According to this article, law enforcement used face-matching technology to compare the faces of Super Bowl spectators with a database of known criminals/suspicious persons. They claim that this system is less intrusive than normal video surveillance. I disagree. The difference is that nobody looks at surveillance tapes unless something happens. In this case, they're investigating you before anything has happened. On the other hand, maybe it's more like the dogs that sniff luggage for drugs or bombs. Regardless, people should be made aware that they are being watched like that.

The Super Bowl half-time show was really lame. As I watched it, I had but one thought: this is so corporate. I mean, think about it. The selection of "musicians" chosen to perform totally smacked of "synergies." Not to mention two of them (Britney Spears and N' Sync) are two of the most "made" performers on the music scene today. Let me just point out that these are the most popular musical acts on MTV, which is owned by Viacom, parent company of CBS, the station that brought us the Super Bowl. Sting and Nelly are on Universal (or a subsidiary label), another of the Big Five music labels, while Aerosmith is on Columbia (Sony). I wonder who owns the NFL....

¶ 61 Posted at 12.42 PM ⇒ No Comments ( privacy | politics )