The parallels between fiction and real life have always been amazing. Science fiction and futuristic fiction gadgets have often predicted gadgets which have actually found expression in real life years later. So now Brazilian police are getting sunglasses inspired from the movie, RoboCop. These sunglasses use face recognition technology to scan faces and pick out criminals.

The sunglasses actually have a high speed camera which can scan as many 400 people in a second and compare the biometric features wirelessly with a data base of known criminals. If there is a positive match, a red light will come on, telling the officer of the fact and he will also receive instructions as to what to do next. (more…)

The news wires have been afire the last couple of days with regard to the Apple iPhone storing sensitive tracking information. Apple has been tight lipped about the process to date, and are under a lot of pressure from numerous avenues.

What Does it Do?

Late Wednesday at a conference technology experts Pete Warden and Alasdair Allen announced that they had discovered that the iOS4 upload for iPhones and iPads tracked users whereabouts. The report goes on to inform readers that the devices have hidden files that contain a running log as to the users location in longitude and latitude, including time stamped information.

All of this information is maintained on the device and then also uploaded to a PC once connection is made. (more…)

News of the World has admitted to its complicity in the phone hacking scandal which has been dogging its footsteps for years now. Its parent company News International has offered an unreserved apology and admission of liability ‘in certain civil cases that meet specific criteria’. This has come after more than four years of consistent online denials.

It has apparently set aside £20 million to compensate victims of its hacking. Over the years, it has come to out of court settlements with many of those whose phones had been hacked into and some cases are still pending as the victims refused to settle. News of the World privately admitted that there may be as many 100 victims in the phone tapping scandal. News International, however, still holds that it will continue to pursue cases where it feels that there is no legitimate claim. (more…)

In existence and use are highly advanced scanners which can scan people and even objects. But the current scanners have some limitations. Now a scanner has been made which can detect hidden objects in solids. It uses millimeter wave and microwave signals in real time and special software decodes all the information.

It can thus detect objects in structures and solids and display the images on the computer. The focus can be moved so that the entire structure can be scanned. Originally developed in 2007, researchers led by Dr. Reza Zoughi at Missouri S&T have developed a device which is smaller in size and more efficient. Research is still ongoing to find a system which can show images in 3D. (more…)

Not too long back, witnesses looked through photos of criminals in files or albums and tried to identify them or match them with the person they saw. If required, or if they could not identify the person, they would sit with the artist and get sketches made. With computerization all this has become much easier. It becomes easier to make the sketches and go through all the pictures. Of course this helps only if witnesses have actually seen the criminal and it is not going to be of much help if the perpetrator has worn a disguise like a mask. (more…)

A small virtually invisible camera clipped to the uniform of the police officer can help fight crime. When police officers go to a crime scene to talk to people, they either take notes or also take photos. But if they wear video recorders, they will have to do neither, as the camera will record everything.

In West Michigan, police officers are wearing body cameras to capture crime scenes. This way there is less room for error and other officers, too, can see and hear what has been recorded. These tiny body cams cost only about $100. Many police cars have cameras on their dashboards, but these have limitations as the cruiser has to be close enough to record. (more…)

The British economy is suffering huge monetary losses as cyber crime figures keep mounted. Current estimates are £27 billion – a staggering figure. The major chunk of the loss is borne by British businesses, the sum estimated being £21 billion. The rest is dividing into losses by the government and citizens.

Unfortunately these figures are only guesstimates – the actual losses may be higher as many companies simply don’t report losses due to fear of brand erosion or damage to their reputation. Security minister Baroness Neville-Jones met industrial leaders to start work on a program to battle this very real threat. (more…)

People living in England and Wales simply have to go to the police.uk website, enter their postal code and get a plethora of information regarding all kinds of crimes in their neighbourhood. They will learn of crimes like burglary, robbery, vehicle crime, violence, other crime (including rapes and sexual crimes) and anti-social behaviour, put in respective categories, which have taken place near their homes. And it appears millions have gone on the site on its first day of the site going live.

They will also learn about the police officers in charge of that area, the appeals issued by the police and details of community meetings. The Home Office hopes that this will bring a level of transparency to the whole process, as well as keeping people informed. It will also make the police more accountable. (more…)