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Category Archives: Technology

Opinion: What’s next for technology stocks bloodbath or bliss? – MarketWatch

Posted: June 12, 2017 at 8:01 pm

The response to my last column, which warned of an ominous pattern in charts of big technology stocks, shows that while professionals are hedged against a decline, the average investor is full of bravado.

The real question

The real question for investors is what comes next bloodbath or bliss. To find the answer, we need to take the equivalent of an X-ray of the U.S. stock market. At The Arora Report, to do the X-ray, we mostly depend on the ZYX Global Multi-Asset Allocation Model. This is an adaptive model it changes along with market conditions. The algorithms used in the model involve a large number of macro, fundamental, quantitative and technical indicators. Today I am going to expose readers to a technical indicator that is of special note at this time about big tech stocks. On Friday I wrote: Pay attention to the ominous pattern in big technology stocks.

The most useful indicator

To see this indicator, please click here for an annotated chart.

The chart shows the difference between advancing and declining issues of the Nasdaq 100 index NDX, -0.59% The popular ETF that represents Nasdaq 100 is QQQ, -0.54% The index contains popular technology stocks such as Apple AAPL, -2.39% Facebook FB, -0.78% and Nvidia NVDA, +0.25%

Here are my observations from the annotated chart.

The top pane shows candlesticks for the difference between advancing and declining issues among Nasdaq 100 stocks.

Traditionally, only the closing value is used as an input into further studies. In my three decades-plus in the markets, I have concluded that the traditional way often gives misleading results.

To overcome the limitation of the traditional way, at The Arora Report we use an average of open, high, low and close.

The bottom pane of the chart is simply a cumulative sum of daily averages.

The cumulative sum is still in an uptrend.

The cumulative sum has its own limitations.

The middle pane shows cumulative adjusted value that overcomes some of the limitations.

The cumulative adjusted value is beginning to roll over more than the cumulative sum, but it is still above the trend line.

Ask Arora: Nigam Arora answers your questions about investing in stocks, ETFs, bonds, gold and silver, oil and currencies. Have a question? Send it to Nigam Arora.

Money flows

Investors may consider combining the difference between advancing and declining issues in the stock market or the index of their choice with money flows to gain valuable insights. To learn more about money flows, please see Four big events that are prompting investors to sell stocks and buy bonds and gold.

What to do now

This column is written for investors and not for day traders. At this time, there is no reason to panic and any dip is likely to be a buying opportunity. Having said that, the market is very overbought from a long-term perspective and valuations are stretched. Overbought markets tend to be vulnerable. Vicious selling can start at any time. Selling on Friday was nothing compared with what can happen.

For prudent investors, a defensive posture is warranted.

Here is our last call to subscribers of The Arora Report: It is important for investors to look ahead and not in the rearview mirror. Consider continuing to hold existing positions. Based on individual risk preference, consider holding cash or Treasury bills 18%-28%, short- to medium-term hedges of 15%-25% and very short-term hedges of 15%. It is worth remembering that you cannot take advantage of new upcoming opportunities if you are not holding enough cash. When adjusting hedge levels, consider adjusting partial stop quantities for stock positions (non-ETF); consider using wider stops on remaining quantities and also allowing more room for high-beta stocks. High-beta stocks are the ones that move more than the market.

Disclosure: Subscribers to The Arora Report may have positions in the securities mentioned in this article or may take positions at any time. All recommended positions are reviewed daily at The Arora Report.

Nigam Arora is an investor, engineer and nuclear physicist by background, has founded two Inc. 500 fastest-growing companies, is the developer of the adaptive ZYX Global Multi Asset Allocation Model and the ZYX Change Method to profit from change in trading and investing. He is the founder of The Arora Report, which publishes four newsletters. Nigam can be reached at Nigam@TheAroraReport.com.

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Opinion: What's next for technology stocks bloodbath or bliss? - MarketWatch

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The walls of this Russian technology exhibit are imprinted with a circuit board design – The Verge

Posted: June 11, 2017 at 5:04 pm

Moscow is home to the Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy, an enormous recreation and museum complex. One of its buildings is decked out with a spectacular exterior thats designed to look like the conductive tracks on a circuit board.

The building in question is the Pavilion of Moscow Information Technology Department, a 1,600 square meter presentation space that showcases Russias electrical achievements. Russian architectural firm Wall designed the exterior of the pavilion in 2016, according to Dezeen. The outer panels were formed out of concrete in a local factory, and house an exhibition space, business center, and childrens play area.

WALL | [] | [] | | | | 2016

WALL | [] | [] | | | | 2016

The structure is supposed to stand for another ten years, and the result is really something. The detailing adds an intriguing texture to the walls, which lends itself nicely to the purpose of the building itself: promoting the countrys technological achievements.

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The walls of this Russian technology exhibit are imprinted with a circuit board design - The Verge

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Information technology pavilion in Moscow features circuit-board-patterned walls – Dezeen

Posted: at 5:04 pm

The fibreglass-concrete facades of this technology centre in Moscow, designed by architecture practice Wall, are imprinted with a pattern based on the conductive tracks of circuit boards.

Moscow-based Wall, astudio led by architectsArakelyan Ruben and Navasardyan Ayk, designed the Pavilion of Moscow Information Technology Departmentfor the city's exhibition centre and amusement parkVDNH.

Also known asPavilion DIT, the 1,600-square-metre temporary pavilionstands at the intersection of Kolcevaya Road and Serenevaya Alley.

It is expected to remain in place for10 years, and will be used to show off the most interesting achievements inelectronics.

Lines and circles are imprinted into the fibreglass-concrete panels that clad the building, creating thetactile facade intended to reference the circuit boards used inelectronics.

The panels, which continue onto the ground at the pavilion's entrance, were designed by Wall and made in a local factory.

These imprinted walls arewindowless, placingfurther emphasis on the pattern. This approach also helped todraw visitors towards the full-height glazing that fronts entrance points to the building.

Inside, thesingle-storey space isdivided into three parts an exhibition space, business centre and a children'szone that are separated by a recess in the building's facade.

"Thematic areas create open spaces for flexible use in the summer season, open exhibitions, lectures, workshops, kid's activities," explained thearchitects.

Other recent examples of contemporary architecture in Russia's capital city include OMA'sGarage Museum of Contemporary Art and David Adjaye'sMoscow School of Management.

Just outside the city, London-based Zaha Hadid Architects is working on a building for theSkolkovo Innovation Center, Russia's answer to Silicon Valley. The131,000-square-metreSberbank Technopark buildingreferences Hadid's well-documented interest in the Russian Avant-Garde.

Photography is by Ilya Ivanov.

Project credits:

Architects: Wall Other participants: - Product brands: GRC, Guardian, MDM

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Just Askin’: Technology on the farm – Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette

Posted: at 5:04 pm

How many screens are in the cab of a farmer's planter?

Jason Watson's has five, and he said that's typical.

"It's full of electronics," said Watson, who farms near Villa Grove.

This includes:

A screen attached to the tractor's basic controls.

A backup camera, so farmers are "able to know when a car's behind them," Watson said.

The planter monitor, which "is recording all of our skips, doubles, down force, all the things that we need to know to make adjustments to best plant the seed," Watson said.

A global positioning system for guidance. "The tractors are being driven by a satellite signal that's allowing us to stay straight," he said.

An iPad, which combines the planter monitor data with the GPS data and displays it on a map of the field.

All this technology isn't necessarily cheap, and farmers always have to weight the costs and benefits.

"The constant game with technology is making sure that you're benefiting from it enough to afford it," he said. "It's never easy. You want all the bells and whistles, and you want all the gadgets, but it's about understanding what you can do with the information and how that technology can benefit you."

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TTI project using technology to improve road-evaluation process – Bryan-College Station Eagle

Posted: at 5:04 pm

A new project by The Texas A&M Transportation Institute could soon make Texas Department of Transportation road evaluations more consistent, efficient and effective using technology similar to what is being developed for autonomous vehicles.

The project is among a number of innovative studies being overseen by TxDOT's Office of Research and Technology Implementation.

Paul Carlson, head of TTI's Traffic Operations and Roadway Safety Division, said the monitoring system would replace the agency's current method of evaluating roads by eye -- a practice he said often lends itself to subjectivity and inconsistency.

"The idea is to add low-cost sensors to TxDOT vehicles so that they essentially act like robotic eyes, looking at the infrastructure, providing infrastructure information and condition assessment information," Carlson said. "[Right now] TxDOT employees have to drive their roadways twice per year doing windshield inspections, driving down the road and judging what needs to be rehabilitated and what needs to be maintained. ... This provides a much more objective way for that to be done with consistency across the board."

TxDOT RTI project manager Chris Glancy said while the technology is still in the testing phase, it already is garnering attention from department employees across the state.

"Every time I show district personnel the project, they want to implement it locally," Glancy said in a statement. "This is an example of what we expect to be many future innovative opportunities to utilize new vehicle technologies to improve safety and efficiency of many of the field operations that the department must undertake to effectively maintain our transportation system."

Carlson said the technology is now in the field for testing to measure accuracy and the cost-benefit of the system. He said four fleet vehicles of TxDOT's Bryan District already have been equipped with the system, and 26 are scheduled for installation across the state by the end of the year.

Should the system prove successful, Carlson said the technology could provide transportation officials with a more timely and cost-efficient way to get the most out of the "limited dollars" in maintenance funding they receive each year.

Carlson said the "unobtrusive" technology is designed to cost less than $1,000 per vehicle.

In addition to its potential cost-saving benefits, Carlson said the monitoring system is automatic and connected to a cloud service in which data is collected and analytics are compiled.

"The idea is that we provide the TxDOT personnel with no additional duties," Carlson said. "[The drivers] just go do their normal work."

He said the information then would be available to officials in the form of a "near-real-time map" of road conditions.

Carlson said in addition to its potential use in TxDOT vehicles across the state, the technology could also be commercialized and marketed to other state transportation agencies as well.

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Nebraska farmers to learn about agricultural technology – The Olympian

Posted: at 5:04 pm

Nebraska farmers to learn about agricultural technology
The Olympian
Nebraska farmers, ranchers and other agricultural professionals will gather in Kearney to learn about changing technology and how to prepare for tough economic times. The Nebraska Farm Bureau, University of Nebraska and KRVN Rural Radio Network will ...

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Leveraging science, technology helps farmers thrive – Las Cruces Sun-News

Posted: at 5:04 pm

Paula Heikell, For the Sun-News 8:45 a.m. MT June 11, 2017

Wes Richins, right, owner of SCALE Ag Services, talks with his team and Garrett Salopek,left, about the different application for the Phytech dendrometer,system, which help monitor the micro-variations of trunk radius with in there microns, helping farmers gauge water usage in orchards. Wednesday Mary 24, 2017.(Photo: Josh Bachman/Sun-News)Buy Photo

LAS CRUCES -Imagine being able to individually monitor every single plant across many fields of crops to determine its specific water and nutrient needs on a given day; or recycling thousands of gallons of agricultural waste water back into 100 percent pure drinking water. These are the things that Wes Richins, owner of SCALE Ag Services of Las Cruces, thinks about as hes developing products to help his agricultural customers be successful.

Richins has spent his life in agriculture. After growing up on a farm, he earned an agricultural business degree at New Mexico State University, worked at WR Grace, and spent 18 years at Agriliance (now WinField) before launching his own agricultural supply business. Eleven years later, hes built a thriving company that sells macro- and micro-nutrients, soil amendments, seeds and other products to farms throughout the western U.S. and internationally.

However, Richins focus is not limited to supplies. Hes also on the constant lookout to find next-generation techniques and tools to help his customers address emerging trends that can impact their business.

A Phytech dendrometer, set up by SCALE Ag Services, is pictured here in on of the pecan orchards owned by Frank Paul Salopek and Sons Farms. The hardware helps monitor the micro-variations of trunk radius within there microns, helping farmers gauge water usage in orchards. Wednesday May 24, 2017.(Photo: Josh Bachman/Sun-News)

Most recently, Richins has added crop stress monitoring technology to the SCALE Ags product line, partly inspired by his own farming experience. Wed planted some seed and when the yield didnt turn out as expected, the supplier told us it was because of water management, he said. That aggravated me; from everything I could see, we had good water management. I got to thinking there had to be a better way to view and manage whats happening in the field.

After doing some research, he found and became a distributor for PhyTech, a plant monitoring system that uses sensors to capture individual plant data and upload it in a real-time data stream to the farmer. The data helps to determine how much water, nutrition and light is needed for specific plants, if theyre stressed, and what they need for the best growing conditions. The system even has a component that will predict the next weeks weather conditions, said Heather Bedale, SCALE Ags PhyTech product manager.

SCALE Ag began selling the PhyTech system in Februaryto customers in the southwest U.S. and Mexico.

Heather Bedale, with SCALE Ag Services, explains how the Phytech system collects data from the dendrometer sensors on the pecan trees in the Frank Paul Salopek and Sons farms orchard and sends it to a cloud database system where the Salopeks can review how much moister is in the soil and trees. Wednesday May 23, 2017.(Photo: Josh Bachman/Sun-News)

Richins also believes that water management is going to become one, if not the most crucial element that farmers will be dealing with in the future, and hes already investing resources to understand what that will specifically mean to his customers and their community. Water management tools that help plant utilization of water and nutrients are going to be ever more important as time goes on, he said.

With this in mind, he is working closely with Enviro Water Minerals Company, an El Paso-based firm that has developed new technology to reclaim agricultural waste water and turn it into drinking water. EWCs first plant, which is about to go online, will return 2.2 million gallons of drinking water to the city that they didnt have, he said. and with PhyTech, we will be to enhance the utilization of the water assets we have today.

Wes Richins, owner of Scale Ag Services, holds a Phytech dendrometer, a water monitoring system. Wednesday May 24, 2017.(Photo: Josh Bachman/Sun-News)

Another benefit of the reclamation process is that it extracts elements such as high-grade gypsum out of the reclaimed waste water that can be reused in farming. The process is yielding nearly 99.9 percent pure gypsum, which can be used as a fertilizer and a salt mitigation product in the fields, said Richins. So were taking a product that was being disposed of and reclaiming it, so it can be applied to the soil to make it healthier.

He is also working to bring humic acid, another product used for salt mitigation and increasing micro-nutrient availability in soil, to his customers. We also have a sugar alcohol system developed by Brandt, he said, Its like taking a hypodermic needle and sticking it into a leaf so the nutrients are rapidly metabolized in the plant with no energy loss.

Richins takes a farmers first focus in everything he considers. He wants his customers to know that they wont get cookie cutter answers when they call SCALE Ag for help. He has built a team of agricultural specialists who have in-depth knowledge to address a range of issues. One such expert is Beland, who brings a masters degree in agricultural biology and statistics, and considerable research experience to the company. Another is Derek Davidson, who grew up on Silver Farms in San Miguel and earned an agriculture degree at NMSU before joining Scale Ag.

We spend a lot of time talking to individual farmers, Richins said. We want them to know that were here to do the research and help them find the right solution for their specific needs.

Paula Heikell is a freelance writer who can be reached at paula@wordwell.net.

For more information:

SCALE Ag Services, LLC 961 Sand Castle Avenue Las Cruces, NM 88012

Contact: Heather Bedale

Phone: 575-382-1642

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The ‘digital handmade’: how 3D printing became a new craft technology – TNW

Posted: June 9, 2017 at 1:09 pm

For many people, craft is wooden chairs and pottery, all lovingly constructed by hand. A 3D-printed plastic object? Not so much.

The work of Australian designer Berto Pandolfo, shown in a new exhibition at Kensington Contemporary in Sydney, upends that rule. His sidetables demonstrate that digital fabrication techniques like 3D printing offer new possibilities for design practitioners with a craft ethos.

By using new technology to enrich rather than substitute traditional techniques, he is part of a movement that the writer Lucy Johnston has termed the digital handmade designers that use emerging digital techniques to create desirable objects.

Craft is a contested term, especially in an era where machines have taken the place of work previously done by hand. Broadly, its an approach guided by tradition, sensitivity to materials and manual techniques. Pandolfos show explores the place of 3D printing within such a practice. The result is objects that feel distinctive rather than mass manufactured, despite their online origins.

3D printing, more accurately referred to as additive manufacturing, creates objects by depositing material layer-by-layer. For furniture design in particular this is a radical shift away from traditional methods of material subtracting (think of carving) as well as forming and joining. Referred to as the third industrial revolution by technology writers such as Paul Markillie, additive manufacturing was first used as a tool to construct prototypes directly from computer-generated models.

Some 3D printing techniques are favoured by industrial designers on a mass scale. Selective laser sintering and direct metal laser sintering, for example, are two relatively expensive processes that have proven particularly useful in the biomedical and aerospace industries.

Processes such as fused deposition modelling, on the other hand, are more affordable and more accessible to designers working on one-off objects like Pandolfo. Desktop 3D printers such as CraftUniques CraftBot PLUS cost a little over US$1,000.

An animated video of the fused deposition modeling process.

For his exhibition, entitled MND, Pandolfo has produced a series of side tables, using fused deposition modelling to create the legs. Inspired by river stones, the legs contrast with the smooth finish of the body of the table, made by hand from kauri pine. Typically rough textures are associated with wood. In this instance, however, the wood is smooth and uniform, and the plastic is rough and irregular.

The 3D printing process typically produces a rough, lumpy or striped surface finish, which is often sanded down. Pandolfo decided not to, giving the side tables the markings of imperfection often associated with handmade objects.

He also chose the river stone form rather than a side tables conventional turned wooden legs, in order to exploit the capacity of additive manufacturing for creating forms of subtle irregularity. Rather than being regarded as incidental or antagonistic to the finished product, the surface imperfections typical of the fused deposition modeling process have been used as an opportunity.

Pandolfos work fits within the digital handmade movement because he has taken the technological limitations of 3D printing as a creative opportunity.

In fact, the marriage of 3D printing and craft represents a return to a pre-industrial values where creative intelligence and skill in making went together.

As Johnston suggests in her book, the industrial revolution resulted in a diminished role for the craftsman. Skill and imagination were removed from mass manufacture as machines and the factory line dominated the production process. The creativity once associated with handmade objects and craft became more exclusively associated with the fine arts.

Pandolfos deliberate exploration of new materials, technology and form demonstrate a blending of these supposedly contrasting virtues.

The broader value of this work is in demonstrating how technological hardware, such as 3D printing, need not be relegated to mass industry. Designers and handcrafters can also claim it, ensuring new meaning can emerge from our machines.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

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Focus on self-driving vehicles distracts carmakers from lifesaving brake technology – The Japan Times

Posted: at 1:09 pm

While big automakers are rushing to launch self-driving cars as early as 2021, the industrys major players are moving slowly when it comes to widespread deployment of a less expensive crash prevention technology that regulators say could prevent thousands of deaths and injuries every year.

Nissan Motor Co. Ltd said Thursday it will make automatic braking systems standard on an estimated 1 million 2018-model cars and light trucks sold in the United States, including high-volume models such as the Rogue and Rogue Sport compact sport utility vehicles, the Altima sedan, Murano and Pathfinder SUVs, LEAF electric car, Maxima sedan and Sentra small car.

Nissan sold about 1.6 million vehicles in the United States last year.

And rival Toyota Motor Corp. has said it will make so-called automatic emergency braking standard on nearly all its U.S. models by the end of this year.

Overall, however, most automakers are not rushing to make automatic brake systems part of the base cost of mainstream vehicles sold in the competitive U.S. market. The industry has come under pressure from regulators, lawmakers and safety advocates to adopt the technology, which can slow or stop a vehicle even if the driver fails to act.

So far, only about 17 percent of models tested by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety offered standard collision-avoiding braking . Many of the models with standard collision-avoiding brake systems are luxury vehicles made by European or Japanese manufacturers.

The systems require more sensors and software than conventional brakes, and automakers have said they need time to engineer the systems into vehicles as part of more comprehensive makeovers.

Last year, 20 automakers reached a voluntary agreement with U.S. auto safety regulators to make collision-avoiding braking systems standard equipment by 2022.

Safety advocates have petitioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to begin a regulatory process to require the technologies, but the agency has said the voluntary agreement will result in faster deployment than a formal rule-making process. NHTSA says the technology could eliminate one-fifth of crashes.

Do the math. Thats 5 million crashes every year 20 percent reduction means 1 million less. Those are big numbers, Mark Rosekind, the NHTSAs then-administrator, said last year.

But customers would likely experience the benefits of the technology infrequently. The technology to enable a car to drive itself is far more costly, but industry executives foresee autonomous vehicles driving revenue-generating transportation services that could be attractive to investors.

General Motors Co. offers automatic braking as optional equipment on about two-thirds of its models. The company did not say on Thursday how many vehicles have the technology as standard equipment. GM has not made public its plans for making the technology standard across its lineup.

Any time you have a voluntary agreement you have a spectrum of implementation, Jeff Boyer, GMs vice president for safety, told Reuters earlier this week. Asked when GM would roll out standard automatic braking, Boyer said, lets just say we honor the voluntary commitment.

Ford Motor Co. has a plan to standardize over time, the company said in a statement Thursday. Currently, automatic braking systems are optional on several 2017 Ford and Lincoln models, and will be offered on certain 2018 models including the best-selling F-150 pickup truck.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV offers automatic braking as optional equipment in seven model lines, using cameras and radar to detect hazards ahead. The company has said it will meet the 2022 target for making the systems standard.

As 2018 models roll out during the second half of this year, more vehicles will offer automatic braking, said Dean McConnell, an executive with Continental AGs North American business. Continentals automatic braking technology systems will be on certain Nissan models.

We see it accelerating, he said. It varies. There are some (automakers) that are being aggressive and others that are waiting.

Nissan did not disclose how much prices for vehicles would rise to offset the cost of being equipped with standard automatic emergency braking . The 2018 models will be launched later this year. Currently, Nissan, like most carmakers, offers automatic braking as part of a bundle of optional safety and technology features.

A 2017 Nissan Sentra compact sedan has a starting price of $17,875. To buy the car equipped with automatic braking requires spending another $6,820 for a Sentra SR with a premium technology package.

German auto technology suppliers Continental and Robert Bosch GmbH will supply the systems, Nissan said.

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Commonwealth Games: alarm at plan to use facial technology to spot terror suspects – The Guardian

Posted: at 1:09 pm

Queensland police and security partners are considering using facial recognition technology during the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Photograph: FOTOMEDIA/PR IMAGE

Queenslands privacy commissioner has sounded an alarm over a plan to use facial recognition technology to pick out suspected terrorists during the Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast in 2018.

The commissioner, Philip Green, said the proposal would represent an unprecedented example of predictive policing with parallels perhaps only in China and Russia. Problems including inevitable false matches would also have to be overcome, he said.

Queensland assistant police commissioner Peter Crawford said police and security partners were considering facial recognition technology during the games but no decisions had been made.

The issue was reportedly to be raised by the federal government in discussions with the states on Friday.

News Corporation reported that the technology was set to be rolled out on the Gold Coasts public transport network to identify potential terror suspects before they can get close to any sporting or public venue.

The technology, which would link to Gold Coast city councils extensive CCTV camera network, would be monitored around the clock by security personnel, the report said. The aim was to identify suspects in crowds and have the military or police intercept them before they could get close to events.

This technology is constantly evolving. No decisions have been made regarding how and where this technology will be deployed. It is not appropriate to publicly discuss this security strategy further at this time, Crawford said.

Worldwide incidents such as the Manchester terrorist attack were informing Games security planning, he added. Games officials, police and commonwealth agencies met in Canberra on Friday to review the implications of the attack.

Facial recognition is already used by Australias Border Force and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which matches faces, including at airports, against images from Australian passports and a larger database of foreign visitors, which is said to contain more than 100m records.

Green said this system would be the first line of defence against foreign terror suspects.

The Gold Coast proposal would presumably involve the CCTV network, screening crowds to match faces against a database of suspects from security agencies.

Excluding them or targeting them in a predictive policing mechanism brings with it its own issues, Green said.

At present, state police, in cooperation with the Australian federal police, can manually perform facial recognition matching pictures they take of people of interest against their databases. The issue is with an automated process that uses algorithms to send up a flag, Green said.

Thats scary stuff because its predictive policing and preventive and the false positives mean people get profiled, possibly by racial appearance or cultural dress, he said.

[Facial recognition for terrorist screening] is theoretically possible and they should be looking at it. But frankly theres a false-positive problem with facial identification, its not 100%.

The risk of rapid-deployment police squads preemptively tackling people who turn out to be innocent parties would be of concern to games organisers, Green said. Obviously theres a tradeoff with security and public safety at big events.

UK authorities have used facial recognition to identify a specific wanted person in a particular area but Green said he was unaware of law enforcement anywhere using an automated facial recognition network to screen for suspects, except perhaps in China, Russia, maybe North Korea.

Its one thing looking for someone who has a warrant out for their arrest, versus one who might profile as someone whos at risk, he said.

The examples of private companies using automated facial recognition for targeted advertising showed the technology exists, but theres definitely an issue with accuracy.

Green said the Queensland government should perform a proper privacy impact analysis before signing up to the plan.

The proposal comes in the context of a broader suite of federal programs around identity verification technology that are yet to be agreed upon, including a bid to link state and territory driver licence databases.

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