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'Regulators need to accept that the current approach is outdated,' said Philip Baum, editor of the London-based magazine Aviation Security International.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

2010: Welcome to Orwell’s World

"In Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell described a superstate called Oceania, whose language of war inverted lies that 'passed into history and became truth. ‘Who controls the past,’ ran the Party slogan, ‘controls the future; who controls the present controls the past.’'

Barack Obama is the leader of a contemporary Oceania. In two speeches at the close of the decade, the Nobel Peace Prize winner affirmed that peace was no longer peace, but rather a permanent war that 'extends well beyond Afghanistan and Pakistan' to 'disorderly regions and diffuse enemies.' He called this 'global security' and invited our gratitude. To the people of Afghanistan, which America has invaded and occupied, he said wittily: 'We have no interest in occupying your country.'"...more

Cameras keep track of all cars entering Medina | Seattle Times Newspaper

"City signs have a unique way of greeting people. In Issaquah, for instance, motorists are told they're entering 'a special place where people care.' For years, Bothell invited people to stay 'for a day or a lifetime.'

In Medina, a new sign bears this warning: 'You Are Entering a 24 Hour Video Surveillance Area.'

Cameras have recently been installed at intersections to monitor every vehicle coming into the city.

Under the 'automatic license plate recognition' project, once a car enters Medina, a camera captures its license-plate number. Within seconds, the number is run through a database.

If a hit comes up for a felony — say, the vehicle was reported stolen or is being driven by a homicide suspect — the information is transmitted instantaneously to police, who can 'leap into action,' said Police Chief Jeffrey Chen.

'These cameras provide us with intelligence,' Chen said."...more
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Using RFID to Direct Employees - RFID Journal

"The technology alerts unskilled workers when routine tasks need to be performed, and also enables managers to confirm they've been completed properly."

By Mark Roberti

Sept. 7, 2009—Anyone who has run a retail store, factory or warehouse knows that it's often very difficult to get workers to do exactly what they're supposed to do—and it's even harder to confirm that they've done it. Managers can train low-wage employees who often work part time all they want, but with no way to monitor them, it's difficult to get them to comply. Radio frequency identification has the potential to change that in a powerful way.

Right now, most companies aren't thinking about using RFID in this way. They are stuck on the idea that it's simply a tool to track goods and assets. One firm that has deployed RFID to improve workers' productivity is the Australian tomato grower, d'Vineripe. The company is employing RFID technology to ensure workers perform a variety of tasks each day, including pruning, pollinating, de-leafing, pest and disease control, and picking (see RFID Helps Improve Agricultural Worker Productivity).


As each worker is given his or her daily assignment, the greenhouse's station manager reads an RFID tag specifically identified for the task using a handheld interrogator. The manager then reads another tag designated for the row or rows in which the laborer will work, linking that individual to that task and row. At the conclusion of the employee's task or shift, his or her tag is scanned to indicate that individual is finished working. The data is downloaded into the company's back-end system, where it can be compared against best practices for each task. This enables the managers to address particular problems, such as training or other issues related to a specific employee not working efficiently."...more
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