‘Big Brother’ cameras listen for fights:
The system works by putting microphones in CCTV cameras to continually analyze the sound in the surrounding area. If aggressive tones are picked up, an alarm signal is automatically sent to the police, who can zoom in the camera to the location of the suspect sound and investigate the situation.
“Ninety percent of violent cases start with verbal aggression,” Van der Vorst said. “With our system, the police can respond a lot quicker to a violent situation.”
Aggressive foreign powers can continue quietly poisoning dissidents, though.