Just read a piece on the CNN International site about the digital security systems being used at the upcoming Athens Olympics. Sounds like Athens is going to have more bugs in it than a cheap tropical hotel. According to the article, the system:
... 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.
Apparently the speech-recognition software understands Arabic, Farsi and all major European languages including English and Greek. It can also tell the difference between the sound of a flat and a gunshot. The story reads like a cross between a promo for the surveillance industry and a fascist wet dream. Man, if I were an Athenian, I'd be a little freaked about this bug-infested Trojan horse that slipped in along with the Games.
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