I trust you’ve seen Minority Report, starring Tom Cruise. Now check out the website of Digital Signal Corporation (shots below of the homepage and a scene from the movie). The company looks like it could have delivered the biometric facial recognition technology showcased in the film, doesn’t it?
Haven’t seen the movie? Then try and imagine visiting the Digital Signal website and reading its lofty mission statement (“we make the world safer by delivering the only precision long range three dimensional identity solution capable of recognizing people on the move”) in the year 2002, when Minority Report was released. You would consider it to be some sort of prank, I wager – I know I’d at least have considered the possibility of it being a joke back then.
Before I digress too much: Digital Signal Corporation is real – and it was founded in 2001. They’ve just raised $15 million in Series C financing in a round from Columbia Capital, City Light Capital, SilverHaze Partners, Novak Biddle Venture Partners and Paladin Capital Group.
The company’s 3D facial recognition technology helps commercial and government customers identify and monitor moving “non cooperative subjects” at long range.
Digital Signal’s biometric system is primarily used to detect criminal and or terrorist activity, the company posits, although its solutions can also be used to identify important customers, friendly soldiers, or frequent travelers.
Says David Guttadauro, CEO of Digital Signal:
“In an increasingly uncertain world, leaders in the security industry are constantly seeking the most effective, state-of-the-art systems to support their objectives, whether it be clearly identifying known terrorists at an airport or tracking down a repeat shoplifter or member of an organized crime family.”
Amazing, if slightly unnerving indeed.
