The Boston Bombings
It has been awhile since I have blogged, I just merely took a few days off from the crazy world of writing. More good news though, I have closed in on a couple of more writing deals, and Chapter 2 of the behemoth book I am writing now sees some light at the end of the tunnel. Anyways, you are probably wondering why I am writing about the above topic mentioned. I have been meaning to write about it. Of course, I am sure you know what I feel about it.
I think it is a deplorable act, and the person whom they have caught should be tried under the full force of the justice system we have here in the United States. Enough said. It is at very sad and horrible moments like these unfortunately, which brings the people and the nation together as one.
And, it is under trying times like these when security officials review what went wrong, and what could be done better for next time. Keep in mind that the suspects were caught on video surveillance tapes. As a result of this, a bunch of experts have now forecasted that because of this, there will be an uptick in the demand for video surveillance technologies.
The details: “IMS Research has projected that worldwide revenue for the video-surveillance will reach $US20.5 billion in 2016, up 114 percent from US$9.6 billion in 2010, though the firm believes this figure could rise even further, taking into account recent events like the Boston bombing . . . According to IMS (now a part of IHS), researchers are now in the process of updating this forecast as it believes recent events like the Boston bombing could increase spending and conceivably fuel growth.” (SOURCE: http://www.biometricupdate.com/201304/research-firm-suggests-spending-on-video-surveillance-likely-to-increase-following-boston-bombing/).
My Take
As the research firm has pointed out, this is some pretty serious growth rates which are projected to happen (of course, reality could dictate just the opposite). But, in the research findings, it was also pointed out that the video surveillance is also a very unpredictable one as well.
This is so because there are so many variables at play in this particular market segment. This can be due to the budgets of the businesses and the governments which want to deploy a CCTV system, or even the prevailing economic conditions at the time.
In today’s environment, business and state/local governments are literally in survival mode with their budgets (though the likes of Apple and Google with billions of cash are not in survival mode), so purchasing a CCTV system is much more of a luxury than a necessity.
But, there are two factors which will fuel the demand at least for video surveillance systems (notice that I have used CCTV interchangeably—it really is the same thing). First, the Biometrics market, especially that of facial recognition, will be a big boon to CCTV systems. This is so because the two technologies can be meshed and work quite well together.
For example, while the CCTV system can capture the raw images and footage of people on the move, often trying to identify the suspect is left at the hands of a trained professional-which can take time, and can lead to error. But with the implementation of facial recognition, the suspect in question can also be identified in just a matter of mere seconds.
But of course, there is also room for error here as well, so it will take some human judgement as well to make the final call. Second, rather than having CCTV cameras just operate alone, and have to go through each reel of film separately to identify a suspect, the technology has evolved to the point now that all of the CCTV systems can be networked together, and all of the images stored into one central database and server, which results in the very easy distribution of raw footage amongst a whole host of law enforcement agencies, ranging from the federal all the way down to the most local.
But be warned about CCTV systems. They can be very covertly used, and cries of civil liberties and privacy rights violations will abound. And if the evidence is not presented properly in a court of law with due diligence, the court will most likely err on the side of the suspect, and let a totally guilty suspect walk free in the streets again and commit the same heinous crimes all over again.
Just some food for thought.