I Seek You ARE NEW SECURITY TECHNOLOGIES WORTH the COST? by WENDY M
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news SCAN SECURITY I Seek You ARE NEW SECURITY TECHNOLOGIES WORTH THE COST? BY WENDY M. GROSSMAN ithin hours of the September 11 at- ception is a January/February 2001 study tacks, even rabid civil libertarians published in Australasian Science that tenta- W were talking about the need for na- tively concluded that the few profilers who tional identification systems, giant linked agreed to be tested (only five did, out of TK databases, face-recognition technology, NUMBER who were asked) performed slight- closed-circuit television (CCTV) monitors, ly better than competing groups of detectives, biometric authentication, profiling and in- psychologists, scientists, and, pulling up the creased government wiretapping powers. rear, civilians and psychics. Some of these measures—particularly, more Media hype and overblown claims by latitude in wiretapping—have already been firms selling the technology—several compa- enacted as law, as security services around the nies involved in biometrics, the field that at- world have seemingly dusted off every plan tempts to identify people through their bio- once deemed too invasive and logical traits, hired lobbyists in October— presented it to legislatures. If to don’t help. Take, for example, the idea of gain security in the U.S. we must combining face recognition with CCTV sys- compromise some of the liberties tems to scan airport terminals for suspected that have been considered essen- terrorists. In the camera-filled U.K., the Lon- tial, at least we should be rea- don borough of Newham claimed its pilot sonably sure that such measures scheme produced a 21 percent drop in crimes will be worth the money and lost “against the person” and unprecedented de- liberty. Yet based on current uses creases in criminal property damage, vehicle- of the security technology, there related crime, and burglary. In August 2001 is reason to remain skeptical. the U.K. approved a further £79 million Most of the proposed tech- (about $120 million) for 250 new CCTV nologies are not only controver- schemes. Simon Davies, a fellow at the Lon- sial but also expensive, slow and don School of Economics and executive di- Chirographi plane comiter complicated to deploy. Most are either un- rector of Privacy International, estimates that praemuniet satis lascivius matrimonii, semper ossifragi tried or untested on the necessary scale and the country already has at least 1.5 million carry risks that are not well understood. Sol- CCTV cameras in place. id scientific data are frequently lacking—few Jason Ditton, professor of law at the Uni- studies exist detailing the success rate of psy- versity of Sheffield in England and director of chological profiling, for example. One rare ex- the Scottish Center for Criminology in Glas- PHOTO CREDIT HERE 18 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN MARCH 2002 news gow, is one of the few sources of academic re- tor of the U.S. National Biometric Test Center search into CCTV. His research, funded by the at San Jose State University, says flatly: “You SCAN government’s Scottish Office, shows that the cannot hang a camera on a pole and expect to cameras are not cost-effective and that they re- ever find anybody. Even the vendors say that.” duce neither crime nor the fear of crime. His Indeed, the American Civil Liberties Union re- 1999 study of CCTV in Glasgow’s city center ported in early January that such a system in revealed that although crime fell in the areas Tampla, Fla., failed to identify a single indi- covered by the cameras, the drop was in- vidual in the police database of photographs significant once the figures had been adjusted and misidentified some innocents as suspects. to take general crime trends into account. Even Even if you could, the problem remains of worse results were in Sydney, Aus- predicting what people will tralia, where a $1-million system do. Wayman is a strong pro- WHEN POWER accounted for an average of one ponent of the Immigration arrest every 160 days—a quarter and Naturalization Service TRUMPS PRIVACY of the Glasgow rate, which Ditton Passenger accelerated service Fearing that power, once handed thought was poor. system (INSPASS), which lets out, is not likely to be rescinded, Moreover, it is not clear how frequent travelers register privacy advocates are concerned much the displacement effect—the handprints and speed through about granting law enforcement shifting of crime from one area to immigration checks. But greater latitude for surveillance. Currently European privacy laws another—plays a role. A Sydney “how do you know some- require that all communications city council’s report indicates that one’s going to be a terrorist data (telephone records, e-mail, the cameras probably displaced when they get on an air- Web logs) be destroyed once they some crime to areas outside the plane?” Wayman asks. “It’s are no longer needed by the service lens’s view. The Glasgow study found that the beyond what science is capable of predicting.” provider for billing purposes. Most CCTV systems follow a similar rates at which crime was detected actually fell Besides, as the September 11 events showed, principle, so that tapes are slightly, although a similar study in the much terrorists could patiently build up seemingly typically retained for 31 days. smaller town of Airdrie nearby found the op- legitimate travel logs—and entire apparently President George W. Bush is asking posite. But therein lies a fundamental design innocent lives, even if there were a national ID a reluctant European Union to conflict. For the cameras to be an effective de- card system—before committing their acts. loosen these rules in the interests of fighting terrorism, even though terrent, everyone has to know they’re there; Much of the debate about new security such data retention is not required however, to be effective in aiding detection technologies is framed around the assumption under U.S. law. Meanwhile the they need to be covert so criminals don’t de- that they will work and that our personal pri- U.K.’s Anti-Terrorism, Crime and feat them. vacy is a necessary sacrifice, when in fact the Security Act whizzed through to Trying to add face recognition to the cam- effectiveness of such technologies is question- become law in December; it includes a confusing clause era system leads to an even more fundamen- able. An alternative solution, notes Philip E. allowing the retention of data in tal problem: you can only catch people you’re Agre, associate professor of information stud- the interests of national security. already looking for. James L. Wayman, direc- ies at the University of California at Los An- DIAGNOSTICS Hears to Your Health A NEW SENSOR LETS RESEARCHERS LISTEN FOR THE PRESENCE OF GERMS BY MICHAEL BEHAR hen University of Cambridge scien- times wait days to get test results, the inven- tists first heard a virus wresting itself tion could mean on-the-spot detection of W from the tenacious clutch of an anti- HIV, hepatitis and dozens of other pathogens, body, the sound should have elicited a collec- including anthrax and smallpox. tive sigh of relief from fretting patients every- The Cambridge experiment involved a where. The researchers were testing a new de- tiny slice of quartz crystal layered with anti- vice that can hear the presence of a virus in a bodies. A virus—in this case, herpes simplex— blood sample. For many patients, who some- was introduced and subsequently bound to an PHOTO CREDIT HERE 20 SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN MARCH 2002 antibody on the crystal. The Using targeted anti- news researchers then slowly in- bodies, the quartz micro- creased the frequency of an phone could be fashioned SCAN electric current flowing into to recognize the sounds of a the quartz. As the quartz os- multitude of viruses. “It cillated, it whipped the virus could even detect bioterror- and antibody back and ist germs,” Cooper says: forth. Eventually the her- add a microthin film of an- pesvirus tore away from the antibody, emit- thrax or smallpox antibodies to the crystal, ting a faint pop. then douse it with a sample of infected blood “If you apply enough force to a stick, it for an instant diagnosis. Cooper is quick to will snap and you hear a sound,” explains add that the technology is at least three years Matthew Cooper, one of six researchers in- from its commercial debut. volved in the project. “Likewise, we can hear To that end, the Cambridge team has the sound of the bonds snapping when we formed a company called Akubio. With $1.7 break apart a virus and an antibody.” The million in funding, including a majority stake quartz acts like a piezoelectric microphone, from Abingworth Management, a London- converting mechanical vibrations into electri- based life sciences venture-capital firm, Coop- cal impulses. Similarly, when a virus breaks er wants to engineer a cell phone–size tool from an antibody, the quartz changes the vi- that can eavesdrop on “cells, bacteria and a brations into audible signals. variety of different substances in the body.” RIDING The entire process, termed rupture event THE WHIPSAW scanning, is far better than current enzyme- or Michael Behar is a Washington, D.C.–based biochemical-based viral tests, which reveal the science and technology journalist and for- To shake the virus loose from the existence of antibodies but can’t determine mer senior editor at Wired magazine. tightly clinging antibodies, whether or not a subject is carrying the asso- researchers had to snap them back and forth 14 million times per second. ciated virus. “We are directly detecting the As a result, the virus and antibodies virus,” Cooper points out, “which gives you experience a force roughly 10 a much more accurate prognosis.” million times that of gravity.