Computer-brain interface device will speed up video footage review

No matter how many spy cams and unmanned surveillance drones government and law enforcement officials can pack into public spaces, their utility has traditionally been limited by the finite amount of footage human monitors can review in a given time frame. New DARPA-sponsored research out of Columbia University, however, may soon allow folks tasked with keeping an eye on video feeds to perform their jobs up to ten times faster -- by leveraging the rapid image processing abilities of cortical vision. Since people are able to recognize suspicious activity much more quickly than they can consciously identify what's wrong, professor Paul Sajda and his team developed a computer-brain interface device -- similar to ones we've seen control an on-screen cursor and bionic limb -- that monitors an operator's neural output while he/she is watching streaming footage, and tags specific images for later perusal. Once the technology is perfected in the coming months (it still emits too many false positives, apparently), it could allow for more thinly-staffed monitoring departments, though we suspect it will probably just convince officials to deploy more and more cameras.

[arch @ Jul 13th 2006 9:50AM]

OH WTF?! i would NEVER want this to touch me. i want to watch my movies etc, like they are normaly suppose to be watched. you go to the movies or watch a movie or video at home to be away with people for two hours or so. soon theyll make a BS devic liek this one to allow you to jump years. YAY!

[Daveexile @ Jul 13th 2006 10:55AM]

Is that photo from "A Clockwork Orange?" Someone turn up the Beethoven.

[Sean @ Jul 13th 2006 11:02AM]

LOLOL. I am seriosuly laughing my ass off while typing this right now. Look's like the woman was found guilty in some mass murder and is about to be put to death. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph that may be one of the lamest things I've seen in a long time. Wow...

[David @ Jul 13th 2006 11:06AM]

Reminds me of Clockwork Orange.

[Phillip K. Dick @ Jul 13th 2006 12:32PM]

See bitches? I was right. A Scanner Darkly FTW.

Your Orwellian nightmare is definitely on now.

[evo @ Jul 13th 2006 10:05PM]

Will it come with its own Clockwork Orange eye forks too?

[Kensai @ Jul 14th 2006 7:23AM]

These comments about Orwellian nightmares and Clockwork Orange are simply ridiculous. The above array is a sort of EEG device which analyzes the signal for various jobs.

It's already used in biofeedback. Why not in security as well?

[zoara @ Jul 14th 2006 8:49AM]

Congratulations, arch. Your comment is pretty good evidence that all you managed to read was the subject of this post - you didn't even manage to get five words into the body (never mind actually reading the linked article).

If you'd bothered reading, you'd have realised that this is for reviewing security footage, not for watching the latest blockbuster.

But why am I bothering? If you can't read past a subject line before commenting, why should I expect that you might read this?

[phil @ Nov 16th 2006 3:49PM]

Some people can be so stupid. All they do is read the title and look at the pictures

[Ter @ Jul 14th 2006 10:52AM]

Just think, they will soon be able to put 10x's as many commercials in the same time frame.

[phil @ Nov 16th 2006 4:02PM]

U guy need to actually read the article not just look at the pictres like a bunch of three year olds. If u had actually read the article u would have found out that it was not talking about movies in theatres or on DVD it was talking about security videos, so next time u read an important article actually find out what you are talking about then write about it instead of making stupid jokes about it.

[the singularity @ Mar 18th 2007 9:43PM]

They are planning for you to use brain interface systems, too. This is only telling what DARPA plans to use it for, but trust me they want you to hook your brain up, too.