Mind-reading systems could change air security

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

CHICAGO (AP) - A would-be terrorist tries to board a plane, bent on mass murder. As he walks through a security checkpoint, fidgeting and glancing around, a network of high-tech machines analyzes his body language and reads his mind.

Screeners pull him aside.

Tragedy is averted.

As far-fetched as that sounds, systems that aim to get inside an evildoer's head are among the proposals floated by security experts thinking beyond the X-ray machines and metal detectors used on millions of passengers and bags each year.

On Thursday, in the wake of the Christmas Day bombing attempt over Detroit, President Barack Obama called on Homeland Security and the Energy Department to develop better screening technology, warning: "In the never-ending race to protect our country, we have to stay one step ahead of a nimble adversary."

The ideas that have been offered by security experts for staying one step ahead include highly sophisticated sensors, more intensive interrogations of travelers by screeners trained in human behavior, and a lifting of the U.S. prohibitions against profiling.

Some of the more unusual ideas are already being tested. Some aren't being given any serious consideration. Many raise troubling questions about civil liberties. All are costly.

"Regulators need to accept that the current approach is outdated," said Philip Baum, editor of the London-based magazine Aviation Security International. "It may have responded to the threats of the 1960s, but it doesn't respond to the threats of the 21st century."

---

MIND READERS

The aim of one company that blends high technology and behavioral psychology is hinted at in its name, WeCU - as in "We See You."

The system that Israeli-based WeCU Technologies has devised and is testing in Israel projects images onto airport screens, such as symbols associated with a certain terrorist group or some other image only a would-be terrorist would recognize, said company CEO Ehud Givon.

The logic is that people can't help reacting, even if only subtly, to familiar images that suddenly appear in unfamiliar places. If you strolled through an airport and saw a picture of your mother, Givon explained, you couldn't help but respond.

The reaction could be a darting of the eyes, an increased heartbeat, a nervous twitch or faster breathing, he said.

The WeCU system would use humans to do some of the observing but would rely mostly on hidden cameras or sensors that can detect a slight rise in body temperature and heart rate. Far more sensitive devices under development that can take such measurements from a distance would be incorporated later.

If the sensors picked up a suspicious reaction, the traveler could be pulled out of line for further screening.

"One by one, you can screen out from the flow of people those with specific malicious intent," Givon said.

Some critics have expressed horror at the approach, calling it Orwellian and akin to "brain fingerprinting."

For civil libertarians, attempting to read a person's thoughts comes uncomfortably close to the future world depicted in the movie "Minority Report," where a policeman played by Tom Cruise targets people for "pre-crimes," or merely thinking about breaking the law.

---

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20100108/D9D3HB101.html

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

And Obama could demand apologies from Harry Reid before the dumb@ss opened his mouth!

[mawilson 2,133]

And Obama could demand apologies from Harry Reid before the dumb@ss opened his mouth!

[Niels Bohr 72]

A culture shock is more than enough to set those sensors off.

[scandal 951]

The system that Israeli-based WeCU Technologies has devised and is testing in Israel projects images onto airport screens, such as symbols associated with a certain terrorist group or some other image only a would-be terrorist would recognize, said company CEO Ehud Givon.

תוצרת הארץ

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

תוצרת הארץ

English only outside the regionals!

[Nagishkaw 510]

תוצרת הארץ

טוב אחד!

[scandal 951]

English only outside the regionals!

That was for Nagi. She's got a cute fetish thing for posting in Hebrew, so I indulge her.

טוב אחד!

That doesn't quite work. Grammatically it should be אחד טוב instead of טוב אחד

("one good" not "good one").

However that's very awkward since the idiom of "good one!" in English doesn't transliterate into Hebrew.

A common contemporary response that would be similar to "good one!" or "right on!" might be מגניב meaning literally "stolen!" in the sense of "it's stolen my heart".

[Nagishkaw 510]

Thanks for the correction!

I tried.

[mawilson 2,133]

מטומטם

[slim 1,525]

This too will be labeled as "profiling."