This Dahua Safe City Marketing Video Is Irresponsible

JH
John Honovich
Jan 23, 2017
IPVM

Dahua is irresponsibly marketing for safe city projects. See video below:

It starts off strangely with a woman being stabbed for no clear reason:

Then they track his car via LPR, which is possible:

Than they get a hit on the car via LPR. Notice the shot below and the absurdity it foreshadows:

The guy gets out of his car and they lost him.... but no....

That's right. They create a high quality facial model off of a video feed of a person inside a speeding car, at night, wearing a ballcap.

This is some serious science fiction. This is not a criticism of face recognition as much as basic image capture impossibility. You are not getting such a high quality facial shot from such a scenario.

To top it off, they take a 1080p camera mounted some 30+ feet in the air:

Of course, they get a facial recognition match on the suspect at night, in a shadow, with a hat on from a 1080p camera across the road.

Dahua is certainly not the first marketer to engage in such fiction (recall: Abu Dhabi Is a Very Safe City) so this is certainly not an innovation.

However, this is not the type of expectations we should be setting for technology.

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UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #1
Jan 23, 2017

Maybe they should have doors on the ATM so you need to scan your Card to enter one at a time. Saves a lot of fictional impossibilities.

I can assume their IR bullet does give a Color image, I would expect the IR LEDs to be on at that time.

Fair to say this video is intended to someone with little understanding of CCTV.

if you want a real taste of beyond fiction check their Chinese website, there are three videos.

This one is really special!

http://www.dahuatech.com/down.php?file=down/robot.mp4

A creepy robot designed to scare your kid sh..less, and give him nightmares, and also seems it's a replacement for being a parent! Go Figure. I best go on Amazon and see how much it is! :-)

Got to love marketing and reality.

UE
Undisclosed End User #5
Jan 30, 2017

To be honest, this robot Dahua has is less creepy than the one California based Mayfield robots introduced a few weeks ago at CES 2017.... "Kuri".  

RS
Robert Shih
Jan 30, 2017
Independent

That's a basically a Jibo...

U
Undisclosed #3
Jan 30, 2017
IPVMU Certified

Yes, Kuri appears to have copied Jibo's ship date ;)

We've been waiting a long time for Jibo...

UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #1
Jan 23, 2017

So take a look at Huawei Video below link.

A bit of Jack Bauer and several TV shows must of inspired this.

And seem this must of inspired Dahua's effort to copy them! make up your own mind.

Published Huawei was April 2016, Dahua Dec 2016!

FYI Dahua video source is 25fps which means it was 99.9% made in China. Hence PAL frame rate.

U
Undisclosed #2
Jan 23, 2017

So the 'killer' changes his entire face, but leaves a readily identifiable tattoo exposed on the back of his neck?  Nice trade craft.

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U
Undisclosed #2
Jan 23, 2017

"Of course, they get a facial recognition match on the suspect at night, in a shadow, with a hat on from a 1080p camera across the road."

What's even more strange to me is that they don't try and use the image they 'captured' to identify who the person is.

Their 'solution' doesn't match a known face to any kind of database... instead, they claim to be able to extrapolate facial features to 'create' the face and then use their own created image to match it against future image captures.

So it's actually more of a digital version of a BOLO than it is a traditional facial recognition solution.

U
Undisclosed #2
Jan 23, 2017

"So it's actually more of a digital version of a BOLO than it is a traditional facial recognition solution."

To be clear - it is actually neither of these two things.  Since the underlying technology driving the stuff they claim to be able to do is complete bullshit - as you mention above in slightly more diplomatic terms.

U
Undisclosed #3
Jan 23, 2017
IPVMU Certified

Safe City Promise = If you get stabbed, don't worry we will find the guy...

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UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #4
Jan 23, 2017

There is not only a technical issue with how these technologies are marketed, but also a business issue of which we all need to be sensitive.

Both the United States and the European Union contain entities (governments and private organizations) that are very concerned about privacy. In the thinking of some of these organizations, facial recognition is a dangerous tool that shatters the concept of anonymity in the public space (a concept that may be fictional, but I digress).

Now imagine one of these privacy organizations getting a hold of this video, and how they can spin it.

"Imagine that you're driving along the road at night and just happen to pass by a video camera 30 feet in the air. Do you realize that the FBI, and the CIA, and the BBC are all able to know EXACTLY who you are, even in those conditions? This presentation from a major vendor PROVES it!"

In my personal view, these communications need to not only be technically accurate, but also take account of local laws and attitudes toward identification technology. An ad that works in China may not work so well in Illinois.

(Beatles fans, I apologize for leaving B.B. King and Doris Day out of the fake quote above.)

U
Undisclosed #2
Jan 23, 2017

**Obscure Reference Alert**

I don't get the Beatle's fan reference compared to your quoted words

Note:  I fully realize that this could be due simply to my own obtuseness.

UM
Undisclosed Manufacturer #4
Jan 23, 2017

"Dig It" - at least the album version; I understand the version in the "Let It Be" film may be different.

No obtuseness in this case; it's not one of the Beatles' best-known songs.

U
Undisclosed #2
Jan 23, 2017

hey I love obscure references.... unless I don't get them.

I hate vanity license plates that I can't figure out for this same reason.

JH
John Honovich
Jan 23, 2017
IPVM

In the thinking of some of these organizations, facial recognition is a dangerous tool that shatters the concept of anonymity in the public space (a concept that may be fictional, but I digress).

Now imagine one of these privacy organizations getting a hold of this video, and how they can spin it.

One thing I find both sad and funny is that the ACLU has often based its criticisms of facial surveillance on such vendor marketing videos (Dahua joins a long line here).

I agree with you about that concern, which is ironic since those vendors only wish they could do what their marketing claims.

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Avatar
Guilherme Barandas
Jan 30, 2017

Dahua and Hik .. always making fun !!

Avatar
Bob Kusche
Jan 31, 2017

Compelling drama! Anyone recognize the bad guy from this famous Dahua video?

JH
John Honovich
Apr 05, 2017
IPVM

Update: Dahua has deleted the original video and replaced it with one where the woman is not stabbed on screen.

Unfortunately, they keep the science fiction scenario of capturing a face shot from inside a fast moving vehicle.

See below:

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Mick Brown
Apr 05, 2017

typical nonsense they been making up fairy tales for a long time

installer gets all the pain from the end customer and trys to hide it

so 9 times out of 10 hik dahua get away with gross exaggerations

win work off other manufacturers as they have integrity

and no one has sued hik or dahua yet is a miracle

10 years ago hik was selling debris detection on their dvr they never delivered 

but as customers complained just said old product buy a new one

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