TrapWire - The Eye of God

Be like Nutella

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=80340618#post80340618

thread from US Politics forum if anyone didn't see it... deffo should be in here though : ) mad stuff

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/aug/13/trapwire-surveillance-system-exposed-leak

Article:
It sounds like something from the film Minority Report: a CCTV surveillance system that recognises people from their face or walk and analyses whether they might be about to commit a terrorist or criminal act. But Trapwire is real and, according to documents released online by WikiLeaks last week, is being used in a number of countries to try to monitor people and threats.

Founded by former CIA agents, Trapwire uses data from a network of CCTV systems and numberplate readers to figure out the threat level in huge numbers of locations. That means security officials can "focus on the highest priorities first, taking a proactive and collaborative approach to defence against attacks," say its creators.

The documents outlining Trapwire's existence and its deployment in the US were apparently obtained in a hack of computer systems belonging to the intelligence company Stratfor at the end of last year.

Documents from the US department of homeland security show that it paid $832,000 to deploy Trapwire in Washington DC and Seattle.

Stratfor describes Trapwire as "a unique, predictive software system designed to detect patterns of pre-attack surveillance and logistical planning", and cites the Washington DC police chief mentioning it during a Senate committee hearing. It serves "a wide range of law enforcement personnel and public and private security officials domestically and internationally", Stratfor says.

Some have expressed doubts that Trapwire could really forecast terrorist acts based on data from cameras, but Rik Ferguson, security consultant at Trend Micro, said the software for such systems had existed for some time.

"There's a lot of crossover between CCTV and facial recognition," he said. "It's feasible to have a camera looking for suspicious behaviour – for example, in a computer server room it could recognise someone via facial recognition or your gait, then can identify them from the card they swipe to get in, and then know whether it's suspicious if they're meant to be a cleaner and they sit down at a computer terminal."

The claims might seem overblown, but then the idea that the US could have an international monitoring system seemed absurd until the discovery of the Echelon system, used by the US to eavesdrop on electronic communications internationally.

Trapwire has not yet commented on the leak.

http://www.trapwire.com/trapwire.html



TrapWire®

TrapWire is a unique, predictive software system designed to detect patterns indicative of terrorist attacks or criminal operations. Utilizing a proprietary, rules-based engine, TrapWire detects, analyzes and alerts on suspicious events as they are collected over periods of time and across multiple locations. Through the systematic capture of these pre-attack indicators, terrorist or criminal surveillance and pre-attack planning operations can be identified -- and appropriate law enforcement counter measures employed ahead of the attack. As such, our clients are provided with the ability to prevent the terrorist or criminal event, rather than simply mitigate damage or loss of life.

The TrapWire system includes a variety of features and components that are configured and delivered based on the specific needs of the customer organization and its end users. There are currently three different TrapWire systems available for public and private sector clients:

TW-CI (TrapWire Critical Infrastructure) focuses on the identification of pre-operational surveillance activities occurring around specific sites within the TrapWire Network
TW-CM (TrapWire Community Member) supports the online reporting of suspicious behavior by community members, such as the iWatch programs in Los Angeles and Washington DC, and See Something Say Something in Las Vegas and New York
TW-LE (TrapWire Law Enforcement) provides the ability to gather, analyze and disseminate information about surveillance and logistical activities occurring across an entire geographic region, including information gathered via TW CI and TW CM deployments

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlORPFySxiE

Person of Interest - Series

http://www.tubeplus.me/player/1964979/Person_of_Interest/season_1/episode_1/Pilot/

Jonny7

Like I said in another thread, its mostly just hype, unfortunately it doesn't appear to even have facial recognition

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2012/08/13/trapwire_internet_rumors_about_the_surveillance_software_aren_t_based_in_reality_.html

Internet activists have whipped up a storm on Twitter in recent days over TrapWire, which they claim is a secret international facial-recognition and social-media monitoring network for use by governments. It sounds like an outrageous infringement of our rights. Unfortunately—or, perhaps, fortunately—most of it is rooted in hyperbole and misinformation, heavier on fiction than fact.

Torakx

What makes TrapWire stand out is what it does with the stored information. Using algorithms, it is designed to automatically identify “patterns indicative of terrorist activity” at a site—and across various sites—before issuing advance warning that outlines the level of threat to a given location.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2012/08/13/trapwire_internet_rumors_about_the_surveillance_software_aren_t_based_in_reality_.html

The problem is who is writing these algorithims.
Some guy or conspiracy theoriest for example could be photographing a public or fed building and get marked on a no fly list if this becomes a common thing.

Sounds almost like the american gov wants a civil uprising.
Maybe that would be just perfect and that is why they have been more and more treating their citizens like sh1t..they might actually be trying to force an uprising so they CAN bring in all this stuff we have been talking about for years.
Or maybe its just wiki leaks is legit and let a small cat out of the bag...maybe.

Be like Nutella

Johnny7
You know, you'd probably do better than to immediately jump in with some across the board dismissal ...as satisfying as it may be. A broad or extreme conspiracy theory may be just as unlikely to be categorically true as an extreme dismissal. I don't actually believe in any single worldwide theory of conspiracy myself. Most of the time I believe these things are routed in man's greed, lust for power etc etc.. and an awful lot of history repeating etc.. but in many conspiracies lie some elements of or serious truths... in this case truths about the continuing trend towards diminishing personal privacy, which a system HALF as capable OR far reaching as this one is 'purported' to be... is certainly symptomatic of, hence the interest. More than that the parent company has been reported to be center to another interesting and possibly conspiratorial story deserved of further analysis.

My personal interest lie in the issue of loss of personal freedoms inclusive of privacy and this system as it has been reported so far certainly presents a massive threat to that... at least in concept... as does the frighteningly vast 'Stellar Wind' project being built in Utah... which is certainly in the same area/subject/sphere. I'm not sure are you a 'debunker' around here or a hardcore CT head but this TrapWire system as it has been reported could potentially roll out in every major city in the world and be capable of astonishing data analysis and deep-profiling gleaming incredible quantities of complex data and trolling through it looking for signs of threat which although as a concept seems quite benevolent CAN as has been proven in mankind's past many times over be another Pandora's box capable of impinging on peoples freedoms as pertains to privacy etc..

Jonny7

Be like Nutella wrote: »

Johnny7
You know, you'd probably do better than to immediately jump in with some across the board dismissal ...as satisfying as it may be. A broad or extreme conspiracy theory may be just as unlikely to be categorically true as an extreme dismissal. I don't actually believe in any single worldwide theory of conspiracy myself. Most of the time I believe these things are routed in man's greed, lust for power etc etc.. and an awful lot of history repeating etc.. but in many conspiracies lie some elements of or serious truths... in this case truths about the continuing trend towards diminishing personal privacy, which a system HALF as capable OR far reaching as this one is 'purported' to be... is certainly symptomatic of, hence the interest. More than that the parent company has been reported to be center to another interesting and possibly conspiratorial story deserved of further analysis.

My personal interest lie in the issue of loss of personal freedoms inclusive of privacy and this system as it has been reported so far certainly presents a massive threat to that... at least in concept... as does the frighteningly vast 'Stellar Wind' project being built in Utah... which is certainly in the same area/subject/sphere. I'm not sure are you a 'debunker' around here or a hardcore CT head but this TrapWire system as it has been reported could potentially roll out in every major city in the world and be capable of astonishing data analysis and deep-profiling gleaming incredible quantities of complex data and trolling through it looking for signs of threat which although as a concept seems quite benevolent CAN as has been proven in mankind's past many times over be another Pandora's box capable of impinging on peoples freedoms as pertains to privacy etc..

If that's what you want to believe, that's fine. If you want to understand what Trapwire can and can't do, then read my link or look it up on a decent site. If, however, you want to fear and doom-monger about it there are more than a few sensationalist sites who will do the same for the next 2 weeks, then switch onto the latest scare story to titalilate the conspiracy community... NANOBOTS.. friend or foe?.. we have the secret inside information... be afraid..

Like I said, worse than Fox News in here most of the time

Be like Nutella

I've seen some complete sh1te in here sometimes as well... it's a CT forum that's expected... but 'complete know-it-alls' don't make a friendly forum, kinda like the guy at the party who interrupts the joke asking questions....

hooradiation

Whatever about just how shitty tripwire is, they have some pretty impressive PR people. They've completely sold the concept of it to a few civil authorities and, apparently, half the bloody internet.

Be like Nutella

http://techfleece.com/2012/08/14/an-introduction-to-abraxas-trapwire-and-the-partnership-with-stratfor/

enno99

hooradiation wrote: »

Whatever about just how shitty tripwire is, they have some pretty impressive PR people. They've completely sold the concept of it to a few civil authorities and, apparently, half the bloody internet.

Maybe you underestimate the interest in this



http://mirror2.wikileaks-press.org/gifiles/docs/369899_re-trapwire-poc-.html


SAIC
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/03/spyagency200703


They got a new CEO a couple of months back



Chair of the Board and Chief Executive Officer

John P. Jumper joined Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) as president and chief executive officer on March 1, 2012, having served as a member of the company’s board of directors since 2007. He was appointed chair of the board in 2012.

http://www.saic.com/about/leadership/jumper-bio



John P. Jumper (born February 4, 1945) is a retired United States Air Force general, who served as Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force from September 6, 2001 to September 2, 2005


February 2000 – September 2001, Commander, Headquarters ACC, Langley Air Force Base, Virginia
September 2001 – September 2005, Chief of Staff, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_P._Jumper

hooradiation

enno99 wrote: »

Maybe you underestimate the interest in this

Not really, no.

enno99

hooradiation wrote: »

Not really, no.

a few civil authorities and, apparently, half the bloody internet.

So which category are SAIC in?

studiorat

The "eye of god" really sums up the hype. There are hundreds of companies who can analyse video feeds in this way. NYPD have had a system in place since 2008. According to people who know about this technology it's generally better at analysing crime scenes after the fact.

What's special about tapwire is Stratfor's marketing of it and how they turned their connections into cash. The real story is how involved private industry is with the security services in the US. However RT and Alex Jones know that that isn't quite as sexy and won't sell quite like the Orwellian nightmare they paint it as.

The original story came from Wikileaks BTW so it they are part of the CIA or something, why did this story come out at all?

hooradiation

enno99 wrote: »

So which category are SAIC in?

They're in the "half the internet " bit, clearly.
Ask a stupid question and all that.


The bigger questions here are
A] why you think I wasn't aware of that
and
B] What misconceptions you have about the importance of your little link

enno99

hooradiation wrote: »

They're in the "half the internet " bit, clearly.
Ask a stupid question and all

And Mr J Jumper (Ill have every drone on the shelf) fell for a PR stunt

A] why you think I wasn't aware of that

Aware of what

B] What misconceptions you have about the importance of your little link

There were 4 in the post and I have no misconceptions about any of them
they are what they are
If its the one with explanation in brackets I was going to link to the thread but decided against it

I will edit it for you

hooradiation

enno99 wrote: »

And Mr J Jumper (Ill have every drone on the shelf) fell for a PR stunt

Aware of what




There were 4 in the post and I have no misconceptions about any of them
they are what they are
If its the one with explanation in brackets I was going to link to the thread but decided against it

I will edit it for you

I have no idea what your saying here, literally none.

Want to try again or should I just let you be?

Run_to_da_hills

Anonymous releases how-to instructions on fooling facial recognition.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrI15AFBE98

hooradiation

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Anonymous releases how-to instructions on fooling facial recognition.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrI15AFBE98

Hurray! Fool the facial recognition software that's not in tripwire by drawing as much attention to yourself as possible!

Fucking cretins.

enno99

hooradiation wrote: »

I have no idea what your saying here, literally none.

Want to try again or should I just let you be?

Trip Trap Trip Trap Trip Trap

any clearer ?

Monty Burnz

Run_to_da_hills wrote: »

Anonymous releases how-to instructions on fooling facial recognition.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrI15AFBE98

I'm wondering is that a wind-up - the electronic baseball cap at the end looks very much like a 21st century tinfoil hat!

Suceed

Re: the facial recognition, IIRC, the story broke last week after a techie wrote on a tech forum about having visited Disneyland where, without having registered any of his details or used his credit card, he was offered a photo of him and his girlfriend on one of the rides, which he claimed could only have come from facial recognition.

The security company for the park is the same one connected to Trapwire, hence some journalist called Ferguson, I think, wrote up on it.

I'll dig out the story now if I can.

Some of it here...http://www.businessinsider.com/this-is-how-we-know-that-the-shocking-revelations-about-trapwire-spying-are-true-2012-8

I have it a little muddled. i think the point of the story is that Disney is using this technology, it's hardly a stretch of the imagination for Trapwire to be using it.

The original Ferguson piece has been removed. I can't find a cached copy.

The use of the technology is also mentioned in one of the stratfor e-mails...http://www.wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/1700969_re-eurasia-ct-fwd-os-russia-ct-footage-of-the-russian.html

iamstop

My take on all this is that it is completely possible. The technology is there.
I was in college last year and we have a class about data logging and processing etc. Data Acquisition was actually the title of the class.
One topic in the class was to do with lossy and lossless data. jpgs are lossy, *.raw files are lossless for example. This led to digital images used in surveillance and our lecturer went on to talk about facial recognition software. His main example was talking about it's use on big cruise liners to keep track of guests and I suppose staff on board these ships. He said that everyone is logged into the system upon boarding and are then tracked for the duration.
He touted the benefits to the liner such as finding patterns in all the guests comings and goings so as to better manage facilities opening hours and when to serve food etc but there is also the obvious security uses. Access restricted areas etc. This is all well and good on a cruise liner but do we really want this level of scrutiny on our normal daily lives? A system that we don't even knowingly 'check in' to? One where our file is created at birth and periodically updated every time we go to the doctor/hospital or get stopped by the guards?

shedweller

iamstop wrote: »

. This is all well and good on a cruise liner but do we really want this level of scrutiny on our normal daily lives? A system that we don't even knowingly 'check in' to? One where our file is created at birth and periodically updated every time we go to the doctor/hospital or get stopped by the guards?

Somebody does.

Jonny7

Suceed wrote: »

Re: the facial recognition, IIRC, the story broke last week after a techie wrote on a tech forum about having visited Disneyland where, without having registered any of his details or used his credit card, he was offered a photo of him and his girlfriend on one of the rides, which he claimed could only have come from facial recognition.

The security company for the park is the same one connected to Trapwire, hence some journalist called Ferguson, I think, wrote up on it.

I'll dig out the story now if I can.

Some of it here...http://www.businessinsider.com/this-is-how-we-know-that-the-shocking-revelations-about-trapwire-spying-are-true-2012-8

I have it a little muddled. i think the point of the story is that Disney is using this technology, it's hardly a stretch of the imagination for Trapwire to be using it.

The original Ferguson piece has been removed. I can't find a cached copy.

The use of the technology is also mentioned in one of the stratfor e-mails...http://www.wikileaks.org/gifiles/docs/1700969_re-eurasia-ct-fwd-os-russia-ct-footage-of-the-russian.html

Facial recognition software does exist.

It's been repeated that Trapwire does not use facial recognition. The only conspiracy I see is the way it's being handled, seems to be a bit of a scam going on selling the tech to casinos and sensitive installations (e.g. nuclear sites).

Suceed

Jonny7 wrote: »

Facial recognition software does exist.

It's been repeated that Trapwire does not use facial recognition. The only conspiracy I see is the way it's being handled, seems to be a bit of a scam going on selling the tech to casinos and sensitive installations (e.g. nuclear sites).

Why would a system designed to catch terrorists not include a technology as basic as facial recognition? I would have thought it a no-brainer.

The wikileaks e-mail seems to back that up.

When you say it's been repeated that Trapwire doesn't use facial recognition, are you referring to the opinion piece you linked to earlier?

Jonny7

Suceed wrote: »

Why would a system designed to catch terrorists not include a technology as basic as facial recognition? I would have thought it a no-brainer.

The info is quite easily available, apparently no one bothers to read it

http://tdr.uspto.gov/jsp/DocumentViewPage.jsp?76610388/SPE20060927110512/Specimen/7/26-Sep-2006/sn/false#p=2

Why would such a clumsy system be used to spy on people? Incredibly labour intensive also.

Suceed

Jonny7 wrote: »

The info is quite easily available, apparently no one bothers to read it

http://tdr.uspto.gov/jsp/DocumentViewPage.jsp?76610388/SPE20060927110512/Specimen/7/26-Sep-2006/sn/false#p=2

While not mentioning facial recognition specifically, it is alluded to in several places in that document.

Since, I can't copy and paste from it I'll type out one example...

'A mechanism to correlate external events such as watch list events for suspected terrorists or stolen vehicles with other observed event data within the system'

...which suggests it also utilises ANPR.

The document certainly doesn't specify the technology used, so I don't see how it can be used to rule facial recognition out.

Why would such a clumsy system be used to spy on people? Incredibly labour intensive also.

Clumsy or labour intensive how? It uses computer algorithims.

The document you linked to also alludes to Trapwire using existing technologies to which it can link to. In the example above that would be the watch lists and lists of reg numbers.

A technology which purports to identify suspects which are surveilling targets would be somewhat lacking if it couldn't identify when a suspect returned to a target-site on multiple occasions, so facial recognition would be something of a bonus.

I find it a little odd that it's even a matter of debate, tbh.

Jonny7

Suceed wrote: »

While not mentioning facial recognition specifically, it is alluded to in several places in that document.

Since, I can't copy and paste from it I'll type out one example...

'A mechanism to correlate external events such as watch list events for suspected terrorists or stolen vehicles with other observed event data within the system'

...which suggests it also utilises ANPR.

It suggests 10 details for people and 8 for cars. This is literally a case of e.g. security guards taking down details of suspicious activity from CCTV footage or observation, entering it (pre-selected detail fields) and that data being sent to a central database, which can be subsequently accessed by anyone else on the system. It specifically denotes that no private communications will be analysed (or else they wouldn't be able to sell the system)

Clumsy or labour intensive how? It uses computer algorithims.

It relies on human observation and reporting, it's essentially neighbourhood watch among sensitive installations for "turrists".

The document you linked to also alludes to Trapwire using existing technologies to which it can link to. In the example above that would be the watch lists and lists of reg numbers.

Yeah, but it's fancy jargon for - utilising existing infrastruture in a more efficient way.

For instance - instead of e.g. every nuclear site in the US relying on it's own security - this system proposes building on that, by interconnecting that security to a central database where all suspicious activity and observations can be centralised and analysed. The whole basis of Trapwire is based on the supposition that terrorists survey and visit sites before they attack them - not really an exact science if you ask me.

The "complex tech" here is analysis - which is literally going to a system be correlating the details taken of man/vehicle sightings and cross-referencing. Cletus with his shades, beard and Ford Bronco who likes to visit nuclear sites is obviously going to show up in a lot of reports and flag the man as a "potential".

A technology which purports to identify suspects which are surveilling targets would be somewhat lacking if it couldn't identify when a suspect returned to a target-site on multiple occasions, so facial recognition would be something of a bonus.

It's called the Mark 1 human eyeball in this case, that said I wouldn't be surprised if it morphs into using expensive facial recognition software in the future, but it is what it is, expensive anti-terrorist surveillance programme.