Kelly thinks there’s no better time than right now to install more surveillance cameras around New York City, especially considering the recent events in Boston earlier this month — the two suspects responsible for the Boston Marathon bombings were identified with security cameras that were placed on Boston streets.

Kelly says that “the privacy issue has really been taken off the table,” meaning that while people may be concerned about being monitored while out in public, it doesn’t seem to be too much of a concern for Kelly. He says that the “genie is out of the bottle,” and most people accept the fact that they’re being watched in public, whether they like it or not.

The NYPD currently take advantage of “smart cameras” that are laid out in Lower Manhattan. The police department has been using these for almost a decade, and they’re there to identify potential threats such as unattended bags left on sidewalks for an extended amount of time. When the cameras detect something suspicious, it sends out an alarm.

An unattended bag was the exact situation in the Boston Marathon bombings, and had these smart cameras been installed on Boston streets, the fiasco could have been avoided. That’s Kelly’s frame of mind, at least. In any case, we now live in a day and age where there’s really no such thing as privacy out in the public, and once you leave your house, you’re subject to surveillance cameras everywhere.

[via Reason]

Many lawmakers believed that if there are more security cameras installed in cities, it would help speed up the process of identifying suspects and catching them before they get very far. Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York, states that they had recently increased surveillance in New York’s midtown and downtown areas due to the tragic events of the Boston bombings. He says,

“The Boston bombing is a terrible reminder of why we’ve made these investments—including camera technology that could help us deter an attack, or investgate and apprehend those involved. [The added video surveillance can] alert police to abnormalities it detects on the street, such as an abandoned package that is left on a corner.”

However, calls for extra video surveillance has left many privacy advocates concerned. They believe that increasing video surveillance can be a potential invasion of privacy for the general public. They also state that since the authorities were able to track down the Boston bombers within only a few days, there really isn’t any need for any extra surveillance tools. A lawyer for the Electronic Privacy Information Center, Alan Butler, says,

“It’s one thing to have private closed-circuit cameras and look at feeds after the fact. It’s very different if you’re talking about systems of cameras identifying and tracking people over time, all the time. Especially if you couple that with facial recognition and license-plate readers and databases.”

Alongside installing more video cameras in cities, Senator Lindsey Graham, Representative of South Carolina, says that drones should also be utilized as they would be able to help track down suspects more quickly. Authorities utilized tons of surveillance footage from nearby stores, restaurants, businesses, and even people snapping pictures with their smartphones. By piecing all of the footage together, they were able to quickly identify the suspects. By installing better security cameras in cities, with facial recognition and other improved technologies, authorities believe that they can keep the public more safe. What are your thoughts on increasing surveillance in cities?

[via The Wall Street Journal]

According to an IRS 2009 Search Warrant Handbook discovered by the American Civil Liberties Union, the IRS says,

“Emails and other transmissions generally lose their reasonable expectation of privacy and thus their Fourth Amendment protection once they have been sent from an individual’s computer.”

The ACLU says that under the currently outdated Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA), if an email is in an email provider’s server for more than 180 days, or has been opened, it does not require a warrant to access. Authorities can access the emails with just an administrative subpoena. Luckily, the ruling in the U.S v. Warshak protects individuals from unreasonable searches by the government. However, the main fear is whether or not the IRS would be abiding by the Warshak ruling throughout the entire country, or if its only going to be abiding by it throughout the Sixth Circuit.

When the IRS issued edits to its Internal Revenue Manual in March 2011, one year after the Warshak ruling, it still decided to keep its original policy. The manual states that under ECPA,

Investigators can obtain everything in an account except for unopened e-mail or voice mail stored with a provider for 180 days or less using a [relevant-and-material-standard]court order.

Even on today’s date, the Internal Revenue Manual retains the same policy that a warrant is not required to search emails stored for more than 180 days. The IRS strongly believes that emails, or any form of communication held in electronic storage, is not protected by the Fourth Amendment. Back in 2009, the IRS Criminal Tax Division’s Office of Chief Counsel stated,

“The Fourth Amendment does not protect communications held in electronic storage, such as email messages stored on a server, because internet users do not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in such communications.”

The office echoed its stance in 2010 at a presentation, stating, “4th Amendment Does Not Protect Emails Stored on Server.” Luckily for us, a lot of companies are all fighting to protect your information and your rights. Amazon, Apple, AT&T, eBay, Google, Intel, Microsoft, Twitter, and many advocacy groups have all asked Congress to update the ECPA to make it clear to the IRS, and other authorities, that they need warrants to access someone’s private, electronic conversations.

[via CNET]

What you’re seeing above and below are several examples of the software and hardware you’ll be using when you team up with LenovoEMC. The hardware you’ll be picking up will be using the fabulous Milestone Arcus software you’re getting a glimpse of here. You’ll be able to roll out with a one-year software update plan for prices starting at $1,100 USD.

With your brand new network-connected video surveillance system you’ll be working with both automated configuration and setup. You’ll also have motion detection in each of the cameras that you’re picking up as well as mobile live viewing, alerts and playback, and evidence exporting. You can go as mobile as you like!

Several setups are being prepared for you right this minute:

• Double-drive px2-300d with 4TB of storage and four camera licenses (starting at $1,100)
• Four-drive px4-300d with 4TB and eight camera licenses.
• Four-drive px4-300d with 8TB and 16 camera license.

Have a peek at another update from LenovoEMC for more network storage from Iomega – they’re working hand-in-hand to keep you up-to-date no matter what you’re storing!

The Xbox 720 has been tipped as currently being distributed to developers under code-name Durango. Under that code-name we’ve seen a collection of information leaks large and small over the past year or so, with quite a few more than usual stacking up over the past few months. Today a source is speaking with Kotaku about this developer unit complete with a note that the features included on this unit will, for the most part, be included on the final Xbox build as well.

One element in play on this device appears to be a requirement for the new and improved Kinect camera sensor to be plugged in and active whenever you’re operating your Xbox. That’s all well and good, right? No harm in having a piece of the device plugged in as long as it’s not recording me playing Halo with uncombed hair, yes? Not if it has any implementation of Patent 20120278904 it’s not.

That patent application goes by the name Content Distribution Regulation by Viewing User. This application is for a “content presentation system and method” (the Xbox with Kinect, in this case) allowing content providers (Microsoft or whatever video company is participating) to “regulate the presentation of content on a per-user-view basis.” With this system Microsoft describes how “the users consuming the content on a display device are monitored so that if the number of user-views licensed is exceeded, remedial action may be taken.”

We must assume that this means the video being watched will throw up a warning sign, and now that the Xbox will explode into flame, of course. The same source as mentioned above has provided the image you see above this paragraph, this image coming from a specifications manual provided to developers (or so they say) here in the pre-release calm before the storm. This new Xbox 720 system will be able to not only see more “skeletons” than before (6 in one room!) it’ll have additional contact points – thumbs and all.

Have a peek at the timeline below to see more insights on what the Xbox 720 might bring later this year. And don’t forget – the Xbox 720 isn’t actually confirmed to in existence in any capacity by Microsoft as yet. We’ll hear from them soon – we hope!

The Stealth Wear hoodie functions in a simple manner — by blocking thermal radiation, which is how the drones “see.” Without being able to sense the body heat, the drone will only see the parts of the body not concealed by the hoodie: face, hands, and legs, for example. The Steal Wear is expensive to produce, and cannot be purchased from an ordinary store, although it is reported that the item will be available for purchase.

In addition to the hoodie, Harvey has also created a scarf that works in a similar manner, making one’s neck and face seem black to a drone. For those concerned about the health effects of the x-ray machines in airports, he has also created a t-shirt with a design said to safeguard the wearer’s heart from radiation. Finally, he has also produced a cell phone pouch to block radio signals and prevent tracking.

Starting today, Harvey is showing off his Stealth Wear items at an exhibition with Primitive London, which is set to run until the 31st. The items showcased were made with the help of designer Johanna Bloomfield, and are demonstrated during the exhibit with real-world tests used to reveal the “process behind each technology and counter technology.” Says Harvey, these items are a way to explore the realm of privacy and surveillance.

[via Discovery]

The president has long been expected to sign the bill, so we’re certainly not surprised by the official passing of the bill. He said earlier this year that that his administration “strongly” supported the House bill and its ability to “ensure the continued availability of this critical intelligence capability.”

A number of proposed amendements that would have required greater government transparency and a quicker expiration of the program were shot down, though. While the bill does not allow the government to specifically target any individual American citizen, the longstanding problem of innocent citizens’ communication records being swept up and reviewed without a warrant continues to be a concern for many.

The President’s signature of the bill extension comes after a Senate vote last week that saw a vote of 73 to 23, where almost all Republicans favored the bill, with most Democrats also supporting the bill. Previously, the House of Representatives passed the bill with a vote of 301 to 118, with a larger number of both Republicans and Democrats supporting the bill.

[via The Hill]

Image via Flickr

The bill passed with flying colors through the House of Representatives back in September, with 301 voting for and 118 against. However, the bill isn’t official just yet. It still has to be signed by President Obama, but he said that his administration “strongly” supports the bill, which means it’s on track to be extended just before the original law expires on December 31st.

In 2007, the Senate voted to grant blanket immunity to companies like AT&T, which conspired with the NSA to monitor conversations without government oversight after 9/11. Today’s vote continues that immunity. Phone calls, text messages, and emails are all fair game, and a judge doesn’t have to give the OK, as long as it’s in the name of counterterrorism.

However, users should be worried and angry over the bill. The Electronic Frontier Foundation says that in order to be considered as a terrorism threat, the communications only have to deal with “foreign intelligence information,” which is quite a broad term that can mean virtually anything. One secret FISA order can be issued against groups or categories of people that can potentially affect “hundreds of thousands of Americans at once.”

[via The Verge]

Other than using the Domain Awareness System to help fight crime within New York City, the city is also making money off the system itself. According to New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the city of New York gets a 30% cut when a system is sold to another city in the future. There is no indication of how much the system costs, but it has to be expensive.

The money earned from sales of the system to other cities will go to New York’s counter-terrorism and crime-prevention programs. Officially, the Domain Awareness System is described as a sophisticated law enforcement technology that’s able to aggregate and analyze existing public-safety data streams in real-time. The system is capable of providing the NYPD and analysts with a comprehensive look at potential threats and criminal activity.

This sounds more than a little like the system used in the TV show “Person of Interest.” Some key facts include that the Domain Awareness System gathers no new information on residents of the city. The system is used to centralize existing information to make it easier for police and analysts to access and use.

[via Betabeat]