http://www.publicfinance.co.uk/features_details.cfm?News_id=28527
Owen Barder
"Central government must help the public sector get over its fear of IT failure, and embrace technology-enabled reform. Flexible, shared services are the key to transforming government. New technologies have transformed consumers’ lives. Ways of buying airline tickets, booking a hotel room, buying a book or CD, getting cash, renting a flat – even finding a partner – have changed dramatically in the past decade. Many businesses have used technology to offer more convenient, personalised, joined-up and effective services, generally at a lower cost. But if a time traveller from 20 years ago arrived in a job centre today or in a hospital or school, or applied for a passport or driving licence, they would feel at home immediately. While some public services have made noticeable progress, many have hardly changed. The contrast with customer service in the private sector is beginning to look stark. "
SOCIETY, SOCIAL MEDIA, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE< GOVERNMENT>JUSTICE - a selective newsfeed
society
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Hungary to introduce biometric passports / China People's Daily, 18 Aug 2006
http://english.people.com.cn/200608/18/eng20060818_294452.html
"Hungary will begin to issue biometric passports in conformity with European Union (EU) standards on Aug. 29. The machine-readable document will carry a micro-chip containing the holder's personal data and digital photo, which makes it more difficult to be forged illegally. The date for introducing the new passport coincides with the deadline set by the EU in February 2005, which allowed an 18-month period for technical development. The color of the new document will be dark red, instead of the current blue passport, and as of July 2009, the chip of the new passport will also carry the holder's digital fingerprint. Current passports will remain valid after Aug. 29 until their expiry date." [Brief]
"Hungary will begin to issue biometric passports in conformity with European Union (EU) standards on Aug. 29. The machine-readable document will carry a micro-chip containing the holder's personal data and digital photo, which makes it more difficult to be forged illegally. The date for introducing the new passport coincides with the deadline set by the EU in February 2005, which allowed an 18-month period for technical development. The color of the new document will be dark red, instead of the current blue passport, and as of July 2009, the chip of the new passport will also carry the holder's digital fingerprint. Current passports will remain valid after Aug. 29 until their expiry date." [Brief]
Companies creating anti-terror technology / Bradenton Herald, 18 ASug 2006
http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/15299726.htm
ROBIN ROGER
"No one can tell for sure what guidelines the Transportation Security Administration will have for travelers in the future, but a number of companies are developing new technologies to protect passengers from terrorist threats. GE Security in Lakewood Ranch has several products in the works, according to Chief Technology Officer William McGann. [..] "The chemical analysis technology actually works and the rest of the stuff doesn't," Slepian said. "We might as well let people walk through without checking them at all if the technology doesn't tell us anything." [Top Topic]
ROBIN ROGER
"No one can tell for sure what guidelines the Transportation Security Administration will have for travelers in the future, but a number of companies are developing new technologies to protect passengers from terrorist threats. GE Security in Lakewood Ranch has several products in the works, according to Chief Technology Officer William McGann. [..] "The chemical analysis technology actually works and the rest of the stuff doesn't," Slepian said. "We might as well let people walk through without checking them at all if the technology doesn't tell us anything." [Top Topic]
Terror: keeping the outrage in perspective / Spiked, 16 Aug 2006
http://www.spiked-online.com/index.php?/site/earticle/1485/
Mick Hume
"Islamic terrorism is real. But the notion of an Islamic terrorist threat to society is the product of our own insecure imaginations. Is the terrorist threat facing the UK, the USA and the West today real and mortal, or is it exaggerated, even invented? This debate swings back and forth with events. When warnings of planned acts of terrorism proved unfounded, as with the London ‘ricin plot’ or the alleged plot to blow up Old Trafford football ground, or when a high-profile police terror raid comes up empty-handed as recently in Forest Gate, the sceptics and cynics have the upper hand and accusations of political scaremongering ring out." [Society]
Mick Hume
"Islamic terrorism is real. But the notion of an Islamic terrorist threat to society is the product of our own insecure imaginations. Is the terrorist threat facing the UK, the USA and the West today real and mortal, or is it exaggerated, even invented? This debate swings back and forth with events. When warnings of planned acts of terrorism proved unfounded, as with the London ‘ricin plot’ or the alleged plot to blow up Old Trafford football ground, or when a high-profile police terror raid comes up empty-handed as recently in Forest Gate, the sceptics and cynics have the upper hand and accusations of political scaremongering ring out." [Society]
Chip and pin fines machine for police / Express 7 Star, 18 Aug 2006
http://www.expressandstar.com/articles/news/es/article_92422.php
"A portable chip and pin machine to collect fines could soon be used by West Midlands police. Senior officers say the device will be a more efficient way to make criminals pay. Trials are said to be starting in the West Midlands, London and Manchester later this month. A spokesman for chip-and-pin firm Ingenico said: "It is on the brink of being introduced in forces around the country." Des Keenoy, of the Police Federation, said the gadget would not be favourably received by the rank-and-file officers the Federation represents." [Police News]
"A portable chip and pin machine to collect fines could soon be used by West Midlands police. Senior officers say the device will be a more efficient way to make criminals pay. Trials are said to be starting in the West Midlands, London and Manchester later this month. A spokesman for chip-and-pin firm Ingenico said: "It is on the brink of being introduced in forces around the country." Des Keenoy, of the Police Federation, said the gadget would not be favourably received by the rank-and-file officers the Federation represents." [Police News]
Liquid explosives threat isn't new / St Paul Pioneer Press, 11 Aug 2006
http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/15246660.htm
CHUCK McCUTCHEON
"The disrupted plot to blow up airplanes between London and the United States highlights the urgent need for high-tech systems that can detect liquid and other forms of explosives, aviation security experts said. Technologies have advanced, several said, to where such systems could be put in place at airports. However, they are costly and an inconvenience to passengers. "It's not that we don't know how to do security — it's that we don't want to spend for it," said Douglas Laird, a former Northwest Airlines security chief who is now a consultant in Reno, Nev. Charles Slepian, head of the Foreseeable Risk Analysis Center in New York, said the British plotters' intention to mix chemical explosives aboard planes was a threat that should have been addressed long ago." [Top Topic]
CHUCK McCUTCHEON
"The disrupted plot to blow up airplanes between London and the United States highlights the urgent need for high-tech systems that can detect liquid and other forms of explosives, aviation security experts said. Technologies have advanced, several said, to where such systems could be put in place at airports. However, they are costly and an inconvenience to passengers. "It's not that we don't know how to do security — it's that we don't want to spend for it," said Douglas Laird, a former Northwest Airlines security chief who is now a consultant in Reno, Nev. Charles Slepian, head of the Foreseeable Risk Analysis Center in New York, said the British plotters' intention to mix chemical explosives aboard planes was a threat that should have been addressed long ago." [Top Topic]
Tiny pen pistols give security men sleepless nights / Times of India, 17 Aug 2006
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1899242.cms
"Pen pistols cannot be detected easily unless opened and checked thoroughly. A person carrying a pen pistol can walk past the airport security without any hassle. According to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) in recent years as many as 10 pen pistols were sent by security agencies from various parts of the country to its ballistics wing. "With a pen pistol, a person can be shot at from point blank range,". In a pen pistol, a 0.22-inches cartridge is loaded and the pistol can be fired at a close range, perhaps up to a distance of five feet. On examination of some of the pen pistols that have been recovered from terrorists in India, it was found that the steel or metallic pens looked simple and raised no suspicion. " [Brief]
"Pen pistols cannot be detected easily unless opened and checked thoroughly. A person carrying a pen pistol can walk past the airport security without any hassle. According to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) in recent years as many as 10 pen pistols were sent by security agencies from various parts of the country to its ballistics wing. "With a pen pistol, a person can be shot at from point blank range,". In a pen pistol, a 0.22-inches cartridge is loaded and the pistol can be fired at a close range, perhaps up to a distance of five feet. On examination of some of the pen pistols that have been recovered from terrorists in India, it was found that the steel or metallic pens looked simple and raised no suspicion. " [Brief]
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