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blog (coffee shop)
by George Orwell's novel 1984 was written in 1948. This brilliant novel was a senior English "must read" when I attended high school. At the time, technology was very limited and 1984 seemed like only a futuristic fiction. On the other hand, today we see similar technological abilities in traffic monitoring, shopping center parking lot security, etc.
When watching movies like Bourne Supremacy and Enemy of the State, I wonder if the N.S.A. has anywhere near this capability in the real world or if it's just glorified Hollywood entertainment?
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That's my opinion. We've had a bunch of news threads over the past year regarding the intelligence wiretaps and AT&T. But that's not exactly anything new, the Puzzle Palace pretty much describes how the NSA got into bed with every telco pretty much since the phone network began. Given a digitized phone network, it's a simple matter of course for them to be able to listen to any call if desired. So as far as that is portrayed in Hollywood, I wouldn't think twice about doubting it since given the appropriate physical tie-ins (which they have) it's easy.
No regarding the little guys in the vans or the operations rooms who immediately have access to traffic cameras or 7-11 cameras or ATM cameras in order to have a view of everything ... I don't buy it. AFTER THE FACT, sure, it's just a matter of having a subpoena and taking the tapes or getting a copy of the feed. But all the feeds connected in such a way that a software tool can access them and decode the variety of encoding systems or whatever on a live basis ... not happening. I doubt that most of those systems are networked anyhow. What I REALLY can't stand is when they crowd around a fuzzy image from a camera and draw a little square around a guy's face and do "three enhancements" before looking at a crystal clear view of a guy. Dudes, I don't care what kind of filtering algorithms you have - you're not recovering more detail than the original pixels were able to capture. Especially from crappy cameras that have been sitting out in the weather for years!
Now the satellite images ... I think Enemy of the State portrayed the concept very well and correctly described the nature of the satellite only being able to look straight down. There's probably special satellites that can be requested to sit over a location for a particular purpose ... but those are limited and anybody that's dealt with satellite controllers knows there's more than a "few people" in the loop regarding satellite requisitions. So you're not going to keep illegal satellite use under wraps TOO much because there are a lot of loose ends to notice stuff deviating from authorized procedure. As far as regular satellites and imagery go, those requests need to go in so that a scheduled pass from an orbitting satellite can can take pictures when its in position. But if the action is happening and nothing is overhead, the orders of some frustrated intel agent certainly isn't going to get a satellite to just "fly over" since orbits don't work like that. Now the day we get little drones flying over America ... that'll be a different story.
Hmm some places have great cameras..I once crossed the toll plaza from MD to DE, and was accidentally in the EZ Pass Lane (my view was blocked by a large semi, alas). A couple of weeks later, I received a letter from the DE DOT detailing my violation and asking for $2.00. In the letter was a photo of me, my car and a VERY clear shot of my license plate. They got their $2.00.
But overall, I tend to agree with you on the whole ATM thing..But---there was this guy who used to come into the local coffee shop. He fully believed that they were watching us (more specifically HIM) from everywhere, to include the TV. TV and Radio are two-way devices back to the super secret subset of the NSA he used to work for. They listened to, recorded and analyzed EVERYONE in the US through all of our electronic devices. Oh the tales he would weave...If he had written them down, he could have had a rather lucrative career in the dime-novel world of "Mack Bolan" and books of that ilk..
Digital communication--there were stories back a few years ago about the 'Echelon' project. My understanding is that nearly every digital conversation--phone, chat, etc.-- could be recorded, scanned, pattern analyzed, etc. Echelon was supposed to do this on a global scale. I figure the digital world is eavesdropped on all of the time; nothing is sacred not even the words I'm typing here.
Hmm some places have great cameras..I once crossed the toll plaza from MD to DE, and was accidentally in the EZ Pass Lane (my view was blocked by a large semi, alas). A couple of weeks later, I received a letter from the DE DOT detailing my violation and asking for $2.00. In the letter was a photo of me, my car and a VERY clear shot of my license plate. They got their $2.00.
True - a lot of the newer systems are featuring significantly better cameras than the old 320x200 cameras of the past. Still, the good cameras come at the cost of being located on locations with money (like toll plazas) or bank security, etc. The black and white footage from a franchise 7-11? Still sucks. Traffic cams along I-95? Still pretty bad other than letting you see the weather and how congested a road is.
I think a lot of it has to do with field of view as well. Take the traffic cam for example - it's purpose is not to read license plates but to show a swath of highway. It can do that with a wide angle lens and a low resolution. Now, the camera that nabbed your felonious joyride through the EZ-pass (grin) probably had a much narrower field of view aimed to catch the license plate, make of car, etc. Was it a black-n-white image? Many of those higher resolution cameras make use of infrared imagery to work day or night and to penetrate license plate obscuring scams.
Digital communication--there were stories back a few years ago about the 'Echelon' project. My understanding is that nearly every digital conversation--phone, chat, etc.-- could be recorded, scanned, pattern analyzed, etc. Echelon was supposed to do this on a global scale. I figure the digital world is eavesdropped on all of the time; nothing is sacred not even the words I'm typing here.
That sounds strangely familiar, I'll need to Google a little to refresh my memory. Now if only the eavesdropping NSA folks would participate on OmniNerd - we could get some cooler conversations going!
True - a lot of the newer systems are featuring significantly better cameras than the old 320x200 cameras of the past. Still, the good cameras come at the cost of being located on locations with money (like toll plazas) or bank security, etc.
No argument there, and my 'feloneous' ride was photographed by a b&w camera, so it could have been IR. Even though it only cost me the price of the normal 'ride' through (though, if I hadn't paid in in 10 days, it would have cost me $25 more), I'm still more cautious these days--I try not to get caught up in any 'packs' when heading toward toll plazas.
I had only owned the car 6 hours when I got nabbed too..LOL..I was heading for CT for some R&R.
The Koreans have virtually zero police on their MSR highways to monitor for speeding. Everything was done with radar triggered cameras. Their system was old enough though to have a significant lag on the shutter system which meant I went 2.5 years getting only one speeding ticket. The speeding ticket is what proved the lag to me since it reported me going somewhere around 10 or 20 kph over the speed limit. It never caught me going my usual 60+. The best part is the day I received my ticket (also a picture of me driving my Kia Pride with spider web decalled hood, fuzzy dice in the mirror and leopard skin seat covers around a corner) was the day I'd swapped out my license plates ... meaning it was no longer "me".
It seems like we just had a news story about the "Biometric Database" that is being assembled. There will eventually have to be more and better cameras in order for this project to be useful to anyone. It will start in the cities. How they'll monitor us country folk is anybody's guess. Cameras in trees? (Wouldn't it be funny if they hooked the cameras up to a network and Google found them all?)
Anyway, if this all begins to get too intrusive, I'm going to spray myself down with PhotoBlocker™ spray. (ldsudduth could have saved himself $2.00 by spending $29.99 + shipping on this stuff.)
Fear is one catalyst that will allow this sort of surveillance to creep up on us. There is probably a much greater danger from self-absorption, apathy and plain ignorance from people that will pave the way for a "Big Brother" society. If everyone is fed, warm and entertained, why make waves?
Do you think someone or some device is listening to everything you say? Is big Brother taking photographs with recognition software. When you are just walking around the White House you really see nothing other than a few sercurity officers, but you get the feeling you are being watched. I would hope in a location like this, that they would pull out all of the stops, day and night with thermal imagers, and technologies we have never even heard of, but a Cessna 150L managed to slam into White House. Just makes me wonder how much is fact and how much is Hollywood.
Well - I'm pretty impressed that handheld point & shoot digital cameras feature multiple face recognition and tracking. It must be pretty easy for high dollar surveillance cameras to do the same. Didn't they do that at the SuperBowl two years ago looking for known felons?
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The Puzzle Palace by VnutZ :: NR8 :: on 27 January 2008
You should read The Puzzle Palace. It was published in 1983 as one of the few permitted tour/interview/documentaries of the NSA. After reading it, remind yourself that it's technology from 25 years ago!!!
RE: The Puzzle Palace by milhous :: NR6 :: on 28 January 2008
I agree. Also Dan Brown's Digital Fortress, although fiction, is based on factual evidence, if not just an entertaining read.
And if you really want a true idea of the technology that the NSA has, if you are in the Cape Canaveral, FL area, take a tour of N.A.S.A. and see some of the cool technology they have.....it is eye opening.