Phone tapping is Passé : Make Way for Face-tapping

 

Context :

Mumbai: 470 CCTV cameras with face recognition to help fight crime on WR    

Extract :

The CCTV cameras on the Western Railway will now be used to fight crime too. 2,600 cameras have been installed on the line. Of these, 470 are equipped with facial recognition technology. The Mumbai police, Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Government Railway Police (GRP) have started feeding the data of history sheeters in it. "The CCTV cameras with face recognition will help detect criminals and send an alert. This will keep the railway premises safe," said a WR official.

The Russian-made cameras can simultaneously identify 50 people in a single frame. They have heat sensing technology to identify locations with a large gathering on the station premises.

The cameras will also be used to search for missing people. The rejigged surveillance and video analytics will cover the platforms, entry/exit points at stations, foot over bridges, concourse area and compartments.

It will also help keep the premises clean with colour-coded indicators. Data will be fed on the expected parameters of cleanliness. If the levels drop, it will beam a certain colour to alert the officials.

Such data can also be monitored at the centralised command center at Mumbai Central, which is being set up at cost of Rs 5 crore.

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Additional input from Times of India ( 05 Sept 2021 ) :

Ø  Total No of Cameras……………………. 2,729

Ø  Full HD fixed………………………………… 2,029

Ø  4K fixed…………………………………………   521

Ø  Full HD PTZ………………………………………179

FEATURES :

Ø  Facial Recognition System

It captures multiple samples of face and matches with BLACKLISTED PERSONS. Catches crime suspect’s face from pre-recorded CCTV feeds and has PHOTOS of CRIMINALS obtained from law enforcement agencies

Ø  Intrusion Detection

Alarm is generated if system detects people crossing tracks at PLATFORM ENDS, people entering railways operation areas, objects on tracks

Ø  Left Object Detection

Overcrowding / Alarm is generated as soon as people converge at a single place, above a threshold

MY  TAKE :

Ø  In thousands of cities around the world, Police Departments have installed CCTV to catch criminals

( see link below )

Ø  Mumbai Police should use these CCTV cameras to identify persons running high temperature ( one of the early symptoms of COVID ), as suggested in :

Marriage of Technologies to contain Corona ? Yes ! ( 15 Mar 2020 )

 Every year, hundreds of people die ( get crushed under local trains )

 in Mumbai , while crossing tracks, not only at “ Platform Ends “ but

 also along 100 + km of tracks

     I urge Railway Authorities to install such CCTV cameras all along the

     full length of the tracks to save such reckless persons, using the

     EMP technology described at :

 

        

 #  Indian Railways : A Trillion Dollar Opportunity [ 03 Sept 2016 ]

 #    Not so Futuristic ?.......................................... [ 11 Sept 2016 ]

 #    A Prabhu – on – Earth ?.................................. [ 19 Aug 2017 ]

 #    Killer Tracks of Mumbai Locals ……………………….. [ 23 Mar 2018 ]

 

Ø  The news report talks about a rather “ novel application “ of those CCTV cameras on Railway Stations ( approx. 100 / Station ) , which will “ alert “ the railway officials of any portion of the platform which is “ dirty “ ( below the expected parameters of cleanliness )

       Even though, to begin with, we may not want to punish ( and / or “

       reward “ ? ) the Station Master for  the “ Cleanliness Index “ of the

       platform, I urge the Authorities to, at least EVOLVE ( totally

       automatically) and publish such an INDEX ( on “ Train Arrival

       Indicators “ ) , as described at :

         

        2 DOWN : 1 TO GO ! …………………………………….[  11 Dec 2015 ]

         Extract :

 

             After installing those 50,000 video cameras , use following

            software ( embedded in a computerized CCTV network ) to

            compute the monthly salary of each ward officer :

            

            Salary Payable ( divided by ) / Payroll Salary  =

 

              ( Length of footpath in his ward clear of encroachment x

               Percentage of time free of encroachment )

 

              divided by 

 

             ( Total Length of footpath x Total Hours in that Month )

             ie: Ratio of  " Clear Kilometer*Hours  /  Total Kilometer*Hours "

 

          Then expect miracle of E-Governance thru innovative digitization !

 

 

Ø  Of late, Supreme Court is hearing a PIL ( filed by Shri Prashant Bhushan ? ) re: the legality / the procedure to be followed / govt. agencies responsible etc., to authorize , “ PHONE TAPPING “

 

Now a CCTV network carries out FACE-TAPPING ( of millons of citizen / 24x7 / without any agency to authorise )

 

Although high profile Politicians – Stars – Celebrities – Industrialists – Businessmen – Religious Leaders etc., do not travel by trains ( - hence never visit a railway platform ), they ALL do travel by Planes

 

World-over ( and a beginning has also been made in India ), airports are installing devices for  “ Automatic Check-in Using Facial Recognition “

 

In course of time, these devices may require the traveller to bring his mobile phone in close proximity to that Face Recognition Check-in Device ( - even this may not be required with BlueTooth / NFC )

 

When that happens, it would be possible for that DEVICE to pick-up the full Contact Details stored on that mobile. Also entire CALL HISTORY

 

Who knows, like a DATA BLACK-HOLE, that Airport Check-in device can even “ suck in “, your entire CONVERSATION AUDIO LOG ( pulled from the servers of Mobile Service Providers )

 

No need for any Government Law Enforcement Agency to request GEO-FENCING !

 

All without any government Agency needing to AUTHORISE any phone-tapping !

 

The Petitioners / Supreme Court / Lawyers / IT Minister etc., should take cognizance of this ,

 

“  Shape of Things to Come “

 

IT IS ONLY A MATTER OF ( SHORT ) TIME BEFORE WHAT I DESCRIBED ABOVE HAPPENS

 

And when that happens ( no question of “ if “ ), some Indian Geek would have made this possible

 

Those who have doubts, should read :

 

 

  This new AI tool from Google could change the way we search online

Extract :

 

Ø  We first heard about MUM back at the Google I/O developer’s conference in the spring, when  Prabhakar Raghavan, senior vice president at Google, unveiled it.

Ø  The new tech is the natural evolution of machine-learning based search that Google has been refining and modifying over the last decade.

 Google boasts that MUM is able to acquire deep knowledge of the world, understand language and generate it, and train across 75 languages at once.

Ø  There’s also internal pilots testing if it can be multimodal—that is, able to simultaneously understand different forms of information like text, images, and video.

 

        With regards,

        Hemen Parekh  /  hcp@RecruitGuru.com  /  07 Sept 2021    

 

 

 

RELATED  READINGS :

 

Beware ! Employees of popular apps have access to your data  /  BL  /  06 Sept 2021

Extract :

Ø  While it is an open secret that most new-age Internet companies have access to our data, little is known about who is getting to see that data, and how much data they have.

An Even ‘Hacking’ Field – Government Surveillance Bill Passed by Parliament   / National Law Review / 31 Aug

Extract :

The new warrants provide the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission with the power to:

1.     Modify or delete the data of suspected offenders (data disruption warrants)

2.     Collect intelligence on criminal networks (network activity warrants), and

3.     Take control of a suspected offenders’ online account (account takeover warrants).

 

Chennai has the most number of CCTV cameras per sqkm in the world      /   TOI  /  07 Jan 2021

 

Extract :

Ø  Number of CCTV cameras :

#     Beijng……………….. 10.1  Lakh   ( 278 / Sq Km  )

#    London………………..  6.6  Lakh   (  399 / Sq Km  )

#    Hyderabad……………  3.0  Lakh   (  480 / Sq Km  )

#    Chennai………………….2.8  Lakh   (  657 / Sq Km  )

 

Ø  CCTV undoubtedly plays a crucial role in solving crimes now, as with any crime the first thing that is taken into account is the CCTV camera footage.

Delhi also features in the top ten list with 289 CCTV cameras per sqkm. While Chennai has 25 cameras per 1000 people, Delhi has only 14 cameras per 1000 people. These numbers are low when compared to London, and Beijing.

The CCTV cameras certainly add to the safety of any city, however there comes the question of privacy.

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Mangroves across Mumbai to get CCTV cameras    /   HT    /  07 Sept 2021

279 CCTV cameras will be set up in Mumbai Metropolitan Region in three phases, which is expected to cost ₹35 crore over the next five years