Biometric Terrorist Detector

neutralino writes "The Wall Street Journal has this story about a biometric airport security system which uses biometric responses — blood pressure, pulse and sweat levels — to series of questions ("Are you smuggling drugs?") to identify passengers with "hostile intent." According to the article, "In the latest Israeli trial, the system caught 85% of the role-acting terrorists, meaning that 15% got through, and incorrectly identified 8% of innocent travelers as potential threats, according to corporate marketing materials.""

Great technology!

[Kagura]

I think this is what we've been waiting for. Some method to intuitively deduce whether a person is telling a fib! The only thing this device is really missing is a name. How about ... the Polygraph? Wow, kind of catchy!

Greeeatt...

[Sefert]

Now my fear of flying is going to get me a cavity search. Life is just coming up roses for me...

Sounds great! Here's my solution though

[Rik Sweeney]

If you see anyone acting suspiciously, security can walk up to them and ask

"terroristsayswhat?"

most of them will reply

"what?"

proving that they are a terrorist.

Bingo! A solution that's just as reliable as a lie detector test...

first they confiscate my meds...

[10sball]

then they accuse me of having high blood pressure?

there's no way out of this one, is there?

Voight-Kampff 8% false positives?

[Gary W. Longsine]

it's going to piss off a lot of passengers

It will do more than that if the result of failing this Voight-Kampff test [wikipedia.org] is a hole the size of a dinner plate in the passenger's chest.

Airport Tricorder

[krell]

"Did you poison the quadrotriticale?"

Oscar Wilde

[Rik Sweeney]

I can just imagine him in today's society:

I have nothing to declare except my genius

Security! We have a terrorist mastermind in our midst! Get him!

Re:Replicant detector?

[neonprimetime]

But is this mysterious 2nd turtle flipped over too? If so, then I have to ask the question: Why are there 2 turtles, out in the middle of the nowhere desert flipped over on their backs? Besides Mario, I see no other logical explanation?

I can't wait!

[plopez]

Until the Diebold version comes out.

Re:8% false positives? Absolutely useless.

[andrewman327]

Agreed. The sample contained far more criminals per capita than any airport will (hopefully) ever have. A skilled agent should be able to spot the nieve college student who was talked into smuggling drugs home from spring break. Terrorists often disgustingly believe that what they are doing is right therefore it may be harder to spot them. I think that human vigilence is the answer. TSA screeners may not be the greatest law enforcement officials ever known, but patrolling police can often spot trouble.

In the long run, I would not be surprised if this technology showed up in interogation rooms. Many people would confess if shown a digital readout from an advanced machine that said they were not telling the truth, regardless of the accuracy of said machine. Criminals have been known to fall for less [dumb.com]:
"Radnor, Pennsylvania: Police interrogated a suspect by placing a metal colander on his head and connecting it with wires to a photocopy machine. The message 'He's lying' was placed in the copier, and police pressed the copy button each time they thought the suspect wasn't telling the truth. Believing the 'lie detector' was working, the suspect confessed."

Re:Replicant detector?

[JonTurner]

Here's a good link the rest of the Replicant questions... asked of San Francisco Mayoral candidates.
http://www.thewavemag.com/printarticle.php?article id=24031 [thewavemag.com]

Questions, questions...

[Kawolski]

"Are you smuggling drugs?" If I was working the ticket counter, I'd ask couples "Do you cheat on your spouse?" That would provoke a much more interesting response.

Why not just require a security clearance to fly?

[Anonymous Coward]

Make obtaining a security clearance a pre-requisite to flying. Full background check, polygraph (complete with questions about your sexual proclivities) - the works.

This will eliminate almost all terrorists, along with 90% of all legitimate travelers. Think of how uncrowded the airports will be!

Re:Guantanamo Boom

[Doc Ruby]

My theory is that Slashdot's Anonymous Cowards are all Guantanamo kidnappees, forced to astroturf for Rumsfeld. That explains how lame are their arguments repeating BushCo propaganda.

So let me get this straight.

[thePowerOfGrayskull]

85% of people pretending to be terrorists were identified as threats?

Sounds like an 85% false positive rate to me...

Drug dealers and hostile intent

[Harmonious Botch]

It is truly bizarre that someone who is smuggling drugs is grouped in with terrorists as having a "hostile intent". True, both are breaking laws, but drug smugglers have a motive for being non-hostile - they don't want to get caught. They just want to get from point A to point B without interference. Which, paradoxically, gives them the same motive as the TSA.

Hmmmm...that gives me an idea. Drug smugglers could be useful allies in the war on terror. I suggest a new TSA policy. Let one dealer through on each flight. Grant him the right to carry, say, 5 kilos of drugs exempt from the law. Let him also carry a gun - uh, no - REQUIRE that he carry a gun as part of the deal. You can be sure he will not let a plane get highjacked without a fight. And a terrorist organization would think twice about highjacking a plane - even if they could overpower the dealer - knowing that the Medellin or some other international drug cartel would then be out for revenge.
Not only would flights be safer, but this is a very profitable policy for the TSA; they save the cost of hiring air marshalls, and the dealer would pay a bunch of money for the privilege.

What the heck - let's take this idea to its logical conclusion. Let the cartels run their own flights. I'd feel safer on Medellin airlines that I do on American or United, etc. ( I'll bet that they could also put the fun back in flying: "Would you like some coffee, senor? Cocaine? Hashish?" )