# 2054 Washington, USA. A state of the art security system, `Pre-crime`, which anticipates crimes and predicts crimes before they occur, predicts the time and place where the crime will occur, predicts who will commit the crime, and arrests future criminals. It is a scene of the movie `Minority Report` which was released in 2002.

With the advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) technology, big data, and face recognition, film-like futures are quickly becoming reality, and countries around the world are pursuing crime prevention systems using AI and face recognition technology. Concerns are mounting that Orwell`s "Big Brother" society will accelerate.

According to The Singapore Times daily The Straits Times on November 14, Singapore`s government recently set up a `Smart Command Center` with NEC, a Japanese IT company, to prevent crime. The Center uses NEC`s Neoface, a face recognition technology developed using AI algorithms, to track criminal suspects anywhere in Singapore.

Especially, CCTV and drones can capture not only certain suspects but also suspected criminal behavior in the crowd.

Lawrence Tam, deputy director of the Ministry of Home Affairs in Singapore, said, "The world is undergoing various security threats, and we expect the government to strengthen its real-time crime prevention capabilities through law enforcement agencies."

Singapore is not the first such attempt. Since 2015, the Chinese government has already established a criminal surveillance system called `Tian Wang`, which uses collaborative technologies such as the Ministry of Public Security and Public Relations, GPS (satellite navigation system) of satellites and 20 million CCTVs nationwide. Even with the security company Isvision in Shanghai, the Ministry of Public Security is developing a face recognition system that can distinguish any face of 1.3 billion people within 3 seconds by using ID photo. The United States has also established a criminal DB through IBM`s crime analysis software (i2 COPLINK) (currently forged in logic) and collaborates with universities and research institutes to develop crime forecasts based on intelligent CCTV System.

Korea Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) is developing an AI video security platform that can identify the suspects` vehicles together with the police in Korea. This system grasps the characteristics of crime suspect`s specific facial features, body appearance, and attire, and does not even grasp general crimes prior to crime. First, it will be piloted in Jeju Island.

"The technology will be applied in Jeju Island from the middle of next year or later, and it will be expanded to the whole country in consultation with other municipalities," said Kim Geun-woo, project leader of ETRI`s intelligent security research group. However, there is no plan to monitor the public and to develop technology that grasps certain behaviors.

The development of technology around the world seems to greatly improve security and security, including terrorism prevention, arrest of criminals and identification of various identities, but it is pointed out that Big Brother reminds people to monitor and control people.

Professor Kwon Hun-young, a professor at Korea University`s Information Security Graduate School, said, "The electronic surveillance society is approaching, but the negative factors that the government looks at in individual privacy are bigger than the pure function." However, "We need to make concerted social consensus through deliberation and technical measures that can be managed transparently by a third party so that this system is not abused."


By Lee Gyung Tak kt87@


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