guns

“I was using a telephoto lens, and she thought it was a weapon”

Phogotraphy2 Comments

The heart breaking photograph by Turkish photographer Osman Sağırlı went viral last week virtue of Twitter and Reddit (imgur).

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The young Syrian girl in the photograph is named Hudea and understandably thought the photographer’s camera was a weapon. Upon seeing it she threw her hands in the air and surrendered. At just four years old the world is still a mystery and confusion between objects is appropriately normal and part of learning. So it’s truly heartbreaking that this little Syrian girl is more used to seeing guns than cameras, especially in this now image conscious, self-obsessed celebrity world.

BBC Trending reports that the image was widely shared in the Turkish speaking world for several months before it made it on to English speaking social media.

H/T @duckrabbitblog

The ‘Wobble’ Made Whilst Holding a Video Camera is as Unique as a Fingerprint

Phogotraphy3 Comments
Remember this? Go-Pro wearing robber terrofies shoppers in Italy.
Remember this? Go-Pro wearing robber terrofies shoppers in Italy.

Surveillance just added another weapon to its growing arsenal; identification by wobble, or as described in the recently published paper in Egocentric Video Biometrics “a person’s gait.”

Using data compiled from videos created by GoPro cameras mounted onto the helmets of 34 different subjects, researchers Yedid Hoshen & Shmuel Peleg of Cornell University were able to identify unique signatures in the differentiating wobble from just four seconds of camera footage. This, they say will compromise ego-centric (mounted) camera wearers anonymity, although it could have some benevolent uses. Your newly purchased camera can be tailored to recognise only your movements which may prevent some thefts, or user analytics on video sharing websites.

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One of the Go-Pro Hero3 cameras mounted to a baseball cap.

The experiment has only so far been performed with baseball cap mounted Go-Pro cameras but researchers plan on expanding the tests to include Google Glass and body mounted surveillance cameras such as those soon to be in use after the order of 50,000 units for the US police force was approved.

Perhaps we can finally learn the truth behind the Italy Go-Pro camera robbery in which an armed robber enters a supermarket and terrifies the public whilst looting. If you’ve not seen that, you’re in for a thrill:

We’re one step closer to Completing the Circle, although I have to admit to not considering this method of surveillance before. Scary stuff or much needed improvements in tech? Leave your comments below.

h/t The Verge