"Big Brother Goes To The Olympics"

www.cbsnews.com...

If you're going to the Olympics, you'd better be careful what you say and do in public.

Software will be watching and listening.

Recent leaps in technology have paired highly sophisticated software with street surveillance cameras to create digital security guards with intelligence-gathering skills.
The system � developed by a consortium led by San Diego-based Science Applications International Corp., or SAIC � cost about $312 million and took up a sizable chunk of Athens' record security budget of more than $1.5 billion.

It gathers images and audio from an electronic web of over 1,000 high-resolution and infrared cameras, 12 patrol boats, 4,000 vehicles, nine helicopters, a sensor-laden blimp and four mobile command centers.
Spoken words collected by the cameras with speech-recognition software are transcribed into text that is then searched for patterns along with other electronic communications entering and leaving the area � including e-mail and image files.

The system, which includes components already used by U.S. and British government intelligence agencies, covers all of greater Athens, nine ports, airports and all other Olympic cities.
Ikonomou said it "allows the users to manage a critical incident in the best way possible and in the shortest time possible because they have all the information in front of them."

The software used for surveillance camera recordings is designed to spot and rank possible risks, said Dionysios Dendrinos, general manager of One Siemens in Greece, one of the companies in the consortium.

"They can distinguish the sound of a flat tire from an explosion or a gunshot and inform the user at the command center of the incident," he said. "This is also the case with any anomaly in the picture, such as a traffic jam."

Technology also allows the users of the system at the main command center to save and analyze data from the surveillance network and beyond. And the material from the closed circuit cameras is kept for seven days, Ikonomou said, so specific incidents can be analyzed in depth.

Much of that analysis is enabled by software from London-based Autonomy Corp., whose clients include the U.S. National Security Agency, that parses words and phrases collected by surveillance cameras and in communications traffic.

In June, the Greek government expanded surveillance powers to screen mobile and fixed-line telephone calls during the Olympics.

"It listens, reads and watches," Dominic Johnson, Autonomy's chief marketing officer, said of his company's software. Then it synthesizes. Beyond Greek and English the software understands Arabic, Farsi and all major European languages, Johnson said.

Other companies in the SAIC consortium include Germany's Siemens AG; General Dynamics Corp. and Honeywell International Inc. of the United States; and the Israeli company Elbit Systems. Several Greek companies also are participating.

According to the contract, the system was to be delivered by May 28, but due to construction delays at some Olympic venues � such as the main Olympic stadium � it was delivered just weeks before the opening ceremony.

Nevertheless, Public Order Minister Giorgos Voulgarakis declared last week that all the security systems were in full deployment and working smoothly.

There'll be other sniffing going on, of course.

A network of sensors designed to detect chemical agents has also been deployed near Olympic venues and around the capital, including on the security blimp.

Advanced technology is also used in the creation of the Olympic credentials, which use such security features as holograms. All cardholder information, such as a person's photo and passport number, are printed on a very thin film designed to make the cards impossible to forge.

The digitally enhanced surveillance net may provide comfort to Olympics attendees, but not everyone is happy at authorities' computer-aided eyes and ears.

Several groups have held protests in recent months against what they say is an invasion of their privacy, and some demonstrators have spray-painted street cameras, seeking to blind them.

"The Olympic Games are accompanied with extended security measures that are unprecedented for Greece," six human rights groups said in a protest letter to Greek Parliament in July. "Although the state's right to take all necessary measures that it deems necessary is recognized, there is fear that these measures will have a negative impact on basic human rights."


Next step same computer in every big-city. AND then back to movie I, ROBOT

If you want to gain something, then you must lose something else. In this case Safety for little freedom. I think this is a great idea with the current threat with Terrorism.

...and with each step freedom becomes less and less in the name of security. If we continue down this path for very much longer books like 1984, The Giver, etc. will be one step closer to becoming a reality.

The rest of this year is going to determine a lot of things in humanity, and we must be very careful what we allow to happen to our world. The upcoming elections, strife and unrest in the Middle East, growing anger in the US and abroad about cover-ups and security, freedom being dampered in the name of the state...the list could go on.

The world has suddenly been turned upside down, and I believe the next 6 months or so may very well be the most important ones in the entire history of humanity.

PS- I dont know if I necessarily believe it completely or not, but isn't it interesting how we are slowing coming into the same situations that one Mr. Titor said awhile back. Hmmmmmm...

I am indeed worried.

Yes, the Giver was an excellent book... I also agree that we need to sacrifice some things to gain more of another thing. In this case we need to give up freedom for security.

There's not much to be worried about anyways. We can still go where ever we need to, and have lots of freetime. If we're not doing anything considered "bad" then it doesn't matter...

i can't help wondering if this is a test for a larger project in the future. it would be horrifyng if it was applied worldwide in the future.

i can't help wondering if this is a test for a larger project in the future. it would be horrifyng if it was applied worldwide in the future.

Just seconds before reading your comment Vapor I had the same idea popping around in my head. The Olympics is a perfect oppertunity to test alot of "stuff" all in the name of "our own safety". But I will certainly agree that it could really be for our own best.

What on earth would holograms be used for?

I had no idea that Athens spent more than 1 billion on security alone. That is huge. Lets just hope that there are no incidents like at the Atlanta games.

I cant believe that you guys think that its necessary to implement this system to monitor EVERYTHING that you do, that�s not security, this is TOTAL #ING CONTROL, the whole war on terror is a lie, its designed to get us to accept this total surveillance,

And yet this is another step,

Stop and think for moment at how each �terrorist attack� has been used to get the population to accept more so called Security measures, they will not stop until the have us Micro chipped and totally monitored,

They will keep scaring us, they will use terror to do this, and unless we say NO, and say it NOW we will keep sliding down this slippery pole.

So tell me, Andy......how is your life different? What specific freedoms have you lost? How is your life being impacted....specifically? Not anecdotally.

As far as I can see, the single one thing that has changed in my life since 9/11 is that I now occasionally must be searched at the airport when boarding a plane. And as far as I am concerned, they should have been doing that all along.

The vast (and I mean incredibly vast) majority of security changes implemented since 9/11 are completely transparent to the general public and only those persons who have something to hide should need be concerned. Which is a good thing.

Stop dreaming of Utopia and get back to reality. To quote a favorite songwriter of mine..

"You can't get something for nothing. You can't have freedom for free. You won't get wise with the sleep still in your eyes, no matter what your dream might be".

Well after watching that fan who had the advertisment for a gambling website painted on his chest just run up and jump into the pool, it looks like the billion+ spent on security is not so effective after all.