FBI to roll out $1 billion public facial recognition system in 2014, will be on to your evildoing everywhere

They're watching you -- or at least will be in a couple of years. That's when the FBI is gearing up for a nationwide launch of a $1 billion project designed to identify people of interest, according to the New Scientist. Dubbed the Next Generation Identification (NGI) program, the high-tech endeavor uses biometric data such as DNA analysis, iris scans and voice identification to track down folks with a criminal history. The FBI also plans to take NGI on the road literally by using public cameras to pick faces from the crowd and cross check them with its national repository of images. Let's just say this facial technology isn't going to be used for lighthearted Japanese vocaloid hijinks or unlocking your electronic device. The use and scope of NGI, which kicked off a pilot program in February, will likely be questioned not just by black helicopter watchers but privacy advocates as well. Facial recognition has certainly been a touchy issue in privacy circles -- something Facebook learned firsthand in Germany. Meanwhile, the Electronic Frontier Foundation is already raising concerns about innocent civilians being mixed up or included in the database. Naturally, the FBI claims that the NGI program is in compliance with the U.S. Privacy Act. On the positive side, at least they didn't name it the Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System.

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FBI to roll out $1 billion public facial recognition system in 2014, will be on to your evildoing everywhere originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 09 Sep 2012 08:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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TiVo shows a Q1 net loss of $20.8 million, will launch TV Everywhere web portal soon

TiVo has released its financial results for Q1 2013, and right off the bat they show a wider than expected net loss of $20.8 million. This is despite a rise in revenue and subscribers (driven mostly by Virgin Media, which added 242,000), and the company expects another loss in the second quarter due to rising litigation costs in its ongoing cases against Motorola and Time Warner Cable. We've already heard about TiVo's new Stream placeshifting box, IP multiroom extender and six-tuner XG1 gateway, but the new product news is a plan to launch TV Everywhere streaming. The first cable operator joining in the new venture will be RCN, and TiVo says its portal will allow providers using its DVRs to deliver streaming video in or out of the home, with video on-demand and remote DVR scheduling on PCs, tablets and mobile devices. That's expected to launch later this year, but for all the details, numbers and quotes you can check the press releases after the break.

Continue reading TiVo shows a Q1 net loss of $20.8 million, will launch TV Everywhere web portal soon

TiVo shows a Q1 net loss of $20.8 million, will launch TV Everywhere web portal soon originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 May 2012 20:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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