Toronto Sun April 19, 2007
Society's Super Snoops
... and how they're getting smarter
By Thane Burnett
We all enjoy new electronic gadgets, such as iPods, computers, Blackberries and cellphones, online banking and digital cameras. Such advanced technology is now ubiquitous. We enjoy such conveniences because of Moore's law. Since the invention of the transistor in 1947, digital technology has experienced a doubling of performance every 24 months, with a corresponding decrease in cost. First described by Gordon Moore, co-founder of Intel, it is the driving force behind continuing advances in digital technology. Science and medicine, weather observation and prediction, and communications have experienced barrier shattering growth. Semiconductor transistors, the heart of digital computers, were smaller than a thimble in 1956, but still large. Next came the integrated circuit, in which transistors and a variety of other electronic components were shrunk down and combined on a silicon chip. No more big copper wires. With advances in photolithography, the process used for manufacturing microchips, we are now approaching 1 billion transistors on a chip. The resulting increases in computing power have led to advanced networks, more powerful software, innovative engineering and manufacturing capabilities, desktop supercomputers and digital imaging technology. But in the service of surveillance, these same technologies are a threat to your privacy. According to John Pike, founder of GlobalSecurity.org, rapidly growing surveillance capabilities are being implemented by governments and corporations too quickly for thoughtful evaluation. As Mr. Pike stated, this is a "too soon to say, too late to change" phenomenon.
KEY TECHNOLOGY ADVANCEMENTS LEADING TO ENHANCED SURVEILLANCE
- High performance processors and memory
- Digital imaging
- High performance networks
- Photolithography
- Advanced software
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ADVANCED DIGITAL CAMERAS
A convergence of new sensors, lens designs, graphics processing and software capability will soon usher in the use of " Computational Photography", with new abilities to take photos in three dimensions, focus photos after they are taken or see through foliage. smarter
NETWORKS
While the Internet is familiar, another development is "smart dust", tiny particle-sized computers with sensors, power supplies and wireless networking capability.They can be dispersed over a wide area, forming a sensor network feeding information to larger networks.
NANOTECHOLOGY
Employing photolithographic techniques, similar to that used to manufacture microchips, micromechanical machines are being created with the functionality of much larger devices.The " Micromechanical Flying Insect", under development at Berkeley, will be a tiny autonomous aircraft with onboard video, aiding reconnaissance, search and rescue, and surveillance.
METAMATERIALS
Researchers have constructed composite materials with structures that don't exist in nature, which exhibit "negative refraction", conveying invisibility to obj ects. So far, objects have been made invisible tomicrowaves (radar) , and infrared (heat). Invisibility in the visible wavelengths is currently under research. While this may mean a real "invisible man" is possible, the real advances are in optics, giving rise to "superoptics", where we will be able to see atoms, and obtain super sharp images from great distances.
ADVANCED SOFTWARE
Advanced software is possible because of high performance computing. Early versions of software that recognizes faces or identifies financial patterns across a network are already being employed. It is also a driving force behind new engineering and manufacturing technologies, leading to further advances in surveillance.
© Copyright 2007, Toronto Sun
