Daniel Tencer
[rawstory.com] Privacy
rights advocates and civil liberties campaigners in Europe are raising
the alarm about a new surveillance system that monitors conversations in
public.
The surveillance system, dubbed Sigard, has been
installed in Dutch city centers, government offices and prisons, and a
recent test-run of the technology in Coventry, England, has British
civil rights experts worried that the right to privacy will disappear in
efforts to fight street crime.
The system’s manufacturer, Sound
Intelligence, says it works by detecting aggression in speech patterns.
"Ninety
percent of all incidents involving physical aggression are preceded by
verbal aggression," the Sound
Intelligence Web site says. "The ability to spot verbal aggression
before it turns into a violent outbreak delivers valuable time to
security personnel and enables speedy intervention." (more on rawstory.com)
