17 replies to this topic

[Kafkaesque]

http://www.thedaily....o-surveillance/

Quote

The era of private conversations on city buses — and even on San Francisco’s iconic streetcars — may be coming to an end.  

Government officials are quietly installing sophisticated audio surveillance systems on public buses across the country to eavesdrop on passengers, according to documents obtained by The Daily. Plans to implement the technology are under way in cities from San Francisco to Hartford, Conn., and Eugene, Ore., to Columbus, Ohio.

Linked to video cameras already in wide use, the microphones will offer a formidable new tool for security and law enforcement. With the new systems, experts say, transit officials can effectively send an invisible police officer to transcribe the individual conversations of every passenger riding on a public bus.

[OverSword]

Hmm...Can't believe this would happen.  But no problem, we really shouldn't expect to have privacy in today's dangerous world should we (you know who you are)

[Jeffertonturner]

I say everything expecting the government to be listening. I think it's sexy.

[e u n O i a]

I grew up in Baltimore. I've been on all the public transportations there and recording what those crazy ghetto people say would be serious lulz for like a hour. Anything after that and you will want to kill yourself.

[EllJay]

The Onion, right?....or is it The Orwellian really?

Doubleplusgood on the Ministry of Peace there.Thought-crimes and sex-crimes -which are doubleplusungood- are up next.
BB is pleased

Conform, or face Room 101, and/or ultimately become an unperson.

Edited by EllJay, 11 December 2012 - 11:20 PM.

[Kafkaesque]

It's a very real thing... Just like with recording software in street lamps.

[jugoso]

Cool!! I have a ton of these that I want to move!!

[iNvRG]

Yes! gives me more reason to use my ultimate fart soundboard app in public

[F3SS]

Think maybe they've been building a database of our cell phone calls analyzing our voices so they won't just hear you, they know who you are.

[aztek]

-Mr_Fess-, on 13 December 2012 - 01:11 AM, said:

Think maybe they've been building a database of our cell phone calls analyzing our voices so they won't just hear you, they know who you are.

i have 0 confidence that they will achieve anything with the date they collect, however misusing this data might have some consequences.

not to mention you can't expect privacy on public buses and trains, regardless of "ears, and eyes" in  walls.

Edited by aztek, 13 December 2012 - 01:21 AM.

[Jinxdom]

Lol Hartford Ct oh dear the conversations they are gonna hear on the bus are fantastic.  Mostly will help to catch people who run to the bus to get away. One of the first places were law enforcement put wanted posters are bus stations so having the equipment to check buses when you can get picked up and dropped off without going to the station only makes sense.

[EllJay]

-Mr_Fess-, on 13 December 2012 - 01:11 AM, said:

Think maybe they've been building a database of our cell phone calls analyzing our voices so they won't just hear you, they know who you are.

They've been doing that for years with ECHELON.
Voice-recog. and millions of samples in databases, plus flagging key-words that pops up when spoken,  and pin down you location to a few feet.
It's ****in appalling if you stop and think of it for a few sec.

[chopmo]

You can buy adaptions for cctv that provide 100sqm for $30 from a decent retailler as low as $10 on ebay. Very easy to install litrally adding a composite cable to the existing setup maybe increase the power supply if need be, highly doubt this.

I have alot of experiance in this industry, this I can varify can happen. Down to some police officers having hidden spy cameras in watches.
Would not suprise me that Nanny does this to all countries very soon. At the moment "beyond professional" cctv cameras are beyond Infrared. Government cameras have the ability to see colour better at night. Merrit Lilin makes cameras that do just that. Indeed expensive on that scale, but hey they don't you bettering them
And in saying that I don't think with that kind of quality they could just pay some noboday from MIT to write software based on a till guard (also a very cheap addition), so basically processing the conversation into text straight to the monitors as you watch live. Software intergration would be as easy as incorporating a voice to text app base which even every smart phone has the abillity of doing so, program to recognise a body through cameras, then through a till guard addition to the cctv it can journal overlay base use is for registers and they track the sale on the screen, which obviously would be obsolete come the modifications except the overlay journal part of the software, number them and present text as each person says it. Even the basis of a numbered system isn't that out there. have a max number of individuals that the bus can legally hold, this can also help in identifying public transport crashes.

It's a big step in technology and a big step back for the general population. Uptopia project initialise . hope this has surficed the topic in every way possible .

Edited by chopmo, 13 December 2012 - 11:10 AM.

[Render]

Public Buses Across Country Quietly Adding Microphones to Record Passenger Conversations

Quote

Cities that have installed the systems or have taken steps to procure them include San Francisco, California; Eugene, Oregon; Traverse City, Michigan; Columbus, Ohio; Baltimore Maryland; Hartford, Connecticut; and Athens, Georgia.

...
Transit officials say the systems will help improve the safety of passengers and drivers and resolve complaints from riders. But privacy and security expert Ashkan Soltani told the Daily that the audio could easily be coupled with facial recognition systems or audio recognition technology to identify passengers caught on the recordings.

...

In 2009, transit officials in Baltimore, Maryland, backed down briefly from plans to install microphones in buses in that city after civil liberties groups complained that the systems would violate wiretapping laws and constitutional protections against illegal search and seizure. Transit authorities then asked the state’s attorney general to weigh-in on whether the systems violated wiretapping laws. After the attorney general indicated that signs warning passengers of the surveillance would help combat any legal challenges, transit officials pressed forward with their plans last month and announced the installation of an audio recording system on 10 public buses. The city plans to roll out the system on at least 340 additional buses.

http://www.wired.com...o-surveillance/

[F3SS]

EllJay, on 13 December 2012 - 10:25 AM, said:

They've been doing that for years with ECHELON.
Voice-recog. and millions of samples in databases, plus flagging key-words that pops up when spoken,  and pin down you location to a few feet.
It's ****in appalling if you stop and think of it for a few sec.

I just bought my nephew a dearth fader voice changer for Christmas. Looks and fits kind of like a respirator mask. Maybe I ought to get a second one for me.