Video pirates beware: software can now scan websites for copyrighted films. The automatic copyright infringement detector, or ACID, developed by Autonomy of Cambridge, UK, learns to recognise the sounds and pictures in a broadcaster’s or film studio’s back catalogue. It then monitors sites such as YouTube and peer-to-peer networks, looking for any illegal postings of the footage.
CCTV cameras in the UK are being given a voice. Talking cameras fitted with a loudspeaker are already in use on the streets of Middlesbrough in north-east England, where control centre staff can tell perpetrators caught on camera to pick up their litter…
