ITGS Practice Paper 2

6a) One feature of optical character recognition is the ability of the software to identify separate characters (letters) and recognize these characters. A second feature is its ability to transfer the recognition of these letters into an understanding of the entire word, and an identification of its relevant meaning.

6b) A wireless link between the camera and the network would not be possible in an area with frequent use of wireless networks, as signals could overlap and cause the corruption of data during the transfer of images from the camera to the network. A second situation in which this would not be possible would be in a situation in which the camera is physically out of range; ie, to far from the network for the connection to the network to be wireless, as it would be unable to transfer any images due to the lack of a connection.

6c) This new system will be able to detect suspicious situations in a variety of ways. One is a pre-programming into the system of behavior that is considered suspicious. A pattern or action that is considered to be suspicious would be programmed into the camera, and similar behavior in the area would be logged and sent back to the network. A second way would be to identify people who return to the area several times and yet seem to do nothing, and the camera would then record pictures of these people as well and send that data back as well.

6d) The citizens' concerns may be well-founded, as other police states have used less sophisticated methods to track "enemies of the state," but this is slightly outweighed by the value this system provides to the police. The police would now be able to identify possible threats against society and take steps to stop these threats before they occur. This gives police and early warning system, and allows them to prepare to met expected threats. The benefits of this system outweighs the concerns, as it is unlikely that one of these systems in a single city would lead to martial law. However, the spread of this system to every city increases the odds of this every time it occurs. Precautions would need to be taken in order to prevent the overzealous use of this system, and the abuse of power that could occur. But the benefits of possibly stopping major terrorist attacks as well as less serious crimes, like theft and drug deals, would outweigh the possibility of the morph into a police state.