surveillance

LAS VEGAS--At the Consumer Electronics Show, there is a little corner of not-terribly-busy booths underneath a sign that reads "Mommy Tech."

Which is where an assortment of companies you've probably never heard of is hawking its mommy-centric wares, from bulky belts that tell you if your unborn baby is happy to digital thermometers and some kind of embroidery machine that sews, right there in front of your eyes, whatever you type into the machine, in a slew of interesting colors, in cursive. (Interestingly, this was a popular booth, although most onlookers were in suits, scratching their heads, … Read more

Please pick up your stones, ready to cast them.

As you do, please hone in on the appropriate targets before you fling your pitches. And please don't step over the white line on the pitcher's mound. There will be sanctions.

For this is the story of the University of Central Florida, a college that is justly proud of the high-tech, Vegas-style, security measures it takes when its students are tested. And this is the story of, according to ABC News, a college that has been struck numb by those nefarious operatives known as cheating students.

You will have … Read more

In recent years, a few companies have taken a stab at creating consumer-friendly networked video systems that allow you to monitor your home remotely over the Web or on your mobile phone. With time, these systems, which people use to check in on their pets, property, nannies--or whatever--have improved in terms of reliability and ease of setup, but all too often there are some shortcomings.

Enter the Dropcam, a network-enabled Webcam produced by 88Volts, and using hardware made by a company called Axis. Two models are currently available: the standard Dropcam ($200), which just captures video, and the Dropcam Echo ($… Read more

The Obama administration will seek a new federal law forcing Internet e-mail, instant-messaging, and other communication providers offering encryption to build in backdoors for law enforcement surveillance, The New York Times reported today.

Communication providers, apparently including companies that offer voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services, would be compelled to reconfigure their systems so that police could be guaranteed access to descrambled information.

It could become illegal for a company to offer completely secure encrypted communications--through a protocol such as ZRTP, for instance--if its customers held the keys and the provider did not.

Valerie Caproni, the FBI's general counsel, … Read more

A law requiring police to obtain a search warrant before tracking Americans' cell phones may imperil criminal investigations and endanger children's lives, a law enforcement representative told Congress this week.

Obtaining a search warrant when monitoring the whereabouts of someone "who may be attempting to victimize a child over the Internet will have a significant slowing effect on the processing of child exploitation leads," said Richard Littlehale of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. "If that is acceptable, so be it, but it is a downstream effect that must be considered."

Littlehale's remarks to a … Read more

If you think standard security cameras are an invasion of your privacy, the Department of Homeland Security is testing a surveillance cam that puts others to shame.

It gives law enforcement high-def, 360-degree footage of a scene. The feeds are integrated with image-stitching technology.

The Imaging System for Immersive Surveillance (ISIS) under development at the department's Science and Technology Directorate is a hemispherical group of cameras that deliver a "high-res video quilt," according to the DHS.

The ultrawide camera system streams distortion-free, real-time stitched video and has a resolution capacity of 100 megapixels, which is "as … Read more

If you had a one-ton boat for which you no longer had any use, what would you do?

Would you give it to a former lover, the one who sailed off with your heart, your favorite books, and your Social Security number? Or would you offer it to some charity, in the hope that they would come to pick it up in a very large truck?

For some reason, a man in Santa Rosa County, Fla., chose none of these routes. Instead, according to the Pensacola News Journal, he dumped the boat in a subdivision that didn't yet enjoy … Read more

Surveillance cameras can be such a menace. We never really know these days whether someone is spying on us doing intimate, personal, but often necessary things.

Burger King in Brazil decided that, perhaps, a little surveillance might go a long way to create a large amount of customer loyalty.

You might think that their promise that you can "Have It Your Way" would not be entirely conducive to the use of secret cameras. However, in a very nifty and personal touch, they photographed customers secretly while they were ordering their burgers and then printed the customers' pictures on … Read more

"This kid looks like they're editing their MySpace page."

So declares an assistant principal at Intermediate School 339 in the Bronx borough of New York, a "former technology coach" (PDF) named Dan Ackerman (but not to be confused with CNET's Dan Ackerman). You might imagine that he's wandering around a classroom looking over kids' shoulders as they fiddle about on their laptops. You might imagine, then, that storks deliver milk as well as babies.

This remarkable 2009 footage from the PBS show "Frontline," promoted on its site earlier this month and … Read more