SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iV2ViNJFZC8 dept.
Submitted via IRC for Bytram
China can apparently now identify citizens based on the way they walk
China is home to the world’s largest network of CCTV cameras — more than 170 million — and its police have adopted Google Glass-like “smart specs” to seek out suspects in crowds, but now its surveillance efforts have hit a new level with technology that can apparently identify individuals based on their body shape and the way they walk.
The “gait recognition” technology is already being used by police in Beijing and Shanghai where it can identify individuals even when their face is obscured or their back is turned, according to an AP report.
[...] The positive impact is in finding criminals, but there’s a less savory edge. Besides law enforcement, media reports have shown that China has deployed surveillance technology for more sinister purposes that include controlling its people.
[...] China’s CCTV surveillance network took just 7 minutes to capture BBC reporter
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Thursday November 08 2018, @05:18PM (7 children)
One tight shoe, the other normal. Or, an irritating pebble or something in one shoe. Instead of a pair of shoes, wear one shoe with a thick sole, the other a flat shoe. There are probably other ways to change your gait. I know that if my back hurts, I tend to slouch a little. (That's a vicious circle - the more you slouch, the more your back aches, the more it aches, the more you slouch.) Maybe wear shorts a couple sizes too small? Duct tape your knee so it doesn't flex properly? Oh - almost forgot this simple one - put a concealed weapon in the small of your back. Or, something similar size and weight to a .357. Doing the same in a shoulder holster is supposed to alter your gait as well, but I've never really noticed that. Belt holster - forget it. The weight has to be located off your center of gravity. One more simply trick. Get a pair of crutches! Doesn't matter that you don't need them - learn to use them properly so that you can use them whenever you need. Just don't forget which leg is "broken", and change gaits in front of the cameras!
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by Bot on Thursday November 08 2018, @05:48PM
> almost forgot this simple one - put a concealed weapon
Flom the police lepolt:
"then a stlange walking guy comes up, we stop him obviously. He had a funny pistol and no ammo, said it makes him invisible to sulveillance. We thlow a coin, head psych wald tail plison. We'll call him Pli Son Won.
Account abandoned.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Unixnut on Thursday November 08 2018, @05:57PM (1 child)
All very true, but if you have reached a point in societal development where your choices to not be constantly spied upon rely on you hobbling yourself in a different manner every time you go out for a walk, you have already lost.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 17 2018, @12:59PM
With a fundamental right to privacy and constitutional controls restricting if, where, and how your government can use such security measures, and what data retention they are allowed if they do. This is such a slippery slope on a national and international level that it could lead to the sort of dystopian hells we've read about for 100 years very easily by itself.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by richtopia on Thursday November 08 2018, @08:15PM
Hello citizen!
You are being escorted to your local police precinct because today there is a 5.13% change in your step frequency. We had trouble identifying you until your face was observed on the CCTV. We suspect you are guilty of disguising your gait to conceal further illegal activity, and will prove this through further questioning.
Have a nice day!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 08 2018, @09:51PM (2 children)
Or, like the old West Indian gentleman in London back in the 90's, he used to walk with a pronounced limp, everyone just naturally assumed he'd a problem with his leg...that was, until someone tried mugging him thinking 'easy target'..yup, you guessed it, concealed machete..
I see other comments sort of jokingly referring to a change of gait being suspicious, so at this point I'll introduce the story of the local idiot back in the late 80's who, after being thrown out of a nightclub, went and got his sawn-off shotgun with the aim of taking out the bouncers who threw him out, the police stopped him before he got there as one of them who knew the idiot spotted that he wasn't walking normally, which was true as a sawn-off gun down your trouser leg does sort of alter your gait.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 10 2018, @12:56PM (1 child)
How did he draw it quickly?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 10 2018, @07:39PM
Assuming the machete, no idea, just remember the story being in the papers when I lived in London (in fact about 2 miles from where this happened). In the spirit of experimentation I've just tried this with a 20" practice sword, I'm 6ft tall and had no problems drawing it, as for doing the same with a machete down my trousers (even if it's in a sheaf) that close to my genitals, fuck that noise..