Canada Should Be Cautious About Using Large Biometric Databases

Canada is also working to adopt the use of fingerprint and facial recognition technology at its borders and to its passports according to a June 11, 2009 article in the Globe and Mail. An industry trade group representative says the Canadian government should be very diligent in using large biometric databases. Roger Sullivan said that governments must also ensure the data are protected from identity thieves.
"The danger is that, somehow, that thumbprint is disassociated with my name or is also associated with some bad guy," he said.

Science and Technology on the Hill has written about this biometric problem repeatedly and one company has a solution. Personal Identity Solutions with its recoverable biometrics patent-pending technology is fast becoming the industry standard for biometric data security and assurance.

Europe Takes A Closer Step Toward Digital ID's

Digital identification passports and biometrics are beginning to converge and Switzerland is the new area of concentration for the latest innovation. On May 17, Swiss voters narrowly approved a government plan to switch over to electronic passports, tied to a national fingerprint registry. A microchip will store Swiss travelers' personal data such as fingerpints and a photo. At borders and airports, travelers will have their photos taken and fingerprints scanned to make sure the data matches on their passports. According to London's Independent "All EU nations must institute fingerprint-enabled e-passports by next summer. Germany, France, and the Netherlands already issue them."

Lockheed Martin is working on a similar system for the U.S., while the FBI is working on a project called "Server in the Sky" to link the world's biometric databases. The London's Independent reports that "the group, the International Information Consortium, says a global biometric clearing house would help nations combat terrorism and rapidly identify victims in major disasters. Northrop Grumman is supplying the technology, although the initiative has met with resistance from privacy groups."

Here is the problem with one global database, what if the data gets hacked? Once you lose your biometric identity you can not get it back. But one firm has thought of a remedy. Personal Identity Solutions is working on a Recoverable Biometric process - to find out more go here.

Artificial Muscle On the Way From Air Force Office of Scientific Research

Those of you familiar with nanotechnology know about all the uses of carbon nanotubes (1/10,000th of the diameter of a human hair). The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) is pushing the limit with an exciting new application in this area of nanotech. The Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR) is funding a project from UTD's NanoTech Institute for artifical muscles which are 30 times stronger than natural muscles made of very thin sheets of nanotubes. The artificial muscles can operate at extreme temperatures - a necessity for use in space. They also are viewed as potential exoskeletons for use on the battlefield - able to be strong a steel in one direction and elastic as rubber in two other directions. Acording to Dr. Ray Baughman, director of UTD's NanoTech Institute, "Natural muscles contract at about 20 percent per second, but the artificial muscels' rate can exceed 30,000% per second."

Successful Launch at Site Near Planned Spaceport America

Engineers at a site near New Mexico's nascent Spaceport America launched a rocket Saturday morning with several scientific payloads including testing and research for acceleration, altitude and radiation from New Mexico high school and college students.

200 people watched the 20-foot tall Spaceloft XL rocket supplied by Colorado-based UP Aerospace streak to its planned high point of 70 miles above sea level. Unfortunately, the rocket did not meet that goal but the launch was still seen as a success.

The infrastructure for Spaceport America has not actually been constructed. This launch just came from a site nearby the planned commercial space center. Building is expected to begin in June. The spaceport has received a license from the FAA and long-term lease agreements from Virgin Galactic.

Cyberattacks Now Part of 21st Century Warfare

In 2005, I pitched a paper to a Middle East conference about how enemies of Israel would use cyberwarfare against it for asymmetrical and irregular attacks against the Jewish state. My paper was not accepted. One of my ideas was to have Israelis who do not want to serve in the IDF instead work in cybersecurity to protect against hacking attacks to its defense networks.

Now we know the Chinese and maybe the Russians, according to Defense Secretary Gates, try to hack into U.S. defense networks every day. And some entity recently hacked into the Joint Strike Fighter program.

Enemies of Israel and the U.S. know they can not match up to us in a man-to-man conventional fight - they are going to resort to unconventional means such as cyberattacks.

According to Chinese military expert David Shambaugh, the Chinese have been attempting to use cyberattacks against the U.S. for years.

Time for us to start taking all of this more seriously.

Micro Satellites Coming to an Orbit Near You

Micro satellites have actually been around for some time. But "CubeSats" are something new. These are satellites the size of a shoe box. The concept is for $100 anyone could put a CubeSat into low-earth orbit that would be a personalized information center. Hey it's kind of like the Internet in the old days - wide open. The Institute for Future project called the Signtific Lab is one group behind the idea - looks pretty exciting.

Solution for Brownouts Coming Soon

Have you seen the movie Body of Lies with Leonardo DiCaprio? He plays a CIA paramilitary operator who at one point gets kidnapped and taken to Syria. He is tracked by a friendly UAV, but the terrorists have several SUVs and they have plans to fool the "eye in the sky."

They cause a brownout my circling at high-speed sending enough dust in the air to fool the UAV video cameras. CIA analysts watching the video have no idea which SUV has Leo when they split in several different directions.

Brownouts are also dangerous for pilots in the Middle East - dust and sand can blind a pilot trying to land. The DOD says there has been over 30 brownout related helicopter accidents since 1973.

Good news now on a project coming out of DARPA. "Project Sandblaster" is being developed by Sikorsky Aircraft. They're working on "synthetic vision systems" - a group of sensors that can probe through the dust and sand kicked up by the aircraft's main-rotor down-wash. Honeywell is working on the project too. LandSafe Rockwell Collins has their own brownout remedy. No details on how they're doing it - it is DARPA you know. But a much needed solution should be on the way soon.