Homeland Security Embarks on Big Brother Programs to Read Our Minds and Emotions

[unhappycamper]

Homeland Security Embarks on Big Brother Programs to Read Our Minds and Emotions
By Liliana Segura, AlterNet. Posted December 9, 2009.

In the sci-fi thriller Minority Report, Tom Cruise plays a D.C. police detective, circa 2054, in the department of "pre-crime," an experimental law enforcement unit whose mission -- to hunt down criminals before they strike -- relies on the psychic visions of mutant "pre-cogs" (short for precognition) who can see the future. It may be futuristic Hollywood fantasy, but the underlying premise -- that we can predict (if not see) a person's sinister plans before they follow through -- is already here.

This past February, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) awarded a one-year, $2.6 million grant to the Cambridge, MA.-based Charles Stark Draper Laboratory to develop computerized sensors capable of detecting a person's level of "malintent" -- or intention to do harm. It's only the most recent of numerous contracts awarded to Draper and assorted research outfits by the U.S. government over the past few years under the auspices of a project called "Future Attribute Screening Technologies," or FAST. It's the next wave of behavior surveillance from DHS and taxpayers have paid some $20 million on it so far.

Conceived as a cutting-edge counter-terrorism tool, the FAST program will ostensibly detect subjects' bad intentions by monitoring their physiological characteristics, particularly those associated with fear and anxiety. It's part of a broader "initiative to develop innovative, non-invasive technologies to screen people at security checkpoints," according to DHS.

The "non-invasive" claim might be a bit of a stretch. A DHS report issued last December outlined some of the possible technological features of FAST, which include "a remote cardiovascular and respiratory sensor" to measure "heart rate, heart rate variability, respiration rate, and respiratory sinus arrhythmia," a "remote eye tracker" that "uses a camera and processing software to track the position and gaze of the eyes (and, in some instances, the entire head)," "thermal cameras that provide detailed information on the changes in the thermal properties of the skin in the face," and "a high resolution video that allows for highly detailed images of the face and body … and an audio system for analyzing human voice for pitch change."

Ultimately, all of these components would be combined to take the form of a "prototypical mobile suite (FAST M2) … used to increase the accuracy and validity of identifying persons with malintent."


Rest of article at: http://www.alternet.org/rights/144443/homeland_security_embarks_on_big_brother_programs_to_read_our_minds_and_emotions



unhappycamper comment: All your thoughts are belong to us.

[SpiralHawk]

1. "Read my stinkin mind, you noisy proles. Smirk." - xCommander AWOL (R)

[hobbit709]

2. Their fuses would blow if they read what I thought of them.

[MercutioATC]

3. This sort of experimental research has brought us some really cool things, though.

...and, by "this sort of research" I mean military/security research.

The technology isn't bad, but its application needs to be regulated.

[Swamp Rat]

4. k&r

[Echo In Light]

5. Every government's primary enemy is its own populace

[Echo In Light]

6. Bump since so many prefer to ignore this type of data