Friday, August 10, 2007

Homeland Security To Covertly Scan Behavior

Minority Report technology to analyze behaviour and physiology and determine Whether you are a terrorist or not

Infowars.net | August 9, 2007
Steve Watson

The United States Department of Homeland Security is to install a host of new technology to covertly scan the behaviour and emotions of American citizens in an effort to prevent terrorism according to an upcoming article in the New Scientist.

Scientists and engineers have been asked to devise ways of analysing people's behaviour and physiology from afar, in the hope they may reveal clues about their mental state and even their future intentions, reports the London Guardian .

A program named Project Hostile Intent (PHI) is aiming by 2010 to develop technology that can scan the bodily functions of citizens without them knowing and uncover any possible hostile intent or deception.

Testimony by the American Psychological Association ( PDF link ) states that "Project Hostile Intent aims to detect and model the behavioral cues that indicate an individual's intent to carry out acts of terrorism." The testimony continues:

The cues examined in PHI are those that can be assessed remotely and in real time, and the procedures and technologies required to collect these cues are non-invasive and amenable to integration into busy operational contexts.

In other words the technology will be covertly placed in public and will operate just like CCTV, with DHS officials able to remotely access it and apply its use to anyone in the area.

The DHS offers a further brief explanation of Project Hostile Intent here .

The Guardian reports that the DHS has revealed to New Scientist that technology to be used for PHI includes lasers, cameras, eye trackers, microphones and heart rate and breathing sensors. The DHS has also stated that it wishes to develop a lie detector-type test that can be used remotely which is described as "an advantage because it would not interfere with the flow of a crowd and it could be used without the target's knowledge."

The report also states that the Project represents an enhancement of technology already in use to scan faces in crowds, details of which we have previously covered .

Infowars has posted hundreds of articles over the years detailing the involvement of DARPA and the Defense Department in mandating that the States adopt uniform biometrics on state licenses and ID cards, RFID tracker chips to replace the bar-code, and cameras that recognize individuals by their faces, walk, vehicle type or license plate number. Now the DHS is taking America all the way down the line towards the big brother state.

Peter McOwan, a computer scientist who is developing sensors to detect people's moods at Queen Mary, University of London, told the Guardian: "It's just like something from Minority Report. They have been watching too many Tom Cruise movies."

Indeed, the use of this technology for crime prevention and social control is beyond anything Orwell predicted, and is directly lifted from Phillip K Dick's Minority Report, which was recently made into a feature film. See below:



Is this the kind of society we want to live in? Clearly not. Is there even a debate about that?

Once again however, those detached from any kind of moral reality will say "If you've got nothing to hide then what is the problem with being scanned for pre-crime? If it keeps us all safe from terrorists I'm all for it". How far towards a literal technological police state can America slip before its people wake up to the fact?

We have also previously covered reports out of Britain that detail how teams of neuroscientists have developed technology that allowing them to look deep inside a person's brain and read their intentions before they act.

The technology is no longer science fiction. The London Guardian report on the developments earlier this year debated whether a 'Minority Report' era, where judgments are handed down before the law is broken on the strength of an incriminating brain scan, is ethical or not.

And what will be the punishment for pre-crime? With moves to "chemically castrate" sex offenders by eliminating their sexual desires, seriously being considered now, how far fetched is it to imagine a future thought criminal's brain being "corrected" by eliminating the relevant desires or emotions picked up by a brain scan?

It is not beyond reason to expect this technology to be implemented without debate. Can anyone remember a real meaningful debate occurring concerning surveillance cameras before four million of them went up in London?

We have also previously reported on documents leaked from the Home Office in London revealing that the British government is looking into using X-ray technology cameras by concealing them in lamp posts to "trap terror suspects".

With the Bush administration's new ability to implement any surveillance programs it now wishes without oversight, and rabid neocon lapdogs calling for the heads of anyone who questions them, a pandora's box has been opened that threatens to turn America into a big brother panopticon state.

So get it straight, you are helping the terrorists by resisting having your behaviour scanned. Plus, if you have anti-big brother government feelings Project Hostile Intent will certainly expose you for he terrorist you are.