All-seeing eye: the history of video surveillance

There are eyes everywhere and they do not belong to humans. In today’s fast-paced modern world, video surveillance has become as essential to society as security guards and gateways. Mention video surveillance and the average citizen will instantly associate the term with video cameras mounted in banks and department stores or videotapes of a wrongful spouse marked Exhibit A in a complicated divorce process.

The history of video surveillance is as complex as the system behind it. In fact, it goes much further back in time than most of us realize. Press reports indicate that as early as 1965, the United States police have been using video surveillance in public places. By 1969, police cameras had been mounted in strategic areas of the New York City Municipal Building. This set a strong precedent, and it wasn’t long before the practice spread to other cities and police officers closely monitored key areas, using closed circuit television or closed circuit television systems.

Analog starts
Videotapes are largely responsible for the popularization of video surveillance. The analog technology used in video cassette recording gave decision makers an innovative vision: evidence can be preserved on tape.

In 1975, England installed video surveillance systems at four of its main underground train stations. At the same time, they also began to monitor the flow of traffic on the main roads. The United States followed in the 1980s, and although it had not been as quick as England to use video surveillance, it made up for lost time by widely instituting video surveillance systems in public areas.

Digital multiplexing and further developments
One drawback of analog technology was that users had to change tapes on a daily basis. This was remedied in the 1990s with the introduction of digital multiplexing. Digital multiplexer units had features like motion-only and time-lapse recording, saving a great deal of space on tape. In addition, it allowed simultaneous recordings in several cameras.

The next advance, digitization, featured low cost and compression capabilities, allowing users to record month-long surveillance video to hard drive. Additionally, digitally recorded images are clearer and allow image manipulation to improve clarity.

September 11 and the Internet
The events of September 11, 2001 changed the public’s perception of video surveillance. Software developers created programs that improve video surveillance. Facial recognition programs is one of these programs. Using key facial feature points, the recorded faces are compared to photographs of terrorists and criminals.

In May 2002, facial recognition software was installed on computer surveillance cameras on Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. That same year, SmartGate was installed at Sydney International Airport in Australia. SmartGate is an automated border crossing system for airline crew members. The system scans the faces of crew members, compares them to passport photos, and confirms identity in less than ten seconds.

In December 2003, Royal Palm High School in Phoenix, Arizona installed video surveillance with facial recognition. This is a pilot program to register sex offenders and track missing children.

For all these developments, the Internet is the icing on the cake. It revolutionized video surveillance by removing all impediments to viewing and monitoring anywhere in the world.

Clearly, humanity has created better and more refined means of video surveillance. Smaller, sleeker and more powerful video surveillance systems are released almost every month. Satellites send signals around the world. In fact, there are eyes everywhere, and several of them are in the sky.

Someone is always watching.

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