As the pretext of fighting against terrorism is giving government officials more and more leeway for abuse, some are now even considering introducing mind-scanners in airport terminals as part of the security effort. Those behind the new machines say that they will help detect which individuals have plans to carry explosives, poisons or other dangerous substances onboard an airplane. The system is being promoted by private company WeCU Technologies,
The Raw Story reports.
What it basically means is that certain individuals will be able to read your mind at all times while inside airport terminals, and that all this is done without your prior consent and knowledge. The new system raises a terrible number of privacy concerns, as it opens up the way for massive amounts of abuse, data theft, identity theft, wrongful prosecutions and so on.
“The system […] 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. 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, you couldn't help but respond. The reaction could be a darting of the eyes, an increased heartbeat, a nervous twitch or faster breathing. The WeCU system would use humans to do some of the observing but would rely mostly on hidden cameras or covert biometric sensors that can detect a slight rise in body temperature and heart rate,” says Ehud Givon, who is the CEO of the company.
Critics to the new idea say that there is absolutely no need to install such security systems inside airport terminals, and that people unwilling to subject themselves to such scrutiny are not always terrorists. They add that some individuals value their freedom of thought more than anything else, and that there are also numerous things that can skew the readings the machine makes, which could result in erroneous identifications and false alarms. Conversely, terrorists that would simply ignore the signs would have no issue passing through. The whole system can be bypassed by keeping your eyes on the floor as you walk.
“It sounds like science fiction. But I can assure you that the technology is very real. We have accuracy rates that are higher than 95 percent,” Givon told the Jerusalem Post. “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,” critics say, adding that the new surveillance method is akin to brain fingerprinting, and other Orwellian methods of control.
Find us on Google+
