South Wales Government recording citizens’ facial features

Daily Telegraph

The New South Wales Government is quietly compiling a mathematical map of almost every adult’s face, sharing

Face recognition technology used to spy on citizens in South Wales.

information that allows law enforcement to track people by CCTV.

Experts said yesterday few people realised their facial features were being recorded in an RTA database of drivers licence photos that the Government has allowed both state and federal police to access, The Daily Telegraph reports.

The federal body CrimTrac has asked NSW for its database so it can be mined nationally by police using the facial recognition information contained in it.

University experts in facial recognition said the correct match rate was as low as 90 per cent, meaning the names of people with faces sharing a similar structure to criminals could be returned in searches.

Dr Carolyn Semmler from the University of Adelaide said police wanted to eventually use facial recognition in smart CCTV cameras allowing people to be tracked anywhere there was a camera.

Some airports, such as Singapore, employ facial recognition technology and the US is considering using it at border crossings.

“Police hope that at some point an individual can be tracked,” Dr Semmler said yesterday.

Professor Sowmya Arcot from the University of NSW said a “matrix of numbers” based on features and the distance between facial structures was derived using an algorithm applied to a photograph of a face.

That could then be matched to other faces stored in a database.

NSW Opposition police spokesman Mike Gallacher said most people were unaware their face had been mapped when they applied for or had their licences renewed, allowing them to potentially be tracked.

“Over 20 years ago we had a debate about the Australia card and the people of this country showed where they stood in relation to the government knowing people’s movements,” he said.

“The push for this into the future has far greater ramifications than some old Australia card.

“I have a concern about a lack of public debate.”

The RTA began compiling its facial recognition database last December.

Roads Minister David Borger said it would be shared with other government agencies.

“While the facial recognition system is in its early stages, the RTA will co-operate with other agencies wherever possible,” he said.

“The RTA already provides information to the police, and will co-operate with other state or federal law enforcement agencies.”

He said the technology was also preventing fraud and stopping people obtaining multiple licences.

A spokeswoman for CrimTrac said its board of management had granted approval for a project proposal for a nation facial recognition capability.

Coronal Mass Ejection is the Issue in Europe, not Volcanic Ash

By Luis R. Miranda
The Real Agenda
April 19, 2010

It is of everyone’s knowledge the kind of disruptions the volcanic eruption in Iceland caused to international travel in Europe. Due to this eruption and the huge amount of ash reported to be coming out of the volcano, it is understandable that air space is closed for the safety of the people who intended to make their ways around the continent and across the Atlantic Ocean. However, some information has come to my attention that I think is important to share with the public, since the authorities are not doing it.

Although, as I mentioned before, air travel is banned for the moment, there are some facts that do not follow the same trend. For example, why is the Keflavic International Airport in Iceland still open? Is the real disruptor of air transport really volcanic ash or a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME)? Is European airspace being kept clear to prevent people seeing something significant out of aircraft windows? Is European airspace being kept clear for military defensive purposes or for military offensive purposes? Whose military?

Volcanic eruptions are nothing rare nowadays. Volcanic activity is seen daily around the world, and there are volcanoes erupting daily around the globe. So why is this particular eruption so special? Maybe it’s not. There is another event happening at the same time this eruption is taking place. A large NATO Live Exercise originated out of Germany on April 12 and running up until April 22 is also taking place in European airspace. The exercise includes participants like the U.S. Air Force stationed in Germany and other places in the old continent.

Reports from Germany, Austria and other locations in Europe reported clear and blue skies up to April 17, as it can be seen in this image dated April 17, 2010. Enter the following report from rumormillnews.com.

“In Germany we experienced the most beautiful day of the year. No clouds, clear sky, not the slightest sign of dust or ash in the  atmosphere. To confirm my own observation I checked the www.sat.dundee.ac.uk/ 1200 UTC satellite picture with the same result: A large high pressure area stretching from England and France via the North Sea, Germany, the Alps all the way across Poland to the Russian border with winds from the east in central Germany. You can see the Sat Pic via the link below.”

This information contradicts the ash cloud forecast to engulf all European airspace. Air space over Ramstein Airforce Base in Germany has also remained opened throughout the emergency. Ramstein is the main location from which operations in the Middle East are coordinated. There have not been any interruptions in the operations conducted at Ramstein, as military airplanes seem to be able to cope with volcanic ash. German Airline Lufthansa conducted several flights in order to test the possibility of restarting normal transportation activity. The result of those tests were no damage or any other problems for the aircraft.

“In addition to air assets, tactical employment of Theater Missile Defense and Ground Based Air Defense assets will be extensively exercised.” Missile defense is a system, weapon, or technology involved in the detection, tracking, interception and destruction of attacking missiles. Originally conceived as a defense against nuclear-armed Intercontinental ballistic missiles, its application has broadened to include shorter-ranged non-nuclear tactical and theater missiles”, continues the report.

May these military exercises be related to a Coronal Mass Ejections? Well, one has to say it is just coincidental that three significant events occurred at the same time. The volcanic eruption, the military exercise and the coronal mass ejections. See Coronal Mass Ejection from April 13, 2010. According to the Solar Influences Data Center, significant solar activity is expected to occur between 2010 and 2012 and some of it was expected to happen beginning April 14. Find the report here.

“A Coronal Mass Ejection or CME linked to the eruption of a polar crown filament was detected on April 13 by LASCO and other coronagraphs. It is partially halo, with a main propagation direction to the North of the ecliptic plane. There is a risk that the southern flank of the CME crosses the Earth, triggering enhanced geomagnetic activity, not before late April 16 or more likely on April 17.”

Although air travel is supposed to be interrupted for several more days, reports issued as late as Sunday expressed the possibility that some flight activity would resume on Monday April 17. Is this also a coincidence? The solar activity was supposed to end on April 17, was it not? Also, note that although the volcanic eruption is real and the ash is real too, no image shown anywhere has confirmed the massive cloud of ash all over Europe as it has been reported by the main stream media. Vasts areas of the continent have remained clear throughout the emergency. So why close most European Air Space? Please stay tuned for more details.

Sources:

NASA. Coronal Mass Ejections

http://solarscience.msfc.nasa.gov/CMEs.shtml

Operation Brilliant Ardent 10

http://realagenda.wordpress.com/2010/04/19/massive-military-exercise-in-europe-as-volcano-erupts/

Europe Satellite Image April 17, 2010

http://www.rumormillnews.com/pix5/2010.04.17_SatD_1200_Resize.jpeg

Dundee Satellite Receiving Station

http://www.sat.dundee.ac.uk/

Ash Cloud Forecast over Europe

http://www.eurad.uni-koeln.de/index.html

Coronal Mass Ejection April 13, 2010

http://www.spaceweather3.com/images2010/13apr10/cme_c3_anim360.gif?PHPSESSID=ifbmesp6a7oc507tt90elfoc45

Solar Influences Data Analysis Center

http://www.sidc.be/products/presto/

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