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Issue #8/2007
Utilization of Outdoor TV in emergency situations
This issue of our electronic magazine we reprint the full text of the report made by Vladimir Krylov, Ph.D., at the 8th All-Russia conference “Informational security of Russia in conditions of the global informational society” that took place in 2006. The text of the speech was also published in the June issue of Infoforum magazine.
The world is still reeling from 9-11 events in New York when the World Trade Center towers were attacked by planes with terrorists.
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| The US President’s address on a large screen in Los Angeles | Large electronic LED screen in New York that belongs to ABC TV studio |
According to analysts, the NY tragedy demonstrated what threats the world will face in the third millennium. In the first hours after the tragedy the mobile phones were switched off, many Internet channels failed. For a certain period there was an informational vacuum that only intensified the panic among population. In these conditions the large outdoor video displays became the main source of information. The outdoor screens that usually display commercials were showing non-stop reports from the site of the tragedy, broadcasted Presidential address, appeals of authorities to the public with clear instructions on what to do in such circumstances. I’d say, this was the first such large scale events of using outdoor video screens in emergency. After the 9-11, some of the biggest world news agencies set up their own outdoor screens at their offices to broadcast both commercials and informational clips.
The New York Transport Authority together with Clear Channel established a network of 80 video screens at the entrances to NY metro stations linked to informational displays inside the stations. In 2003-05, in Paris a network of informational displays appeared that covers the main transport hubs of the city.
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| Electronic video screen at the entrance to NY metro station | Informational displays on Paris streets |
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| Informational displays on Paris streets | |
Earlier still, the municipal authorities of San Paolo (Brazil) started to utilize electronic video screens to inform citizens of traffic jams to prevent congestion and of the events during important soccer matches.
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| Informational video displays in San-Paolo (Brazil) | |
In Hong Kong and Shenzhen (PRC) the networks of video LED screens were set up in 2005 near entrances to metro and railway stations, inside the stations and in the coaches.
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| Hong Kong: Informational LED screen that belongs to a local TV station | |
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| Shenzhen: Informational LED displays in the metro | |
In Russia, in 2005, during the terrorist attack in Nalchik, the video screen was fired at by the terrorists, but continued to work and broadcast the address of local authorities to population to prevent panic.
The existing all-Russia network and separate screens are frequently used by the authorities, both local municipal and federal, to inform citizens of various events. No doubt, the outdoor video LED screens (that form the basis for out-of-home TV) are unable to replace either radio of TV proper. However, when millions of people are outside on the way to work or home, during mass public events, the screens turn into the natural extension of traditional mass media, and sometimes are the only media source that may be of vital importance during emergency situation. Therefore, the utilization of outdoor video TV systems in crises is becoming more and more important throughout the world.
In September 2005, the International conference Urban screens 2005 was organized in Amsterdam and turned into an annual event since then http://www.urbanscreens.org.
These conferences are attracting speakers and attendees from dozens of countries who together consider an important issue of integrating large video screens into urban environment, turning them into noticeable public address systems in crowded places in our cities.
Back in 2005, Russian representatives delivered a report on A Glimpse into Future: Outdoor LED Video Screens in Modern Cities #9/2005. The Conference debated the issue that while such trend is obvious and extremely important throughout the world, various technical, social and organizational problems prevent development of a unified concept of utilizing video screens in urban context. I would like to stress that Russia is one of the first countries to admit to the importance of this issue on the federal level and to protect modern technological developments in that sphere by patents. Thus, in 2005, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, the Ministry of Interior, and the Federal Bureau for State Security developed a concept for setting up public address video systems in public places for timely reach of citizens in case of emergencies or terrorist attacks.
At present, the potential prototypes for such system are:
1. New York network of informational displays at 80 metro stations and separate giant electronic screens belonging to Reuters and ABC and on NASDAQ building.
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| New York: Informational video displays for ABC channel and Reuters news agency | |
2. The video screen networks in Johannesburg (RSA), San Paolo (Brazil), Berlin (Germany), Hong Kong and Shenzhen and Shanghai (China), and a network of video screens in Paris (France).
3. Video screen networks in the USA belonging to Lamar and Clear Channel that currently have about 500 screens and have expansion plan of 6000 screens in 2010. The networks in Moscow (Russia) belonging to Tri-Star group and in St. Petersburg – to Third Eye group, in Yekaterinburg – to Atoll group. The CityVision group is currently controlling a network of 27 own video LED screens and over 40 screens of other operators. The CityVision screens are linked via different communication channels including the Internet from a Unified Control Center in Moscow.
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| A network of video LED screens that links 27 city outdoor video networks in Russia developed by CityVision group | |
All the above examples prove the efficiency of network approach on spreading information among population. Although the networks are privately owned, they are closely cooperating with authorities. However, it’s time to address the issue of reliable and safe operation of these networks, especially protection of information to be displayed, broadcasting channels and coordinating center. The issues of informational security of such outdoor video networks may be presented as follows:
The first issue: the security of the coordinating broadcasting center
The coordinating center must control operation of all its assets and interlink with different situational control centers operated by various state agencies. The issues to be resolved are: what information to broadcast and what not to, how to coordinate between governmental and non-governmental networks, how to protect the control centers proper, how to protect secure communication channels.
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For example, the US network is already included into the federal public address system, although the outdoor video network is not well developed. Thus, in April 2007 Las Vegas police requested private video network to run the information about the missing 4-year old boy. This quickly led to police receiving the relevant information and apprehending kidnappers. The boy was returned to parents safe and sound. The photo taken from an OAAA bulletin (16 April 2007) shows a video screen that informs citizens about safe recovery of the kidnapped boy. |
The procedures for preparing content of informational materials for outdoor video screens must be also governed by clear guidelines. The people selecting materials and allowing them to be broadcast must have the necessary training and clearance. However, so far there is no clear plan for coordinating such work, between various government agencies, for adapting the existing solutions to quickly developing technology.
The second issue: resolving the issues of functional security, including fire, energy and vandal protection
So far there are no parameters that govern the selection on existing commercial systems for vitally important outdoor video TV networks. Such systems must be manufactured to clear and safe specifications, must be competently and regularly serviced and evaluated after certain period of maintenance. Only then the outdoor video systems will be reliable media for public address in emergencies.
The third issue: informational and functional protection of video screens themselves
Since the technology is new, the issue is very hard to resolve. The procedures must be developed for protecting information on control systems of each of the networked screens. The measures must be taken to prevent substitution of information and broadcast of potentially dangerous or provocative information.
This may only be done based on the development of reliable control systems that offer multilayer protection of information, its distortion of substitution. The analysis of more than 100 commercial firms selling video control systems throughout the world showed that none of the existing modifications are safe from potential hacker attacks. This is a serious technological and scientific problem that needs to be resolved.
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For example, on 12 November 2004, all informational displays in New York metro were displaying the provocative text that the authorities could not remove from the system for more than a whole day. http://www.engadget.com/2004/11/12/pretty-girls-dont-ride-the-subway |
The “Sign Industry” magazine writing about the metro video screen network quotes Rex Williams, President of UDN, which installed the New York network. WiFi 802.11 as saying that "It is imperative that great care be taken by anyone looking to get into this business to ensure that the integrity of the content is impenetrable by outside forces". System security may be inadequate at the network design stage, or be exposed as digital signage systems expand and use multiple media transport providers (ISP - Internet service providers). The system must be nearly "bullet proof" as far as hackers go. Steps must be taken to assure security at the content ingest, play-list management, display monitoring and other vulnerable points”.
The enormous experience in screen maintenance was accumulated by the Russian CityVision group (http://www.cityvision.ru) that is currently operating more than 50 screens of different systems. In 5 years of network management the cases of negligence, attempts at cutting off the power supply, setting fire, hacker attempts aimed at control computers inside screens, physical removal of the control computer and substitution of a different one were observed and prevented.
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| CityVision group screens network |
Similar attempts at disrupting outdoor video networks were made in China. The absence of reliable solutions that prevent the above security breaches is one of the factors that limit the expansion of video display networks in our cities.
It is also evident that these issues may only be fully resolved by federal security agencies working hand in hand with commercial network operators. The necessary level of informational safety must be determined by the agency that is currently responsible for public address to Russian public and correlated with similar actions from the Federal State Security Agency (FSB). The work on integrating the existing commercial systems with informational safety means may be conducted by organizations licensed or cleared by the relevant federal agencies.
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