Legal
SIA Establishes SecurityPAC To Bolster Advocacy Efforts
SIA formed SecurityPAC to bolster its advocacy efforts to fully engage within U.S. political process on matters affecting the security industry. The PAC will raise funds solely from SIA members to support candidates for federal office who champion issues important to the industry. And SecurityPAC will support matters pertaining but not limited to issues such as homeland security, cybersecurity, federal procurement and critical infrastructure protection.
PureTech Granted Patent For Tracking Of Aerial Targets Utilizing Video
As the commercial drone market expands at an accelerating rate, so does the risk of malicious use of these devices and the need to successfully detect and take counter measures. This is the focus of the most recent PureTech Systems patent approval. System and Method for Autonomous PTZ Tracking of Aerial Targets (US Patent No 9,652,860 B1), grants claims for video-based detection and tracking of targets against a featureless background, such as airborne aircraft and drones. The patent leverages the PureTech?s continued research and development using geospatial video analytics for both security and safety applications.
Miami-Dade Police Abandon Aerial Surveillance Plans
The Miami-Dade Police Department (MDPD) is scrapping plans to test persistent aerial surveillance technology following criticism from privacy advocates. This kind of technology has prompted privacy concerns in others cities, with Baltimore being perhaps the most notable. One of the best-known aerial surveillance companies allows users to keep a roughly 25 square mile area under surveillance and comes with ?Google Earth with TiVo? capability, The news from Miami-Dade county. while reassuring, underlines a number of issues concerning federalism, privacy, and transparency that lawmakers must tackle as aerial surveillance tools improve and proliferate.
Detroit May Force Businesses To Share Surveillance
Detroit police and city officials are drafting an ordinance that would make it mandatory for all venues that serve customers after 10 p.m. to join Project Green Light, a program that allows officers to monitor businesses? high-definition video feeds in real time. All businesses open that late —from party stores and gas stations to sports stadiums like Comerica Park and venues like the Fox Theatre— would be subject to the ordinance if it?s passed, police said. Police report double-digit reductions in violent crime at businesses that have enrolled in Project Green Light.
Use Of Video Recordings As Evidence Within The European Union
For a number of years now, public life has seen an exponential increase of the use of video recording equipment. The question remains under which conditions video equipment can be installed and to which extent video recordings can be allowed as evidence within the European Union (EU) legal system. Not only in the public space, but also on the work floor are cameras deployed regularly. In addition, it is almost a certainty that most events are recorded by dashcams, drones, or smartphones. The opinions diverge on whether or not this is a positive evolution. What has become clear is that video recordings can be used as evidence in legal procedures.
PA Senate OKs Bill For More Police Body Cameras
Legislation approved by the Pennsylvania state Senate on Wednesday seeks to clear legal hurdles for police departments to expand their officers? use of body cameras, and it gives departments the discretion to refuse public requests for copies of audio or video recordings by officers. The bill, which passed 47-1 after brief comments on the Senate floor, would add Pennsylvania to a growing list of states that are setting statewide policy over the collection of audio and video by officers, including from dashboard and body cameras.
Sony Files New 337 Complaint Regarding Certain Magnetic Tape Cartridges
As LTO storage technology is beginning to take root in the video surveillance retention market, a lawsuit such as this described below, could ultimately reduce the number of sources to obtain this storage technology and would more than likely increase costs thus stunting the acceptance of this technology in the physical security market. With companies like Quantum and SpectraLogic and others showcasing the low-cost option of long-term video retention when using LTO storage technologies, such a supply-chain lawsuit will not help grow this market.
Iowa Legislature Approves Bill Banning Public Bathroom Video Surveillance
A bill that would block government entities from putting up surveillance cameras inside the bathrooms of public buildings has passed both the Iowa House and Senate and is expected to be signed by Gov. Terry Branstad. The ACLU of Iowa had been pushing for the bill after complaints from an Iowa City woman who noticed that a camera was focused on the sink area inside the Iowa City Public Library.
SIA Recommends School Safety Guidelines, Endorses Proposed Federal Funding For School Security Grant
In the wake of a tragic shooting in San Bernardino, California, on Monday, the Security Industry Association (SIA) pressed for wide adoption of school security guidelines developed by the Partner Alliance for Safer Schools (PASS), which prescribe a tiered approach for schools based on available resources. SIA also announced its support of proposed funding measures on Capitol Hill that would authorize matching grants for school security measures.
As Drones Become Norm In Police Work, A SoCal Police Department Explains Why It Bought In
Whether the intent is to find lost seniors suffering from dementia or support a manhunt for fleeing suspects, police in Chula Vista, California, (just east of San Diego) are turning to drones for quick aerial intelligence. Alongside the city’s fire department, the Chula Vista Police Department (CVPD) is investing in the technology as a way to maximize time spent by officers on tactical operations.
ASIS Lends Support To MAIN STREET Cybersecurity Act
ASIS International (ASIS), the leading association for security management professionals worldwide, today sent a letter of support to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation for the Making Available Information Now to Strengthen Trust and Resilience and Enhance Enterprise Technology (MAIN STREET) Cybersecurity Act. The proposed legislation calls on the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and other agencies to provide a consistent set of resources for small businesses to best protect their digital assets from cybersecurity threats.
Drug Case In Jeopardy Over Surveillance, Warrant Issues
A mistrial was declared in the case of an accused Rochester Hills drug dealer this month after it was disclosed his defense attorney never received pretrial information about a mobile tracking device placed on his client?s vehicle by investigators. But still in dispute —and possibly to be addressed at a pretrial hearing Tuesday— is whether the tracker that monitored his movements was legally attached to Dukes? 2015 Cadillac. Officials have been unable to locate the original search warrant reportedly obtained from a Pontiac district judge by Detective Charles Janczarek, a member of the Oakland County Narcotics Enforcement Team. Defense attorneys and civil right advocates said the case underscores concerns about the potential for abuse of GPS trackers by law enforcement and the need for proper search warrants.
NYPD Sent Video Teams To Record Occupy And BLM Protests Over 400 Times, Documents Reveal
New York City Police Department documents obtained by The Verge show that police camera teams were deployed to hundreds of Black Lives Matter and Occupy Wall Street protests from 2011?2013 and 2016. Originally acquired through a Freedom of Information Law request by New York attorney David Thompson of Stecklow, Cohen & Thompson, the records are job reports from the NYPD’s Technical Assistance Response Unit (TARU) that document over 400 instances in which the unit?s video team attended, and sometimes filmed, demonstrations. More important than the records the NYPD turned over, however, are those that it claims it cannot find: namely, any documents demonstrating that legal reviews and authorizations of these surveillance operations took place.
Court Filing Declares Border Patrol Lost Or Destroyed Original Video Of Nogales AZ Teen’s Killing By Agent
The Border Patrol has either lost or destroyed original videos showing the 2012 killing of a Mexican teenager by a Border Patrol agent who fired across the border, a new court filing says. Agent Lonnie Swartz fired through slats in the border fence in Nogales, AZ, 4-1/2 years ago, killing 16-year-old Jose Antonio Elena Rodriguez on the other side in Nogales, Sonora. Swartz was charged with second-degree murder in federal court in September 2015. His trial is expected to begin later this year. Swartz’s lawyer, Sean Chapman, filed a motion this week to have duplicate border surveillance videos precluded as evidence in Swartz’s trial because of technical (data retention) issues.
For Surveillance Cameras To Be Kept In Line, Rules Will Need To Keep Pace With Technology
It has been said that Britain has more surveillance cameras than any other country in the world. This proliferation of CCTV cameras led the government to establish a surveillance camera commissioner responsible for overseeing their governance ? the only country in the world to do so. In another first, the commissioner has now released a national strategy for England and Wales to set out how CCTV should be operated and to ensure that cameras are used in the public interest.
Maine’s Resistance To Real ID Law Starting To Cause Problems, Legislators Told
The real-life impacts of Maine?s refusal to issue new federally mandated driver?s licenses and identification cards were on display Tuesday as lawmakers heard testimony on a bill that would bring the state into compliance with the federal Real ID law. Maine has been among a handful of states to resist the federal law, which requires digital photos on state driver?s licenses, IDs that can be used with facial recognition software, and the digital archiving of identity documents such as birth certificates or Social Security numbers, among other things. The states where residents will need identification other than driver?s licenses to fly on Jan. 22, 2018, are: Maine, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina and Washington.
Upload To File-Sharing Site Was Like Leaving Legal File On A Bench, Judge Says; Privilege Is Waived
As physical security organizations deal with the storage and usage of video surveillance in legal matters, the following legal precedent raises questions about cloud-based storage and any use of “file sharing” sites. An insurance company has waived any claim of privilege to materials uploaded to an unprotected file-sharing site, a federal magistrate judge in Virginia ruled earlier this month. U.S. Magistrate Judge Pamela Meade Sargent said in a Feb. 9 decision that the Harleysville Insurance Co. waived its privilege in documents uploaded to a site where they were accessible to anyone who had the hyperlink, according to the ABA BNA Lawyers? Manual on Professional Conduct.
Geolocation Privacy And Surveillance Act Introduced In US Congress
On February 15, the Geolocation Privacy and Surveillance Act (GPS Act) was introduced by a bipartisan group of US Congress members. Designed to enact comprehensive rules for both government agencies and commercial service providers, the GPS Act would require law enforcement to obtain a warrant before using GPS data to track an individual?s location and would require service providers to obtain customer consent before sharing geolocation data with outside entities.
D-Link’s Alleged Security Failures Achieve FTC Lawsuit: D-Link Responds
In its latest enforcement action in the realm of the Internet of Things, the Federal Trade Commission filed suit against D-Link Corporation, a Taiwan-based computer networking equipment manufacturer and its U.S. subsidiary, alleging that the defendants failed to employ adequate security measures for their wireless routers and surveillance cameras. Although D-Link promoted the security of its routers with claims like “EASY TO SECURE” and “ADVANCED NETWORK SECURITY,” the company neglected to take easy steps to avoid security flaws, the agency asserted in its California federal court complaint. According to the agency, D-Link accepted hard-coded login credentials and the use of “command injection,” which allowed remote attackers to take control of routers by sending commands over the Internet.
?Smart Cities,? Surveillance, And New Streetlights In San Jose: An EFF Response
The San Jose City Council is considering a proposal to install over 39,000 ?smart streetlights.? A pilot program is already underway. These smart streetlights are not themselves a surveillance technology. But they have ports on top that, in the future, could accommodate surveillance technology, such as video cameras and microphones. EFF and our allies sent a letter to the San Jose City Council urging them to adopt an ordinance to ensure democratic control of all of that community?s surveillance technology decisions?including whether to plug spy cameras into the ports of smart streetlights.