Boston Tech Vs. the Bomber 170
An anonymous reader writes "Amid rumors of an impending arrest in the Boston Marathon bombing, Xconomy has a rundown of local companies working on technologies relevant to the investigation and aftermath. The approaches include Web analytics to identify communication patterns, image and video analysis of the crime scene, surveillance camera hardware and software, and smart prosthetic devices for amputees. A big challenge the authorities face is the sheer volume and different proprietary formats of video from security cameras, mobile devices, and media groups. Ultimately this will be a case study in whether an individual bent on destruction can remain anonymous in an era of digital surveillance, social media, and crowdsourcing."
Re:The rumor mill (Score:4, Informative)
Re:The Mechanical Turk may be faster... (Score:0, Informative)
Say what you will, but the slack jawed one holding a backpack like no one does is mighty suspicious. Worthy of a talking to, I think.
Re:Misdirection (Score:4, Informative)
For gun laws? C'mon, that story holds no water. To get rigid gun legislation, shouldn't a gun have been used? Or many? Where's the logic in "Hmm, someone blew up a house, let's tighten gun laws"? If someone sat on top of a building and sniped away at people reaching the goal line, I could see some connection, but bombs? C'mon, at least try to find some connection if you call it a conspiracy.
If you say that they want to tighten chemical control, now that's something we could start discussing (even though... I'd be hard pressed to find out what else they could regulate, monitor or outright forbid in that area, ever tried getting sodium persulfate lately? And that's not even bomb material (at least not that I'm aware of and no, I don't want to discuss it, lest someone reads it and feels the pressing urge to take away one of the last chemicals I can still get, with some hassle, that I can use to etch PCBs!).
But back on topic. Do you HONESTLY think they need to blow up shit to gain public support for tighter gun laws? The support is already there in some parts of the public. The amount of "gun nuts", people who dare to consider at least one part of the constitution important, is rather small. Very vocal, but also very small. Think banning assault rifles or making getting them hard enough that 99% of the people wouldn't bother would cause more than a "tsk" from 99% of the population? Doubt it.
When you want to make it a conspiracy, make it one for something where support is lacking. Like, say, yet another war.