VIDEO: Microchipping Airport Workers

Revolutionary Behavior Recognition System Available for Airports

"At the airport, how can you tell the good guys from the bad guys? The sad truth, as recent terror incidents have shown, is that there seems to be no foolproof way. Now a new detection system designed by an Israeli start up could improve the chances - eliminating some of the problems inherent in the most popular detection systems, and increasing the odds of nabbing a potential terrorist.

According to CEO Ehud Givon, WeCu raises detection to a whole new level. The company's device - which was six years in the making - flashes stimuli, such as photos, a symbol, or a code word, relating to the information authorities are most interested in (whether it's terrorism, drug smuggling or other crimes), to passengers as they pass through terminal checkpoints.
Hidden biometric sensors then detect the subjects' physical reactions and subtle behavioral changes remotely or during random contact.

Based on their reactions, the authorities determine whether further investigation or questioning is warranted. The rationale is that when a person is exposed to stimuli relating to behaviors that he or she is engaged in or familiar with, the reactions to the images will be heightened." ...more

Airports Could Get Mind-Reading Scanners - Yahoo! News

Airports Could Get Mind-Reading Scanners - Yahoo! News: "WeCU Technologies is building a mind-reading scanner that can tell if a given traveler is a potential danger - without the subject's knowledge. WeCU Technologies (pronounced 'we see you') is creating a system that would essentially turn the public spaces in airports into vast screening grounds:.

'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, company CEO Ehud Givon said.

'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 covert biometric sensors that can detect a slight rise in body temperature and heart rate,' as reported in Raw Story.

Science fiction writers have been playing with the idea of mind-reading machines for a long time. For example, you may recall the Veridicator from H. Beam Piper's 1962 novel Little Fuzzy:

'There was a bright conical helmet on his head, and electrodes had been clamped to various portions of his anatomy. On the wall behind him was a circular screen which ought to have been a calm turquoise blue, but which was flickering from dark blue through violet to mauve. That was simple nervous tension and guilt and anger at the humiliation of being subjected to veridicated interrogation. '

More recently, the Farscape science fiction series introduced the Aurora Chair, which was designed to extract information more efficiently than conventional interrogation methods. 'The chair' is employed throughout the Peacekeeper military is believed one of the most effective means of gaining information from unwilling subjects. The chair can painfully sort through its subject's memories, pushing farther and harder depending on the setting. It is designed to sort through and uncover the mind's 'layers'.

Hopefully, the TSA won't start sponsoring research into Aurora Chair technology.."

Why You Won't Smile For Your Future Driver's License

"It seems that it won't be long before you'll find facial recognition technology when you apply for a driver's license. And as a result, you better wipe that smile off your face.

In fact, the technology is already in place in Australia. When Aussie drivers apply for licenses they'll have their pictures taken, and the new software will then measure three distances: the spaces between the eyes, nose, and mouth.

License applicants won't notice a drastic difference in the process, but they'll notice they are asked not to smile while the photo is being taken. The machines require a 'neutral expression' in order to pick up the correct measurements. According to creators of the facial recognition software, two photos of the same person can be mismatched if there is a strong expression in one versus the other.

Why all the fancy technology? Australia is using the calculations in comparison to the Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) database, and if it appears that an applicant is trying to get a license under a different name the system will flag the authorities.

Although it's stated that the 'system is designed to prevent people who have had their license taken away from applying for a second one,' stopping 'license cheats' is only the skin-deep argument.

The deeper issue is identity theft. According to David Borger, the state of New South Wales' assistant transport minister, 'Identity fraud costs Australia more than $3.5 billion a year.' That's about a third of a percent of the nation's entire gross domestic product, almost as much as New South Wales spends on its entire road system in a year.

If it sounds like things are getting all Minority Report in the land Down Under, well, that's nothing compared to what could potentially happen in the U.S." ...more

Mind-reading systems could change air security

"CHICAGO – 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.'

Here's a look at some of the ideas that could shape the future of airline security" ...more

Brain scans could detect future criminals

"Someone makes you a promise that seems too good to be true: they sound persuasive – but if only you could look inside their brain, you would know whether to trust them.

Scientists from universities in Zurich and Konstanz, Germany have uncovered how brains behave in people who make promises they know very well they are going to break.

The researchers, economists and neuroscientists, discovered that although to all outward appearances trustworthy and untrustworthy people behave the same way, the ones who do not keep their word show increased activity in the areas of the brain that play important roles in processes of emotion and control.

More importantly, the research showed that patterns of brain activity make it possible to predict whether a person is likely break a promise.

Applying the results of the research could “in the (distant) future” help prevent fraudulent and criminal intrigues, Zurich University said in a press release."...more
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EU funding Orwellian artificial intelligence plan to monitor public for "abnormal behaviour"

"A five-year research programme, called Project Indect, aims to develop computer programmes which act as 'agents' to monitor and process information from web sites, discussion forums, file servers, peer-to-peer networks and even individual computers.

Its main objectives include the 'automatic detection of threats and abnormal behaviour or violence'

Project Indect, which received nearly £10 million in funding from the European Union, involves the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) and computer scientists at York University, in addition to colleagues in nine other European countries.

Shami Chakrabarti, the director of human rights group Liberty, described the introduction of such mass surveillance techniques as a 'sinister step' for any country, adding that it was 'positively chilling' on a European scale." ...more
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Canadian airport to test behaviour detection-"precrime"- program

"OTTAWA -- From the furrowed brow to the nervously tapping foot, security personnel will soon start studying air travellers' facial expressions and body movements to see if they could be criminals and terrorists.

Beginning next year, some air travellers will be scrutinized by airport 'behaviour detection officers' for physiological signs of hostile intent -- in other words: screening for dangerous people rather than just for dangerous objects.

Planning for the training and deployment of the plainclothes security officers is to begin this fall, with a pilot project expected to roll out at a major airport in 2010, the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority said yesterday. The project's budget is about $400,000.

If successful, 'behaviour pattern recognition' could land at major airports across the country." ...more
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Minority Report precrime unit coming to a city near you: "Preempting threats with WeCU technology"

"The presentation opens with a question: What if a threat could be detected before it has a chance to complete its mission? A powerful image ensues of live footage rolling backward in slow motion. In the imaginary scenario, a clock turns back and one of the most devastating terrorist attacks of all time never happens. The Twin Towers in New York City go from being impacted by jumbo jets - their shattering glass frames exploding into flames - to a narrative in which they return to their original structural soundness. As the flames disappear and the glass returns to its proper place along the sides of the buildings, a new slide pops up. The setting sun shines on the former skyline of New York. The original supposition is answered by the following words: Actually, it can.

This ability to detect potential threats defines the innovative new technology of WeCU. The Israeli company is a collaboration among leading experts in diverse fields, including Zipora (Zipi) Alster, a behavioral scientist; CEO Ehud Givon, an experienced engineer who worked in security for many years before founding WeCU; Shlomo Breznitz, a psychology professor who specializes in stress response research; and Dr. Boaz Ganor, the founder and executive director of the International Institute for Counterterrorism at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. For the last six years, the team has been developing a technology that promises to change the future of security." ...more

Could Soldiers Be Prosecuted for Thought Crime?

The Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is funding a number of technologies that tap into the brain's ability to detect threats before the conscious mind is able to process the information. Already, there is Pentagon-sponsored work on using the brain's pattern detection capabilities for enhanced goggles and super-fast satellite imagery analysis. What happens, however, when the Pentagon ultimately uses this enhanced capability for targeting weapons?

This question has led Stephen White to write a fascinating article exploring the implications of a soldiers' legal culpability for weapons that may someday tap into this "pre-conscious" brain activity. Like the Minority Report notion of "pre-crime," where someone is convicted for contemplating a criminal act they haven't yet acted upon, this article raises the intriguing question of whether a soldier could be convicted for the mistake made by a pre-conscious brain wave....more

Transportation Lab Seeks Radical Change “tunnel of truth”at Airport Checkpoints

LOS ANGELES — Transportation Security Laboratory Director Susan Hallowell would like to see the day when airline passengers no longer have to take their shoes off after standing in a long line at airport security checkpoints.

To that end, she would like to combine the line and an array of sensors into what she calls a “tunnel of truth.”

The concept — with the somewhat Orwellian name — would have passengers stand on a conveyor belt moving under an archway as various sensors scan them for weapons, bombs or other prohibited items. By the time they step out of the tunnel, they have been thoroughly checked out, she said at a homeland security science and technology conference sponsored by the National Defense Industrial Association.

“You’re in line anyway … why not enclose that in a little glass thing and do your analysis there?” she asked. The lab has given a grant to Penn State University to study the concept, she added.

The lab, located in Atlantic City, N.J., is responsible for testing current screening devices and developing new technologies for both airports and for other public transportation.

Among the new technologies that could be placed in the tunnels are backscatter X-ray machines, which peer underneath clothes, and passive and active millimeter wave sensors that can see the outlines of concealed metal objects. These technologies are already being used in pilot programs.

Puffer machines are also in use and dislodge molecules from the residue gathered during the manufacture of explosives. The human body also gives off a heat signature, and sensors could follow the thermal plume coming off the body as the passenger moves through the tunnel, she noted. Actual bombs, if they are hidden on the body, give off their own heat signatures, and could be detected as well.

Before the concept can move forward, the laboratory will have to perfect all the sub-systems that would go into the so-called tunnel, she said. Meanwhile, the lab continues to test machines designed to check shoes for explosives without passengers having to take them off. So far, it has not found an acceptable solution.
“We’re still working on shoes. We’re not there yet,” she said.
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