Technology Would Help Detect Terrorists Before They Strike

[LeighAnn]

From Science Daily

Airport screeners, customs agents, police officers and members of the military who silently pose that question to people every day, may soon have much more than intuition to depend on to determine the answer.

Computer and behavioral scientists at the University at Buffalo are developing automated systems that track faces, voices, bodies and other biometrics against scientifically tested behavioral indicators to provide a numerical score of the likelihood that an individual may be about to commit a terrorist act.

"The goal is to identify the perpetrator in a security setting before he or she has the chance to carry out the attack," said Venu Govindaraju, Ph.D., professor of computer science and engineering in the UB School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Govindaraju is co-principal investigator on the project with Mark G. Frank, Ph.D., associate professor of communication in the UB College of Arts and Sciences.

The project, recently awarded an $800,000 grant by the National Science Foundation, will focus on developing in real-time an accurate baseline of indicators specific to an individual during extensive interrogations while also providing real-time clues during faster, routine security screenings.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071005185129.htm

[gateley]

1. "What would you do if you were accused of a murder, you had not committed... yet?"

Tag line of Minority Report 2002 starring Tom Cruise. It's coming.

[WinkyDink]

2. "identify the perpetrator in a security setting before he or she has the chance to carry out the

attack"??

How is one a "perpetrator" if nothing yet has been PERPETRATED???

[leveymg]

3. Life finally catches up with Philip K. Dick

This also conjures up the retinal scan machine in Blade Runner the police used to detect Replicants.

[ixion]

4. so you're moving through an airport...

you're pissed off and tired and over-heating (as so many airport travelers are), just like someone may be if they were under interrogation.

Now, all of a sudden, because of this state, you may be considered a terrorist.

Wow, what a great world we've created. :sarcasm: