[IP] more on Which Travelers Have 'Hostile Intent'?

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

This sounds like alie detector and they have been proven not to work djf


Begin forwarded message:

From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren@vortex.com>
Date: August 21, 2006 2:37:28 PM EDT
To: dave@farber.net
Cc: lauren@vortex.com
Subject: Re: [IP] Which Travelers Have 'Hostile Intent'?


Dave,

Isn't it interesting that an article discussing technologies with
such vast privacy implications, didn't even mention the word "privacy"
or suggest that privacy issues even existed with such systems?

Essentially that piece was "techno-fluff" -- an "isn't this nifty?"
article without crucial context.

I know WSJ can do better than that.

--Lauren--
Lauren Weinstein
lauren@vortex.com or lauren@pfir.org
Tel: +1 (818) 225-2800
http://www.pfir.org/lauren
Co-Founder, PFIR
   - People For Internet Responsibility - http://www.pfir.org
Co-Founder, IOIC
   - International Open Internet Coalition - http://www.ioic.net
Moderator, PRIVACY Forum - http://www.vortex.com
Member, ACM Committee on Computers and Public Policy
Lauren's Blog: http://lauren.vortex.com
DayThink: http://daythink.vortex.com

  - - -


> Which Travelers Have 'Hostile Intent'?
> Biometric Device May Have the Answer
> By JONATHAN KARP and LAURA MECKLER
> August 14, 2006; Page B1
>
> At airport security checkpoints in Knoxville, Tenn. this summer,
> scores of departing passengers were chosen to step behind a curtain,
> sit in a metallic oval booth and don headphones.
>
> With one hand inserted into a sensor that monitors physical responses,
> the travelers used the other hand to answer questions on a touch
> screen about their plans. A machine measured biometric responses --
> blood pressure, pulse and sweat levels -- that then were analyzed by
> software. The idea was to ferret out U.S. officials who were carrying
> out carefully constructed but make-believe terrorist missions.
>
> The trial of the Israeli-developed system represents an effort by the
> U.S. Transportation Security Administration to determine whether
> technology can spot passengers who have "hostile intent." In effect,
> the screening system attempts to mechanize Israel's vaunted
> airport-security process by using algorithms, artificial-intelligence
> software and polygraph principles.
>
> Neither the TSA nor Suspect Detection Systems Ltd., the Israeli
> company, will discuss the Knoxville trial, whose primary goal was to
> uncover the designated bad guys, not to identify threats among real
> travelers. They won't even say what questions were asked of travelers,
> though the system is generally designed to measure physical responses
> to hot-button questions like "Are you planning to immigrate
> illegally?" or "Are you smuggling drugs."
>
> [snip]
>
> http://online.wsj.com/public/article/
> SB115551793796934752-2hgveyRtDDtssKozVPmg6RAAa_w_20070813.html
>
>
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