Big Brother is watching

Surveillance Cameras Get Smarter - washingtonpost.com:
"In the commercial market, the gaming industry uses camera systems that can detect facial features, according to Bordes. Casinos use their vast banks of security cameras to hunt cheating gamblers who have been flagged before."

This may be the least reputable use of surveillance since the casinos are notorious for banning card counters from the blackjack tables. Counting cards and adjusting your estimation of the odds appropriately is just playing the game; but it cuts into the house advantage which is lowest at blackjack anyway.

On other fronts, the article discusses efforts underway to develop camera/computer systems that will be able to notice when someone leaves a package behind in an airport or walks in a way that might indicate they were carrying a weapon of bomb. Some of these sorts of applications raise serious questions about probable cause for police searches.