Technology Key to RNC's Protective Net
Yahoo! News - Technology Key to RNC's Protective Net
Fri Aug 27,12:35 PM
By Cynthia L. Webb, washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
The Republican National Convention kicks off Monday in the Big Apple with some 50,000 delegates pouring into Madison Square Garden. Add to that a slew of vendors, dignitaries, speakers and top government officials, including the president of the United States and his entourage, and you have a security nightmare for planners and law enforcement.
With all the tech wizardry available in 2004, the gum-shoe detectives protecting the convention are relying on a lot of security mainstays such as X-ray machines, surveillance areas and walking the beat. Government agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency (news - web sites), U.S. Postal Service, Coast Guard and "dozens of other federal, state and local agencies were drafted by the Secret Service to play largely behind-the-scenes roles in a security plan that is considered unprecedented in its size and scope. The Republican convention is 'the biggest and toughest' of any of the so-called National Special Security Events, including last month's Democratic National Convention in Boston, said A.T. Smith, special agent in charge of the Secret Service field office in New York," the Associated Press reported.
The Secret Service (news - web sites), the New York Times noted in an article yesterday, is "part of history's most enormous police and military presence at any convention. [It] alone must provide the basics for well over 1,000 special agents, uniformed officers and military personnel supporting the service. This force is assigned to everything from protective duty to counter-sniper teams, bomb squads and canine units."
But there's more than enough state-of-the art equipment on display – and behind the curtain – in the massive security effort. For example, the Engadget blog noted that the "Federal Protective Service is outfitting 200 police officers with special helmet-mounted surveillance cameras that can wirelessly beam a video feed back to a control room so that service commanders can see exactly what's going on in the streets and more effectively issue orders."
In addition to thousands of patrolling law enforcement personnel, the Department of Homeland Security "will use customs agents to X-ray packages and delivery trucks. It will also provide sophisticated surveillance and communications equipment to watch for possible trouble both inside and outside the arena," the AP said. Newsday reported on Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge's unveiling for the media of "a 2,000-square-foot room in a security-girdled police headquarters that, he announced, will serve 24/7 as a 'Multiple Agency Coordination' center for law enforcement. It will include about 150 people from 66 city, state and federal agencies, said Ridge, who held a news conference in the temporary center. The room includes computers, televisions tuned to news channels and screens showing city landmarks and streets and an incident log. The video feeds will come from more than 100 surveillance cameras at such high-profile locations as the Brooklyn Bridge, Holland Tunnel and Madison Square Garden."
• The Associated Press via the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Even Postal Service on RNC Security Duty
• The New York Times: Secret Service Plans for Its Biggest Logistical Test (Registration required)
• Newsday: Ridge: City Security Strong
• The New York Times: Ridge Reviews Security in N.Y., Declaring 'We Are Prepared' (Registration required)
New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has some high-tech plans for monitoring the RNC. "Kelly talked about an array of devices, including some to defend against bomb attacks, that together would create, 'a comprehensive security net over Madison Square Garden for and during the course of the convention,'" Newsday reported. And KABC-TV in Los Angeles said the site "will be a fortress: traffic kept off the streets nearby and undercover cops riding the subways below. City officials showed off some new gadgets they have to help keep the city safe; including urban assault vehicles, and mobile command centers. Menacing equipment for the purpose of safety."
In the Wednesday news conference with Ridge, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said: "Other elements of the convention's security plan will be less visible, but just as important. There will also be robust security measures implemented near the Convention site, such as the installation of car-stopping ... barriers in the area and high-tech vehicle scanning equipment."
• Newsday: High-Tech RNC Security Unveiled
• KABC-TV: Security Preps Begin For the RNC
Technology companies are working behind the scenes at the convention. Newport, Rhode Island-based LiveWave Inc. is working with the DHS to beef up video surveillance systems at federal buildings in New York City in advance of the RNC, Mass High Tech reported. Hewlett-Packard announced yesterday it is the official provider of mobile technology gadgets for the convention, including HP Tablet PCs and copiers – proving that the convention is not only for marketing candidates, but for companies to flash their wares too.
• Mass High Tech: LiveWave Lands Video Surveillance Deal For RNC
Bloggers in the House
The convention will become the media's main story next week, and reporters from TV stations and newspapers won't be the only ones roaming the convention. Bloggers, or pundits that pen Weblogs, will also be part of the coverage fray, though not as many as at last month's Democratic convention.
The Wall Street Journal said "the official blogger group will number about 15, a tiny fraction of the estimated 15,000 journalists expected, and less than half the size of the accredited Boston blogger set. 'That's just the number we landed on,' said convention spokeswoman Alyssa McClenning. She wouldn't discuss how convention planners chose the group, but said the bloggers 'reflected a mix of ideologies.' Adding to the blend are some delegates and traditional journalists who also plan to blog from the convention. In the accreditation process, Republican convention organizers invited particular bloggers, while the Democrats used applications. But the result is the same: a lot of home-team support. Most Boston bloggers were solidly in the John Kerry (news - web sites) camp, while most New York bloggers plan to vote for President Bush (news - web sites). A handful of centrist bloggers are attending both." The RNC blog corps includes David Adesnik of OxBlog and Matt Margolis of Blogs for Bush (no question where his interests lie). The Blogs for Bush site has a whole gaggle of writers. (The media site Cyberjournalist.net posted a complete list of bloggers covering the convention.)
But the Journal News, a Gannett paper that covers New York's Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties, suggests that the blogs will make little noise at the convention. There's this harsh criticism, from a liberal blogger. "The blogs at the convention is just a bunch of [garbage]," Bob Somerby, who edits the political blog Daily Howler, told the paper. "You'll notice no breakthroughs came out of the Democratic convention on the Web." More from the article: "Somerby's comments would seem like blasphemy in the so-called 'blogosphere,' but many online writers and observers agree that blogs, with a handful of exceptions, have had virtually no impact on the national conversation, mainstream media coverage of politics or large, orchestrated events like the parties' quadrennial nominating conventions."
Any bloggers care to weigh in on this? Drop me a note and let me know how influential you think the bloggers will be at the RNC.
• The Wall Street Journal: Meet the Bloggers, Part Two (Subscription required)
• Journal News: Impact of Blogs Seen as Slight
A New York company called PubSub Concepts yesterday used the upcoming convention to plug a new product, which it says can be used to scan politically natured blogs. Called the PubSub Sidebar, it's a free tool to add to the Internet Explorer Web browser that can monitor some 3 million blogs, the company said. The tool "displays instant alerts whenever new Weblog entries are published which contain user selected keywords or phrases such as 'John Kerry', 'George Bush (news - web sites)' or 'Kerry AND Vietnam'. "This tool will allow political enthusiasts and journalists to watch what's being said in near real-time at the RNC" Bob Wyman, PubSub's chief technology officer and co-founder, said in a statement.
A number of media sites will be publishing live online coverage of the event, with video streams and their own renditions of blogs, including MSNBC and the Boston Globe. Robert G. Kaiser of The Washington Post and photographer Lucian Perkins will produce a diary for the convention coverage and will discuss their plans in a Live Online chat today.
News service Web sites are already serving up helpful primers to the convention happenings. USA Today has a helpful page of information and links about events and so does Newsday's Web site.
Live From the Other Side
The protesters at the convention might be the most tech-savvy, or at least the most creative at using technology to get out their message.
"Beginning today, RNC protesters plan to use wireless phones to call in live, in-the-trenches reports that will be streamed over the Internet and picked up for rebroadcast nationwide on community-based micro radio stations — some licensed, most illegal," the Los Angeles Times reported. "The use of illegal — that is, unlicensed — 'pirate' radio stations has a long history of giving voice to the disenfranchised, usually on a very local level because of such outlets' relatively low power (10 to 100 watts) and reach (one to five miles). Only recently has the technology become an integral protest tool, used to organize impromptu events and to provide news, interviews, even music from event sites."
• The Los Angeles Times: Pirate Radio to Moor at Republican Convention (Registration required)
Wired News reports on engineering professor Natalie Jeremijenko whose "collective of tinkerers and artistes, the Bureau of Inverse Technology, have been using technology to explore the limits of social and environmental issues, from suicide to toxic skies. She's won slots at top universities, like Yale and Stanford, and at prestigious art centers, like the Whitney Museum, for the work. But starting this weekend, the machines put together here by Jeremijenko and her cohorts may get their biggest stage yet, by giving a guerrilla geek's edge to the protests swirling around the Republican National Convention in New York City," the article said.
More from the piece: "Months ago, it became clear that the RNC counter-demonstrations were relying on digital technology. But most of the gadgetry involved was household stuff -- text messages to report cops' whereabouts, or web pages to arrange housing. Jeremijenko and her group have gone beyond that, hand-crafting devices meant to level, just a bit, law enforcement's technology advantage over activists. Their devices include a 10-foot balloon, for counting crowds; a set of pirate transmitters for taking over local radio stations; and 1,400 face masks that measure the level of pollution in the Manhattan air. Think of the group as a kind of Darpa of dissent -- with Jeremijenko's loft as the headquarters.
• Wired News: Tech and Art Mix At RNC Protest
The Queens Chronicle reported on some other protesters' convention coverage plans. "They're creating their own round-the-clock news stream, called A-Noise, which will deliver reports from the streets, interviews, live shows and edited segments encapsulating the day's events from Friday, August 27th through Thursday, September 2nd. Because the whole thing will be run by volunteers from all over the country collaborating with donated and borrowed equipment in real time, serious organization is required," the article said. "The stream will include everything from live walkie-talkies and cell phones on the street to polished pieces from the radio personalities of NPR's 'This American Life,'" an organizer told the paper. "The channel will primarily be available on the Internet at nyc.nysindy.org/sound, as well as through other web sites that link to it, but local pirate radio stations are also likely to pick it up."
• Queens Chronicle: Protesters Create Their Own News Station to Cover RNC (Registration required)
The Politics of Domains
The owner of a Web site who didn't make a secret of his support for President Bush is changing his tactics after he linked his non-Republican-sounding URLs to Bush's re-election Web site. Jed Merrill of Utah had linked his vermontdemocrats.com and other sites to georgewbush.com, but he "changed the format on Thursday to include a link to the Kerry-Edwards campaign," the AP reported. He "has registered the Web addresses of vermontdemocrats.com, mainedemocrats.com, massachusettsdemocrats.com and rhodeislanddemocrats.com, and linked them to the GOP site. But on Thursday he changed the Web sites to list links to both the Kerry-Edwards and the Bush-Cheney campaigns because of feedback he had received, he said."
• The Associated Press via The Washington Post: Utah Man Buys Domain Names In Bush Push (Registration required)
Bush-Kerry Fight: A Game Concept
Not wanting to miss out on the opportunity to capitalize on the presidential race, some gaming companies have created politics-themed video games. One is called "Bush vs. Kerry Boxing," CNET's News.com reports, noting its "one of several new video games to capitalize on the current presidential campaign. Sorrent, a specialist in games for cell phones, released the game this week in attempt to give a contemporary spin to virtual pugilism. Gamers can play as either Bush or Kerry, engaging in one-off bouts or advancing through a campaign mode with three-round matches against increasingly tough opponents from the opposing party. Sen. Hillary Clinton (news - web sites) referees." The article also mentions another game, called "The Political Machine" by Ubisoft Entertainment. " The game casts the player as a virtual candidate who makes decisions on everything from which states to campaign in to what hot-button issues ads should be based on."
• CNET's News.com: It's All a Game for Bush vs. Kerry
Peter Hartlaub of the San Francisco Chronicle offered up this review of "The Political Machine": "From the beginning, the strategy game doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles, contains no explosions and has a plot that should be familiar to anyone with a GED. You pick a candidate and start your campaign 41 weeks before the election. As you fly from state to state, making speeches and holding fund-raisers, each destination will eventually turn blue or red to represent whether Democrats or Republicans are in control. Eventually, the ballots are cast, and whoever has the most electoral votes wins. (No Ralph Nader (news - web sites), thank goodness.)," he wrote.
• San Francisco Chronicle: Presidential Campaign Game Lets Political Junkies Jump Into the Fray
Filter is designed for hard-core techies, news junkies and technology professionals alike. Have suggestions, cool links or interesting tales to share? Send your tips and feedback to cindyDOTwebbATwashingtonpost.com. (Yes, those spammers have been having a lot of fun with my e-mail address lately.)
August 29, 2004 at 10:06 AM in Web/Tech | Permalink
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