Many years ago surveillance meant hiring some beefy looking
man
to lurk around dark corners and hide out in hidden awayrooms. But
surveillance
is no longer so rudimentary. In fact it has grown to the point where the
biggest
surveillance isactually the smallest. The technological age of surveillance
began with the advent of video cassette recorders. Being able to record live
from acamera source and store it on a cassette tape as analog information was
priceless. This meant that evidence could now bepreserved for an extended
point
of time. The 1970's was the beginning of this revolution and saw
businesses as
well aslaw enforcement agencies using the technology. The mid 1970's in
Europe
saw the devices being used for not just security surveillance but were put to
use to monitortraffic patterns. Meanwhile, in the United States, the analog
surveillance systems were only primarily for businesssecurity but in the
1980's it made its way to the public arena. Insurance agencies thought of the
technology as a boon.They were soon using it to fight against false claims
from
workman's comp fraud to fake accidents. Other industries didnot waste any
time
jumping on the bandwagon.For private homeowners this technology was used to
record the worst in others and found its niche with private detectivesand
jealous spouses in the 70's and 80's to capture cheating spouses, naughty
neighbors and abuse. The evidence was usedoften in the judicial system to
provide irrefutable proof. For as great as video recording was for security
purposes, many people got tired and bored with always having toconstantly
replace tapes. They would either record a day and be reused right away or
they
just wore out because tape,as we know, does not last forever. The
technology at
the time was lackluster in night and lowlight recording which gota fix in
technology when the CCD camera was introduced. The new microchip technology
allowed the camera to boost thenatural light already present, much like the
night vision goggles worn by military personnel. The 90's gave birth to
digital multiplexing. It was expensive at the onset but soon became
affordable
so that you couldrecord on several cameras at the same time. The technology
brought with it time-lapse and motion sensitivity. Videotapewas spared an
early
demise by the technology. Banks saw the genius and in the mid-90's nearly
every ATM machine hadcameras installed in them. They were even added to the
World Trade Center after the first attack in 1993. Othergovernment agencies
followed suit. Agencies around the world followed the lead that the FBI
and CIA
set precedent forand soon after sports complexes added them to aid in
prosecuting rowdy fans and vandals. Digital video made its appearance in
the mid
to late 90's but was not very affordable until the computer revolution
hit.There would be no more tapes and the images would be much clearer than
they
had been with the analog technology. Months of data could be recorded to
computer
hard drives without ever having to worry about changing anything thanks
tocompression utilities and affordability. With this the validity of evidence
obtained was impossible to negate in courtwhereas analog was grainy and you
could refute it easier than you could digital which could be manipulated by
zooming inand out, panning, moving frame by frame, adding and removing among
other advanced editing techniques. The police departments around the United
States began installing digital cameras into their patrol cars so they
couldhave
evidence in court for traffic violations or in case something happened on a
so-called routine stop. Public buildingsand locations also saw the cameras
being
installed. They basically landed everywhere they could. With digital being
streaming media and no tape to use and the computer revolution still going
strong the technology isbecoming so cheap and getting smaller and smaller;
the
homeowner is now able to use surveillance to secretly film theirchildren,
spouse
or employer with a device dubbed nanny cams. Digital developers were now
feeling
the heat to make evensmaller devices like pinhole cameras.After the events of
9/11 the software companies that had been toying with software programs for
security use (and implementing beta versions) were now working overtime to
bring
peace of mind to the citizens of the United Statesby creating facial
recognition
software. This software would take an image of a person and match up key
points
that wouldrun through the countries database of mug shots to find a match
with
95% accuracy. The same software is also beinginstalled in schools, businesses
and of course in military installations.The Internet can now be used as a
surveillance tool as well. Homeowners can place wireless cameras in their
homes
whichsend information back to the computer in the home which streams the
video
to a secure web site that can viewed fromanywhere in the world where they
have
internet access. Camera phones are the new must have of every person on the
planet. We want to capture funny moments on our phones be itstill photos or
small movie clips. They will soon replace those obtrusive traffic cams
once the
technology has advanceda little bit more. If you watch YouTube or any
video site
on the world wide web then you are familiar with streaming video. The
technologythat fuels streaming video and high speed internet services has
increased exponentially over the last five years and withthis increased
technology as well as camera phones it is likely that in the next several
years
the law enforcementagencies, security groups and military installations will
putting them to use by attaching small camera phones that canbe routed
directly
into the phone service. This would mean the signal would be sent real time
over
the phone linesallowing someone on the other end to immediately view the
information and act upon it quickly and efficiently. Real-Time - Occurring
immediately. The term is used to describe a number of different computer
features. For example,real-time operating systems are systems that respond to
input immediately. They are used for such tasks as navigation,in which the
computer must react to a steady flow of new information without interruption.
Most general-purpose operatingsystems are not real-time because they can
take a
few seconds, or even minutes, to react.
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