What is TrapWire?
While it’s been widely described as a Minority Report-like, global facial-recognition surveillance system to predict your every move, it’s actually much less exciting than that. TrapWire is kind of predictive, but it doesn’t apparently rely on facial recognition—probably because the company isn’t very good at that particular technology yet. It’s not necessarily worldwide, though its list of reported users is pretty extensive: Las Vegas casinos, #10 Downing Street, the New York City subway system (though the Department has flatly denied using the system), the LAPD, Washington, D.C., and all of Texas. Basically, TrapWire uses whatever closed-circuit cameras the user can access (like those domed security cameras on the ceilings of grocery stores, in the subway, and, well, everywhere else) to monitor activity. Nothing new so far; security cameras tend to do that kind of thing. But here’s where it gets interesting: “suspicious activities” – taking pictures, making measurements, and other things that could point to a nefarious terrorist plot – can be flagged. These are combined with civilian reports aggregated by the software (think “If you see something, say something”), and assessed by TrapWire analysts. The resulting “suspicious activity reports” are sent to the user and any relevant law enforcement, including the Department of Homeland Security.
