El otro BOSS

Reconocer un rostro dentro de una multitud es, de momento, empresa casi imposible. Dejará de serlo si el proyecto BOSS sale adelante. Les dejo algo de la información de primera página del NYT. Así que, nos controlan por la declaración de la renta, los datos sanitarios están en línea, si usamos tarjetas de crédito, se sabe hasta el último euro que gastamos, la red es pasto de ciberespionaje, las llamadas telefónicas son GPS personales. En fin que no hay remedio: estamos desnudos e inermes ante el Gran Hermano tecnológico. Y eso sin contar con los chivatos humanos.

Los chuchos, tan feuchos, son las queridas mascotas de la familia Obama. No tienen nada que ver con el proyecto BOSS. O tal vez lleven chips incorporados por mor de la seguridad del Presidente. Nunca se sabe.  Recuerdo un chiste mexicano en el que le preguntaban a un chico qué quería ser de mayor: "perro de gringo", dijo. Pues eso.

"I would say we’re at least five years off, but it all depends on what kind of goals they have in mind” for such a system, said Anil Jain, a specialist in computer vision and biometrics engineering at Michigan State University who was not involved in the BOSS project.

The effort to build the BOSS system involved a two-year, $5.2 million federal contract given to Electronic Warfare Associates, a Washington-area military contractor with a branch office in Kentucky. The company has been working with the laboratory of Aly Farag, a University of Louisville computer vision specialist, and the contract was steered to the firm by an earmark request in a 2010 appropriations bill by Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican leader.

Significant progress is already being made in automated face recognition using photographs taken under ideal conditions, like passport pictures and mug shots. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is spending $1 billion to roll out a Next Generation Identification system that will provide a national mug shot database to help local police departments verify identities.

But surveillance of crowds from a distance — in which lighting and shadows vary, and faces tend to be partly obscured or pointed in random directions — is still not reliable or fast enough. The BOSS research is intended to overcome those challenges by generating far more information for computers to analyze.

Daiquirí monumental

En "El Floridita" de La Habana han mezclado el "daiquirí" más grande del mundo, en líquido y alcohólico homenaje al gran Hemingway. Y para entrar en la tontorrona guía Guinnes de los records. Para preparar un daiquirí hacen falta buen ron "Habana Club", blanco de cinco años, zumo de limón fresco, azúcar y hielo picado. Las proporciones varían: igual cantidad de zumo que de ron y azúcar. Hemingway lo prefería sin azúcar y posiblemente con el doble de ron. Después los ingredientes se mezclan en una batidora ( o si se prefiere en una coctelera). La consistencia debería ser como la de la nieve. En el "Floridita" ofrecen múltiples permutaciones y variaciones de un cóctel emblemático de Cuba. Entra muy bien y si se toma con moderación reconforta en medio del calorazo tropical.

América Latina no quiere espías

Latin America Condemns US Espionage at United Nations Security Council
By Carla Stea
América Latina ha dejado de ser el paupérrimo patio trasero de Estados Unidos. El siglo XXI es el de las democracias, la lucha por la prosperidad, lo que significa la competencia de nuevos mercados. Por eso la presente declaración contra el ciberespionaje que practica Estados Unidos es significativa. Los países latinoamericanos lo han manifestado en la ONU: rechazan toda injerencia cibernética en sus asuntos. Si les interesa, visiten la URL señalada.

Url of this article:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/latin-america-condemns-us-espionage-at-united-nations-security-council/5346120

“The United States appears to be destined by Providence to plague America with misery in the name of liberty.” Simon Bolivar
Throughout the day, on August 6, President Cristina Fernandez Kirchner of Argentina chaired a historic United Nations Security Council meeting that revealed a seismic shift in geopolitical consciousness and incipient strength.
The agenda of Security Council meeting 7015 was:  “Cooperation Between the United Nations and Regional and Sub-regional Organizations in Maintaining International Peace and Security.”
The prelude to this meeting was held, the prior day, August 5, at a press stakeout given by Elias Jaua Milano, Foreign Minister of Venezuela, Hector Timerman, Foreign Minister of Argentina,  Antonio de Aguiar Patriota, Foreign Minister of Brazil, Luis Almagro, Foreign Minister of Uruguay and David Choquehuanca Cespedes, Foreign Minister of Bolivia.
They spoke on behalf of Mercosur, the Southern Common Market, following their meeting with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.  Their remarks focused on the expression of outrage contained in the “Annex to the note verbale dated 22 July from the Permanent Mission of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the United Nations addressed to the Secretary-General, which stated:
“Decision rejecting the acts of espionage conducted by the United States in the countries of the region.”  “The President of the Argentine Republic, the President of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, the President of the Federative Republic of Brazil, the President of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay and the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, having met in Montevideo, Eastern Republic of Uruguay, on 12 July, 2013, within the framework of the presidential summit of the Southern Common Market (MERCOSUR),
Condemning the acts of espionage carried out by intelligence agencies of the United States of America , which affect all countries in the region,
Strongly rejecting the interception of telecommunications and the acts of espionage carried out in our countries, which constitute a violation of the human rights, the right to privacy and the right to information of our citizens, and which also constitute unacceptable behavior that violates our sovereignty and is detrimental  to the normal conduct of relations among nations,
Considering the advisability of promoting a coordinated approach to this issue at the regional level,
Decide to:
Work together to guarantee the cybersecurity of the States members to MERCOSUR, which is essential to defending the sovereignty of our countries,
Demand that those responsible immediately cease these activities and provide an explanation of the motives for and consequences of such activities,
Stress that the prevention of crime and the suppression of transnational crimes, including terrorism, must be carried out in line with the rule of law and in strict observance of international law.
Promote the adoption by the relevant multilateral institutions of standards for the regulation of the Internet which place a particular emphasis on cybersecurity issues, with a view to fostering the adoption of standards that guarantee the adequate protection of communications, in particular to safeguard the sovereignty of States and the privacy of individuals,
Express our full solidarity with all countries, within and outside our region that have been victims of such actions,
Promote the joint efforts of the Ministers for Foreign Affairs to inform the Secretary-General of the United Nations of these incidents and request prevention and sanction mechanisms on the issue at the multilateral level. (Ver URL).