America Going Orwell at Mach Speed -- Authorities Are Starting to Identify You by Your Voice

[marmar]

New York Observer / By Steve Huff

America Going Orwell at Mach Speed -- Authorities Are Starting to Identify You by Your Voice
The technology is already in use in some police precincts and 911 call centers.

September 24, 2012 |


In case Orwellian surveillance systems like TrapWire weren’t creepy enough, we learn that SpeechPro, a Russian-owned company, has helpfully invented a voice identification tool for law enforcement use called VoiceGrid Nation. American authorities are looking into using the software at 911 call centers and in police precincts. As Slate reports, it’s already in place and working out pretty well in some other countries :

The technology has already been deployed across Mexico, where it is being used by law enforcement to collect, store, and search hundreds of thousands of voice-prints. Alexey Khitrov, SpeechPro’s president, told me the company is working with a number of agencies in the United States at a state and federal level. He declined to reveal any names because of nondisclosure and confidentiality agreements. But Khitrov did divulge that various versions of the company’s biometric technology are used in more than 70 countries and that the Americas, Europe, and Asia are its key markets. Not all of its customers are law enforcement agencies, either. SpeechPro also designs voice recognition technology that can be used in call centers to verify the identities of customers. Depending on the size and specifics of the installation, it can cost from tens of thousands up to millions of dollars.

Slate notes that this software is different from the FBI’s own efforts at putting wholesale biometric programs in place , though no less scary.

Mr. Khitrov told Slate that SpeechPro is being used for “noble causes.” His example of one such noble cause was when the technology helped Mexican authorities track down kidnappers via recorded ransom calls. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/civil-liberties/america-going-orwell-mach-speed-authorities-are-starting-identify-you-your-voice

[a geek named Bob]

1. to be honest

I'm not seeing a problem.

[marmar]

2. It's never "a problem" until it becomes one, which it inevitably will.

nt

[a geek named Bob]

3. I guess I shall just remain blissfully unconcerned...

[bemildred]

5. There are two problems:

1.) False positives and false negatives, i.e. error, what is the error rate? I can guarantee you it is not zero, or even close to zero.

2.) It is going to be easy as pie to thwart this stuff, once it gets out there, there will be a PDA app in a week.

[a geek named Bob]

7. I like it!

being tapped? Voice-tracked?

We have an app for that...

[awoke_in_2003]

6. That is the problem...

too many Americans are too busy to be bothered about why things like this are a problem.

[a geek named Bob]

8. oh good god...

look guy/gal/other...

the cops can get a warrant to tap phones, under exigent circumstances. That's first semester high school civics...

If the LEA powers that be were so hot and bothered to go after suspicious stuff, my ass should be in leavenworth, just for the number of High Power rocketry toys I've got in the garage.

[awoke_in_2003]

10. Judicial overview...

can act as protection against over-zealous cops.

[a geek named Bob]

11. true...

but the point of exigent is to get the info, when there's danger that the potential bad guys could get rid of it.

like a previous poster pointed out...within a week of the voice tracking being used, they'll be an app.

[littlemissmartypants]

4. If

Dominos knows who I am when I order a pizza this is no big surprise and if we are just now learning of it there is a good chance it has been going on for a while.

http://speechpro-usa.com/product/biometric/voicegridid

Applications

Kidnapping
Extortion
Domestic Violence
Terroristic Threats
Prank or False Report Calls
Corruption
Drug Trafficking
Gang & Organized Crime
Abuse of Emergency or 911 Communication Channels
Key figures

Minimum required speech pattern for analysis - 3 seconds
Executes up to 100 simultaneous searches
Accommodates up to 1,000 active users
Stores up to 2,000,000 samples
Search/match in 10,000 voice samples - 5seconds
Average time for feature extraction 10 seconds

[a geek named Bob]

12. I seem to remember there was a law that was passed during

President Clinton's terms, I think it was HR4522. This allowed remote phone and computer taps.

Not sure of the year...

[Socal31]

9. Again, after the Utah facility is operational, it will be worse than this.

The data storage buildings are so large, they are planning on keeping every single phone call/email/web post, site, etc FOREVER. It really is the largest breech of domestic privacy that one could possibly even imagine.

If you haven't read the wired article, please do.

[a geek named Bob]

13. then overload the system...

Call EVERYONE you know, often.
Lay false trails
Use differing accounts and things like Tor and Waste to confuse matters...

There has to be a physical limit to the amount of data they can store...

Like I said, I'm not worried.