{"id":5049,"date":"2011-01-03T04:48:08","date_gmt":"2011-01-02T08:57:57","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-01-02T08:57:57","slug":"en-US","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/?p=5049","title":{"rendered":"NYT: “Computers That See You and Keep Watch Over You”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Yesterday’s NYT: Computers That See You and Keep Watch Over You<\/a> by Steve Lohr. The story is about “computer-vision” where computers analyze facial and body patterns, looking for helpful information. The story starts in with a prison training exercise where the computer is analyzing inmates’ actions for signs of trouble.<\/p>\n

A computer-vision system can watch a hospital room and remind doctors and nurses to wash their hands, or warn of restless patients who are in danger of falling out of bed. It can, through a computer-equipped mirror, read a man\u2019s face to detect his heart rate and other vital signs. It can analyze a woman\u2019s expressions as she watches a movie trailer or shops online, and help marketers tailor their offerings accordingly. Computer vision can also be used at shopping malls, schoolyards, subway platforms, office complexes and stadiums.<\/p>\n

All of which could be helpful \u2014 or alarming.<\/p>\n

\u201cMachines will definitely be able to observe us and understand us better,\u201d said Hartmut Neven, a computer scientist and vision expert at Google. \u201cWhere that leads is uncertain.\u201d<\/p>\n

. . .<\/p>\n

Despite such qualms, computer vision is moving into the mainstream. With this technological evolution, scientists predict, people will increasingly be surrounded by machines that can not only see but also reason about what they are seeing, in their own limited way.<\/p>\n

The uses, noted Frances Scott, an expert in surveillance technologies at the National Institute of Justice, the Justice Department\u2019s research agency, could allow the authorities to spot a terrorist, identify a lost child or locate an Alzheimer\u2019s patient who has wandered off.<\/p>\n

The future of law enforcement, national security and military operations will most likely rely on observant machines. A few months ago, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Pentagon\u2019s research arm, awarded the first round of grants in a five-year research program called the Mind\u2019s Eye. Its goal is to develop machines that can recognize, analyze and communicate what they see. Mounted on small robots or drones, these smart machines could replace human scouts. \u201cThese things, in a sense, could be team members,\u201d said James Donlon, the program\u2019s manager. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

b2evALnk.b2WPAutP Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"pingsdone","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5049","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5049","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5049"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5049\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fourthamendment.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}