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EFF, ALC sue Homeland Security over laptop, gadget searches
The EFF sure has set it sights high with its latest lawsuit, with it now teaming up with the Asian Law Caucus (ALC) to sue the Department of Homeland Security over laptop and gadget searches and other alleged infringements of civil liberties at U.S. borders. Specifically, the two groups are asking for the DHS to disclose its policies on questioning travelers on First Amendment-protected activities, including the photocopying of individuals' papers, and the searching of laptops and other electronic devices. According to the EFF, that rather drastic move was prompted by the DHS's failure to meet a 20-day time limit Congress had set for responding to public information requests. Needless to say, the DHS itself doesn't seem to have a whole lot to say on the matter at the moment, and we're guessing that situation won't be changing anytime soon.[Via The Register, image courtesy of WhiteHouse.gov]
DHS, Boeing in hot water over SBInet border security delays
A mere two months after hearing that Boeing's sensor towers passed initial tests with flying colors, the firm -- along with the Department of Homeland Security, no less -- is now facing severe criticism from lawmakers. The reason for the sudden turn of events stems from the duo's inability to "keep officials up to date on deployment slips for a virtual fence in Arizona," and moreover, they made no mention of the apparently substantial problems at a June 7th hearing. Dubbed Project 28, this $67 million SBInet first phase is now sliding even further beyond the scheduled June 13th launch day, and the DHS' credibility is reportedly "being questioned" after repeated mishaps along the way. Ah well, that's what the volunteers are for, right? [Via The Register, image courtesy of Musgrave]
AU Optronics squeezes more real estate onto mobile screens
AU Optronics seems to know a thing or two about LCDs, and the engineering minds behind the scenes have apparently developed a few mobile screens that replace those wide borders with more pixels. The firm will be showing off its new 2.2-inch transflective panel with the "world's slimmest border of 0.9-millimeters" and its 2.7-inch panel which touts the "world's highest contrast ratio" (for its size, we presume) of 2,100:1, which just barely edges Sharp's iteration. The near-borderless display is reportedly "a half size smaller" than existing renditions, and the 2.7-incher claims to be uber-bright and offer up an unusually wide viewing angle as well. Unfortunately, it sounds like this technology won't be making its way up the LCD food chain, as one researcher noted that what you see here will be "mobile device-exclusive."[Via FarEastGizmos]
IBM's S3 security system may head to the US-Mexico border
IBM's decided that it's had enough of making traditional processors, and instead will head further into the lucrative military and law enforcement business. Big Blue just announced today that it's begun selling the "Smart Surveillance System," or S3. According to Reuters, the new system is able to record video feeds and the analyze the information gathered, sounding an alarm when it "identifies suspicious activity." CNET also reports that IBM is in talks with the federal government to put an S3 along the US-Mexico border. According to IBM, the Feds are "doing backflips" every time they see the S3, which apparently can index and search videos based on specific objects and/or actions. We're still not sure if this is a better system than that web-based border cam setup down in Texas, but perhaps the S3 can spy on those Texan cams to make sure they're getting the job done.[Via Slashdot]Read - ReutersRead - CNETRead - IBM press release
South Korean "gun-toting sentries" to protect, serve
South Korea has unveiled the latest piece of evidence that the future is finally upon us: it's supplementing its soldiers manning the border with North Korea with "gun-toting sentries" that can detect baddies and kill them. Or as Lee Jae-Hoon, deputy minister of commerce, industry and energy told the Agence France Press: "The Intelligent Surveillance and Guard Robot has surveillance, tracking, firing, and voice recognition systems built into a single unit." The South Korean government is expected to buy 1,000 of these robots at the cost of $200,000 apiece and will deploy them along its northern border, coastal regions and military airfileds. However, it's unclear what would happen if Kim Jong Il were to send in a legion of pilfered remote-controlled domestic robots as a countermeasure -- that is, if these robotic sentries would be willing to fire on their own kind.Update: Eagle-eyed reader (and likely Korean speaker) Jihan J. happened upon a Korean site with pics and an actual video of this bot in action. Go on and check it out -- that is, if you like watching robots shoot automatic weapons wildly in every direction.
Web surfers to help Texas monitor border cams
Texas Governor Rick Perry has just announced a plan to leverage the eyeballs of millions of voyeuristic web surfers into a de facto army of unpaid border guards, by allowing the general public to watch live streams from video cameras trained on the Mexican border and call a toll-free number to report illegal crossings. Although the governor did not go into details on how many cameras would be installed nor how far apart they would be positioned, he did estimate the cost of the program at around five million dollars, which would buy almost 3,000 high-def HDR-HC3 camcorders even if Sony decided not to give the state a bulk discount. Leaving the whole immigration issue aside, what really stands out about this project is that it could possibly set a precedent for inner-city officials to open up their surveillance cameras to John Q. Public -- so instead of some authoritarian regime monitoring every citizen's activities, "Big Brother" will actually become all of us.[Via BBC News]
