Like most Americans I was shocked and dismayed by the events of Jan 6th at the Capitol in Washington DC. Regardless of where you sit on the political spectrum, things seemed to go well past what would be considered “normal” or “acceptable.” One part of this event that always amazes me, is how many people actually videotape or live stream themselves while they are committing criminal acts. This same phenomenon occurred during the BLM protests in mid-2020. Many of them were taken by peaceful protestors who happened to catch other events in the background but there was still a significant number of the video streams that were videotaped by the actual perpetrator of the criminal act. Is this an attempt to get their 5 min of fame? Is there a belief that those videos cannot be recovered and used against them? While working for the Bureau, we would often seize a suspect’s phone and find videos or pictures of them during the criminal act. I cannot tell you how many bank robbers took pictures of themselves with their money and then tried to delete the picture or video.
With these most recent acts, we have already started to see automated video analytics be brought to bear. Instagram is already posting pictures of people who were inside the Capitol as the FBI and other law enforcement starts to seek more information on those who broke into the Capitol building and committed crimes there. As these videos and pictures are plugged into the various analytics engines, it will be interesting to see how successful they are. Previously, i had posted that many automated video analytics products had been advertised to have high reliability rates but when used by law enforcement, these rates were not as advertised.
Many technology companies have started using video analytics in other areas as well including temperature and contact tracing for virus-related purposes. Retail stores are using more video analytics to track shoplifters and other malicious activity inside their stores. In fact, Walmart recently announced that they are going to a full self-service checkout system which means their reliance on their video security will become more pronounced. We will also start to see more of these video analytics tools be marketed openly as the United States becomes more connected. The use of devices like Ring doorbells have already skyrocketed in 2020 and it is very common to see Ring screenshots being used to document criminal activities in communities. Neighborhoods also share these screenshots through social media in attempts to thwart these criminals from moving their activities to other areas. These videos are often used by law enforcement to track these criminals and bring them to justice.
It does beg a question: Is America moving towards a more integrated video surveillance system like the United Kingdom? As the number of video devices rises, so does the threat of malicious use by cyber criminals. I often warn people of the danger of unprotected video devices in their home. It is important to consider how you will protect these devices and ensure that they enhance your home security without adding additional vulnerabilities.