The lucrative future of CCTV: remote biometrics and behavioral suspect detection

Madison Ruppert, Contributor
Activist Post

Recently I reported on how the cloud video surveillance industry, which offers Video Surveillance as a Service (VSaaS), has been experiencing considerable growth with no end in sight. However, the growth in this industry is dwarfed by the potential of the technological revolution of Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) surveillance.

According to the Homeland Security Research Corp. (HSRC), this decade will see a fusion of several technologies including CCTV surveillance, so-called “standoff biometrics” (somewhat similar to the systems being developed by the military and the Department of Homeland Security) and human behavioral signatures or “behavioral recognition” systems.

According to HSRC, this market could reach up to $3.2 billion by just 2016, although that figure includes the sales of systems, upgrades, and post-warranty services and repairs.

These systems were created in order to break through some of the obstacles currently arising in the surveillance industry and the bottlenecks they experience in processing and responding to data.

As of now, there is a lack of ability to respond to information from cameras in real time, but that is being changed through behavioral recognition and almost unbelievably fast facial recognition software.

This kind of technology is also designed to cut down on the cost of keeping large numbers of personnel operating CCTV workstations around the clock.

HSRC says that bringing all of these technologies together will bring opportunities for growth not just to the CCTV industry but also biometrics and IT systems manufacturers, security systems integrators and others in the field of Big Brother technology.

In their report entitled “CCTV Based Remote Biometric & Behavioral Suspect Detection: Technologies & Global Markets – 2011-2016” HSRC lays out their case for the potential growth of the paranoid surveillance state in a whopping 161 pages featuring 104 figures and forecasts in 96 submarkets.

Personally, I was not even aware of many of these submarkets, but given the rise of surveillance in the West, especially in the United States, it is hardly surprising that people would carve out a niche for themselves in order to get their share of the huge amount of American taxpayer dollars spent on useless gadgets.

Some of the submarkets in the technology segment include systems for video content analysis (VCA), walk-by systems, remote biometric identification systems, passive remote behavior detection and tracking systems, stimuli-triggered remote behavioral surveillance and more, many of which sound a bit unsettling.

Other analysis and forecasting includes the end-user market like transportation security, border and perimeter security, critical infrastructure security, government funded projects and foreign markets including China, India, Saudi Arabia and the UK.

Unfortunately, actually getting a copy of the entire PDF costs $4,450 for a single user, which is far beyond our resources here at End the Lie. This leaves us unable to conduct as thorough of an analysis and breakdown as we’d like.

That being said, it is clear that the surveillance industry is not going anywhere anytime soon, and as much as I would like this not to be the case, it seems almost inevitable with the paranoid culture we live in today.

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This article first appeared at End the Lie.

Madison Ruppert is the Editor and Owner-Operator of the alternative news and analysis database End The Lie and has no affiliation with any NGO, political party, economic school, or other organization/cause. He is available for podcast and radio interviews. Madison also now has his own radio show on Orion Talk Radio from 8 pm — 10 pm Pacific, which you can find HERE.  If you have questions, comments, or corrections feel free to contact him at [email protected]