Been trying to grab this stock for a week already pretty interesting..
Miami Herald Sept 25, 2001...
Local Guide | Miami Herald | Entertainment | Sports | Cars | Real Estate | Careers
Tuesday, September 25, 2001 High 90°F Low 76°F Local Forecast & More Weather
Miami Herald
Local/State
Nation/World
Business
Living & Arts
Opinion
Sports
Search/Archives
Classifieds
Services
Channels
Autos & Driving
Business & Money
Careers
Cities & Neighborhoods
Community
Computers & Internet
Education
Entertainment & Dining
Family & Kids
Government
Health
Hobbies & Pets
News & Media
Real Estate & Home
Shopping & Classifieds
Sitios en español
Sports & Recreation
Travel & Visitors
Business
Published Tuesday, September 25, 2001
Facial scanning promising
Airport security may go high-tech
BY INA PAIVA CORDLE
icordle@herald.com
Facial scanning, linked to a database of known terrorists, may be the next security screen protecting airports nationwide.
The face recognition technology, which can scan moving crowds at a speed of one million faces per second, could be used at four key points: at the time of visa application, at passport control, at airport security checkpoints and at boarding, said Joseph Atick, who developed the face recognition technology.
``The reason there is a significant interest in facial recognition is that the cornerstone of our fight against terrorism is the ability to identify them in a crowd, without Draconian measures requiring people to go through checkpoints and chase travelers,'' said Atick, who considers Miami home.
Atick gave a presentation on the system Thursday to the task force appointed by Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta to recommend new airport security measures.
In a draft of a report due Monday, the committee has included a recommendation to deploy such systems, a committee official who requested anonymity told the Washington Post.
With federal funding, the technology would initially be used at three airports -- Boston Logan, Reagan National in Washington and a third that has not been disclosed, Atick said. Passengers may notice added cameras but will not know which ones are linked to the system.
Three unnamed U.S. airports already have tested it, said Atick, president and chief executive of Visionics, based in New Jersey.
The face recognition technology, called FaceIt, already is being used successfully by the Drug Enforcement Agency in Miami, and by the FBI, CIA, U.S. Customs and Scotland Yard, Atick said. In one section of London, he said, crime dropped 34 percent after 250 cameras were placed on 350-foot poles to look for criminals who had terrorized the area.
The system is also being used by law enforcement agencies in Ybor City, Fla., Israel, Egypt and London. It is employed at check-cashing machines at convenience stores, including Circle K in Miami and around the nation; at Shell, Texaco and Sunoco gas stations; and at casinos in Las Vegas.
The face recognition technology simulates how the human brain recognizes familiar faces in a crowd. The software allows a computer, connected to a video camera, to capture faces at a distance of up to two miles. Then, the technology converts the face into a digital code, or face print, unique to each individual. With 80 facial landmarks, including the center of the eyes, the bridge of the nose and the upper cheekbone, the computer keys in on any 14.
Facial hair, common plastic surgery or aging -- at least up to 14 years -- aren't a problem. However, identical twins can fool it.
Key to using the technology will be building an intelligence database of terrorists. Such a database already exists and could be broadened, in combination with other databases of Interpol, Scotland Yard and Israel's Mossad, Atick said.
``What we're talking about is taking all those databases and combining them in Washington,'' he said.
In all, hundreds of thousands of cameras could be employed. By using the technology at the time of visa application, terrorists could be disallowed from entering the country. A second check at passport control could stop any who arrive. Next, cameras linked to the database could single out terrorists at security checkpoints, and again, at boarding.
The cost would be several hundred thousand dollars per airport, Atick said, and would be phased in nationwide. Airports already use security cameras, and virtually any camera could be linked to the system.
Once a match is made, information would be transmitted via the Internet.
Neither Angela Gittens, aviation director of Miami International Airport, nor Steve Belleme, spokesman for Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, had information on deploying the technology in South Florida.
``We're looking at any kind of technology that could increase security,'' Belleme said. ``However, the FAA is the overriding jurisdiction on security. So, if they approve a particular technique or technology, we will certainly look at it.''
The ``Rapid Response'' committee studying security measures has not yet presented its findings, said Department of Transportation spokesman Bill Mosley.
``If they think this is something they should include in their recommendations, they are certainly at liberty to do so,'' Mosley said. ``But we are not going to speculate at this point what they are going to recommend.''
Atick, who considers Miami home, founded Visionics in Jersey City seven years ago with two other research scientists. All had worked at Rockefeller University's computational neuroscience lab, which Atick had headed.
Born in Jerusalem, Atick, 37, wrote a book on mathematical physics at age 15, at the same time his family moved to Miami. After living here for six months, he began college at Stanford, completing his doctorate at 21. He was a professor of mathematical physics at Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study for five years -- where Albert Einstein did research -- before joining Rockefeller's faculty. His parents, two sisters and two brothers still live in Southwest Miami-Dade.
Using mathematical skills in the late 1980s, Atick and the two other scientists discovered how the human brain processes information to recognize faces. And through Visionics, they were the first to apply the discoveries to a computer.
Atick's vision was always to use the technology against terrorism.
``There is no shield that is ever 100 percent, even a fence, even a wall that you build,'' he said. ``But it helps your chances of stopping terrorism. . . . It is a deterrent, and it will nab them, and that is the key thing.'' |
