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List:       isn
Subject:    Watching the digital detectives (video/text recognition, privacy)
From:       mea culpa <jericho () DIMENSIONAL ! COM>
Date:       1999-08-19 10:43:49
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[Moderator: Even if this technology can do half of what it claims
 (and I don't doubt it), this could be one of the most serious
 blows to personal privacy yet. This is an article everyone should
 read.]


http://www.ft.com/hippocampus/q13c04e.htm

SURVEILLANCE: Watching the digital detectives
Software that analyses video tape has brought total surveillance a
step closer, says Alan Stewart

[snip..]

Now, in the real world, a new software technology that can analyse and
index video is being introduced by Cable News Network (CNN) to help it
keep its competitive edge. Of obvious interest to television news
companies, this video-searching capability is also being used by
security services on both sides of the Atlantic.

"We take the incoming video signal, whether it's off a tape or
satellite dish, and extract what we call 'metadata' or index data,"
says Paul Lego, chief executive of Virage, one of the suppliers of
video search software (see accompanying story). "We like to say we
watch, read, and listen to the video."

By 'watching' it, the software examines the frames of the video as
they are read in, and when the picture changes sufficiently, a
time-stamped 'key-frame' is stored in a database as metadata. If the
video contains text (either teletext or close-captioning), this is
'read' and also time-stamped.

The search software also 'listens' to the video, using an
International Business Machines speech-to-text system which identifies
speakers from a library of voices. "We can also, to a large degree,
understand what they're saying - at least, at the key-word level,"
explains Mr Lego. Transcription is not yet perfect, but an accuracy of
between 30 per cent (outdoors) and 90 per cent (in a studio) is
possible.

Users can search the database of metadata via the internet, by keying
in the name of a person and a topic. "You might get back five video
clips," says Mr Lego. "You can click on any of those and the software
will cue to the point where that subject is being talked about."

Mr Lego believes there is a huge government market for video analysis
software, with about a third of Virage's business already being for US
government agencies such as the FBI, CIA, Nasa, National Security
Agency, National Image Mapping Agency, and Joint Combat Camera
Command.

[snip..]

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