[Reader-list] More surveillance - dFace

[Menso Heus]

Hi,

Some comments:

I believe the average person in The Netherlands, when travelling around for a day 
(as in: being outside, not in the office or home for the bigger part) is filmed for 
six hours. Currently these camera systems are not being linked, meaning that the 
shop owner cannot keep an eye on what I'm doing when I leave his shop, etc.
I believe that in England this has been set up.

Being curious I kept track of how easy it would be to trace my steps when going out
a night in Amsterdam. Here are some of the results:

First of all, I carried a GSM phone which is, as I posted earlier, a clear marker for 
my position and the easiest way to track me. Say I wouldn't be carrying it then it 
still would be easy:

1) Cab from my house in Haarlem to the trainstation - dispatch centre has a record of
the address and destination of the customer (being me)

2) Trainstation Haarlem to Amsterdam - surveillance camera's film me while walking up 
and down and smoking a cigarette, waiting for the train to arrive.

3) Amsterdam central station - being filmed getting ou of the train until I leave the
trainstation: obviously I do not take another train probably meaning I will stay in 
Amsterdam.

4) Tram from central station to Leidseplein - unnoticed, currently they are installing
camera's however, so this will be a matter of months

5) Leidseplein, ABN Amro ATM machine - Insert card, get 150 guilders, record of my presence
made.

6) Enter club, bounce around - camera films me while I enter


At the end of the night (beginning of morning) same thing but in reverse, minus the ATM.
As you can see the ojne part where they couldn't track me (tram) will only take some time
before they can.

The most disturbing thing about cameras in pubic transport facilities (onboard the vehicle)
is probably the fact that a lot of coincidental things can become potential weapons for the
authorities. For example:
While I sit in the train from Haarlem to Amsterdam a man comes to sit next to me, he asks 
for nice things to do in Amsterdam and we have a small talk. Camera grabs this ofcourse.
Now, the man turns out to be an escaped convict or terrorist or whatever makes the police
unhappy, and they've got you talking to him on the cam.
Sure, one could argue that it's just a coincidence and the cams outside the station don't
show me talking to him... one could also argue that we were not just so that it would look
like nothing more than a coincidence. Obviously I've got somethings to hide, tapped email 
shows I've got a habbit of sending PGP encrypted stuff to people. So suddenly I'm suspect,
just like that.

Now the above might be quite the overdone doom scenario, the problem however is that it's
not unthinkable that something similar might happen in the future. Face recognition with
a good camera and smart backend setup should not take longer than 3 seconds. 
3 Seconds... that means that by the time you've shown your ticket to the bus conductor the
system already knows: "Bleep: Menso Heus entered Bus 93, Amsterdam Central Station to 
Amsterdam North" and it will not need those three seconds again to register when you leave the
bus ofcourse.


Being in a sarcastic mood while a friend and I went to attend a lecture on Privacy in the Balie 
titled "Privacy in the digital age" we were joking how it should have been titled:
"Dutch History: The days of privacy" since we figured privacy is dead. Sadly enough, the more
you think about it the more you reach the conclusion that we must have been right at that time.

Then again, I have nothing to hide, so why should I worry?

Menso


On Thu, Jun 07, 2001 at 02:36:56PM +1000, s|a|m wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> Some of you may have noticed this posting on Nettime I made some months ago. But here it is again below - with a few mods.
> It's part of my MA (never ending) - and also will be incorporated in to a website am launching soon called www.dface.org ...
> 
> I am at the moment interested in surveillance and statistics - and how these two technologies combined can become a very powerful force to ensure a status quo / stereotype in maintained...
> 
> See ya, Sam.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> About the dFACE project 
> by Sam de Silva, October 2000
> 
> "
if god doesn't exist, then everything is permitted"... Fyodor Dostoyevsky 
> 
> In our technology-laden towns and cities, the surveillance camera is an intrinsic part of its design. From the foyers of buildings, to underground train stations, to shopping centres, to city corners; all are equipped with cameras that watch us. Today's surveillance camera is becoming deliberately obvious, often feeding its observations back to the observed. The justification for surveillance cameras is to promote safety and reduce crime. But we can easily imagine a more sinister use of surveillance technologies. 
> 
> A system called Cromatica claims to be able to detect if someone is contemplating suicide in underground train stations. Cromatica analyses our movements and matches it against stored information about how suicide victims behaved just before jumping in front a train. Another system capable of reading faces, is being developed by the Salk Institute. It claims to be able to detect a person's emotional state by using high-speed cameras. "When someone is lying, their true feelings often flicker across their face in what we call a micro-expression, which is quickly covered up by a posed expression", says Paul Ekman, long-term face researcher and professor of psychology at the University of California, San Francisco. Ekman is working with Salk scientists to create real-time analysis of facial expression in order to reveal emotional states. 
> 
> Researchers and private corporations are pushing the boundaries of technologies capable of analysing our behaviour. There are of course numerous beneficial applications for these technologies, such as detecting a potential suicide attempt. But there is also the possibility for misusing their capabilities. It doesn't take much imagination to come up with some very negative applications that interfere with our civil liberties. We cannot stop the increasing sophistication of surveillance technologies, nor can we enforce a particular direction to their application. However, what we can do is inform ourselves as to the rapidly developing technologies and engage in debate about how they are utilised. 
> 
> The face is one of the most sacred features of our self. It is the primary way we identify each other, and our complex expressions enhance the way we communicate. Sophisticated software and hardware is capable of interrogating the human face in fine detail, matching faces and evaluating expressions. However, this automatic analysis relies mostly on stereotyping the human face and its attributes. Therefore, these systems will make their evaluations based on the way we look.
> 
> The dFace project is a media campaign aimed at raising awareness about current and potential applications of technologies which analyse our face and claim to be able identify us and predict our behaviour. The project doesn't call for the banning of such technologies, rather it wishes to inquire further about facial analysis systems and to inform a broader community as to their purpose and function in our society. 
> Facial analysis is conducted by law enforcement agencies throughout the world. The mug-shot and identity kits are helpful in identifying culprits and solving crime. Sophisticated systems for the "public safety market" can detect the faces of known troublemakers and exclude them from entry or participation. Interestingly, a company that specialises in facial analysis software also provides products for prison inmate processing as well as for locating and identifying children. Many companies market software packages capable of detecting a face and putting an identity to it. They market the technology with the claim that it reduces crime, and increases security and safety. 
> 
> Matching an action or transaction with its owner is not only the wish of a dedicated detective investigating a crime, but is also of great interest to groups and companies. Various specialised technologies, which all fall within the realm of surveillance but referred to as 'customer profiling', already analyse our lives and actions, most of the time without our knowledge or informed consent. And the information and data gathered could be re-analysed in ways which were never originally intended. Once we have been profiled, there is no real way of knowing what happens to the collected data. 
> 
> When we use an ATM machine, transaction details are recorded and stored to build up a profile of our spending habits. The bank would claim that this would enable it to better service the needs of its customers. In the US, profiling data from a particular ATM showed that high number of transactions were being made between midnight and 2am. The reason for this was that customers were withdrawing money to spend in the nearby red-light district. 
> 
> The current use of electronic tags on vehicles has been promoted as an efficient way of collecting tolls that does not require the driver to slow down to physically pay for the use of the road. But these e-tags are effectively tracking devices able to accurately monitor the movements of a vehicle. Once all cars have these devices, there might be a temptation to apply automatic tolling elsewhere or to exclude certain cars from parts of the city. When we use a mobile phone the number we dial, the time and duration are all recorded. It is possible to approximate, with increasing accuracy, the location from which the call was made.
> 
> Our use of technology leaves behind a shadow, a memory of our actions that is stored and transferred through networked databases to unknown collators. We are told by marketing departments that by profiling our behaviour, companies will be able produce and promote more products and services that are based on our true desires. However, potential for misuse of these data shadows, this profile information, is very high because of the lack of regulation or more importantly, public awareness concerning what is being stored about us and how this information is being used to effectively control us. 
> 
> The broader methods and implications of profiling are beyond the scope of the dFace project, however these will be considered and included where appropriate. The dFace project aims to explore and problematise the applications and outcomes of facial analysis technology. A focus has been placed on investigating the role facial analysis plays in matching an action with its owner and the effects this would have on people and the society we live in. 
> 
> We have a photograph of our face taken when we attend university, start a new job or apply for a driver's license. And our face is also captured passively, without our direct consent through surveillance cameras, which are quickly becoming a standard part of our environment. But amongst the public, there seems to be a lack of concern or even curiosity as to who has access to our captured face, how it is used and how long it will be kept for. 
> 
> The writings of Michel Foucault on the panopticon, social observation, power and discipline, and George Orwell's vision of 1984 were early motivations for the dFace project and continue to provide inspiration and direction. Science-fiction books and films which signpost to dangers of 'over-machining' our society also provide inspiration. The many contemporary academics and writers such as David Lyon who are exploring surveillance and its surrounding sociological issues will also provide discourse to work within.
> 
> The dFace project wants to trace the path the face travels once it has been captured by a camera. It wants to understand the nature of analysis carried out and if the face is stored or distributed to other parties. Further, the project wants to investigate what effect the pervasive use of surveillance cameras and their ability to capture our faces, has on us, especially when this data is combined with other digital shadows we leave behind during our daily transactions. 
> 
> The research carried out by the project will not be exhaustive. Rather, the outcomes will provide direction to future research and also adequate content to develop creative media strategies to inform the public audience about the applications and implications of facial analysis technologies. 
> 
> 
> 

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