IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 14

OPINION

STEVE MANN

Personal Safety Devices
Enable "Suicurity"

S
"

ecurity" is a Latin word which means "without care," from the Latin prefix "Se" (meaning "without") and "curity" meaning "care."
What does this really mean? Persons "in
custody," such as children and the elderly, typically
live under parental security, or under the security of a
caregiver, so that they can live in a "secure" environment where their "cares" are taken care of by others.
Security often has associated with it a custodial relationship. Examples include children in the custody of
their parents or teachers, prisoners in the custody of
a warden, or patrons in the custody of an amusement
park ride attendant. For example, a roller coaster ride
restraint mechanism is said to be "secure" when the
restraint is escape-proof, so that a "dare devil" rider
cannot open it and climb out until the operator has
released the riders from custody, once the ride comes to
a safe and complete stop.
The concept of "security" in general is evolving
toward this kind of custodial relationship between those
who provide the security, and those who are "secured."
Governments and large organizations are taking over
more and more of our "care," so that we can be "carefree." Devices around us are being fitted with cameras and computer vision systems watching over us, to
reduce our "cares." New Light Emitting Diode (LED)
lights have built in cameras that watch us, and dim the
lights or turn them on or off for us automatically (e.g.,
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MTS.2014.2319913
Date of publication: 4 June 2014

14

|

"Pixelview" by Lighting Science Group, "Netsense" by
Sensity Systems, "Lumimotion" by Philips, and "Intellistreets" by Illumination Concepts). The cameras in the
Philips Lumimotion lights do nothing more than sense
occupancy, but the cameras in the Sensity LED lights
also recognize faces, license plate numbers, and "even
identify suspicious activity, sending alerts to the appropriate staff" [1].
recently, computer vision systems have been
installed in most of the toilets and handwash faucets
at our university of Toronto campus, to flush the toilets and turn the taps on and off for us, so we don't
have to. Our cares are taken care of by a small camera and computer vision system in each of the toilets.
The pixel count is small - on the order of 128 or 1024
pixels - not enough to identify faces or "suspicious
activity," but sufficient to reliably flush the toilet or
control the tap so we don't have to. The older onepixel "cameras" were not very reliable. The 128-pixel
toilet and faucet cameras work better, and the latest
1024-pixel valves are more reliable still: "Instead of
simply detecting the presence of an object, controller ... based on the signals received from the camera
identifies the object type, the presentment, and adjusts
valve ... accordingly" [2].
As these systems are networked (e.g., "Sloan
Monitored Systems" by Sloan Valve), washrooms are
remotely managed and monitored.
In the past, recording or transmitting of images
from washrooms has been illegal. However, recently,
cameras have appeared in locker rooms [3] and
IEEE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY MAGAZINE

|

SuMMEr 2014



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014

IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - Cover1
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - Cover2
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 1
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 2
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 3
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 4
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 5
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 6
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 7
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 8
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 9
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 10
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 11
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 12
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 13
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 14
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 15
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 16
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 17
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 18
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 19
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 20
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 21
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 22
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 23
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 24
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 25
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 26
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 27
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 28
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 29
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 30
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 31
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 32
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 33
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 34
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 35
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 36
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 37
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 38
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 39
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 40
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 41
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 42
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 43
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 44
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 45
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 46
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 47
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 48
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 49
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 50
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 51
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 52
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 53
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 54
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 55
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 56
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 57
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 58
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 59
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 60
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 61
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 62
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 63
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 64
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 65
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 66
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 67
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 68
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 69
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 70
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 71
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 72
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 73
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 74
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 75
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 76
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 77
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 78
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 79
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - 80
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - Cover3
IEEE Technology and Society Magazine - Summer 2014 - Cover4
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_december2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_december2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_december2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_december2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2019
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_december2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_september2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_june2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_march2018
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_winter2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_fall2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_summer2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_spring2017
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_winter2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_fall2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_summer2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_spring2016
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_winter2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_fall2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_summer2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_spring2015
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_winter2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_fall2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_summer2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_spring2014
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_winter2013
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_fall2013
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_summer2013
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/ieee/technologysociety_spring2013
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com