and changing the way systems are managed — including both the initial costs of installation and the ongoing expense of system operation.
It is apparent that the technologies that drive surveillance and security in the gaming industry have transformed during the last decade — and with the changes come opportunities and challenges. Evaluating how new IP-based networked technologies are different vs. analog systems can lead you to discover more efficient ways to deploy video and security systems on an integrated platform — and actually save you money over the long haul.
From Security InfoWatch, March 18, 2010
