  
| 
| ||||||||||||
CeBIT: Tech companies focus on securityBy CNN's Jim Boulden  Jim Boulden tests out the latest gadgets on display at CeBIT. YOUR E-MAIL ALERTSHANNOVER, Germany (CNN) -- Security is never far off the mind of most people, and the companies that make money from fear are here in abundance at the CeBIT technology trade fair. And that is not such a bad thing. Software vendors like Symantec and SAP are showing users how to protect their data without having such high fire walls that no-one can communicate with customers. And Hitachi has launched a laptop which stores the vein patterns of the user's middle finger. Hitachi says it is not just more accurate than fingerprint or iris scanning, but vein information can be stored without violating the laws of country's like France, which forbids companies to store biometric data of their employees. IBM is showing off its version of so-called RFID (radio frequency identification) middleware which can track people in a certain areas. We met Holger Maier of IBM, a fast-talking German with a strong American accent who is wearing a white RFID tag around his neck all week. Three large TV screens show all passers-by exactly where he is (the range of the sensors do reach the bathroom on the second floor) most of the time. Maier says IBM has been taking technology used to track boxes for DHL. If there is an accident or security breach, security staff will know where everyone is, with a few meters. Maier also wants to see the technology used in places like hospitals, so babies can be tracked and patients can be guided to place like X-ray rooms with personalized maps which appear on wall monitors. It's clear these advances leave even less room for privacy. But in Europe we are tracked by so much CCTV that privacy no longer exists on public transport or most offices. Only so much of that video is never actually watched. Ken Hertzler-Walters of California-based Vidient, says over 98 percent of CCTV in airports go unmonitored. Security staff simply can't monitor it all, making that portion of security a nonsense. His company sells software called SmartCatch which digests all the movement captured on camera and alerts staff is something is wrong. It could be a left bag, a line of people forming at an emergency exit or too many kids hanging on a street corner. For just over $100,000, says Hertzler-Walters, the CCTV camera which captured a seven-tonne truck pulling up to a bank depot in Southern England in February, would have alerted authorities during the hour in took armed men to remove $93 million in British Bank notes. Then here at CeBIT, there is the small Taiwanese firm StarsNav which is hawking the "Personal Tracker" to watch over your children. It is a nice-looking gadget the size of an iPod complete with GPS and GSM. It can be put in your child's bag and you can track their movements. It even has an SOS feature which will alert you if activated and it receives phone calls. StarNav says it could also be used for tracking animals or soldiers and for car navigation. One feature your kids might not like though: The sim card can be removed and downloaded so you can see exactly where they have been. Yet, despite all the safety and security technology on offer here at CeBIT, I have come and gone from the fair grounds over the past three days and no-one has looked in my bags and no one inspects any of our large boxes full of television equipment. With a half million visitors expected to visit these massive 27 halls, I guess CeBIT is too big to protect. I must admit its been so long since I and my bags have been allowed to come and go freely at any event -- it's a bit of privacy I thought was lost forever. 
|
| ||||||||||||
| © 2007 Cable News Network. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy guidelines. Contact us. Site Map. |
 |
|
Pay service with live and archived video. 
