Slashdot Mirror
Airport Security vs. Cyborg Steve Mann
CompaniaHill writes: "The New York Times (free reg, etc.) has a story on University of Toronto engineering-professor-turned-cyborg Steve Mann's recent run-in with humorless airport security. Apparently his preplanning and documents were sufficient to get him through the Toronto airport security on his way to St. John's in Newfoundland, but not sufficient to get him through the St. John's airport security on his way home. Two days later, after strip-searches, forced removal of implants and x-raying and other ill-handling of delicate hardware, he returned home in a wheelchair. Mann's lawyer is attempting to recover the cost of the $56,800 in damaged hardware, while his doctors are studying his body's response to the removal of the implants, some of which he has had for over twenty years."
Good Salon article at http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/1999/10/20/cybor g/ if anyone's interested in more...
For those of you who don't know, Prof. Mann is generally considered to be the "Father" of Wearable computers, having contstructed one of the first ones out of an Apple 2 in the early 80s to portably control his photographic equipment. He is now a professor at the University of Toronto; he also has an informative personal web page.
Hilary Rosen's speech was about her love of money and her desire to roll around naked in a pile of money.
does anyone have a generic login for NYT? it appears they bashed the slashdot2000/slashdot2000 one
You're not allowed to show up, hope you get past security, but if they stop you and want to pat your down, then decide you don't want to go through security after all. Tough break.
Shoe lace ends are called aglets.
Steve Mann SEEKING COMPENSATION - Prof. Steve Mann, a walking experiment in wearable computers, went through a three-day ordeal trying to board an Air Canada plane bound for Toronto.
TEVE MANN, an engineering professor at the University of Toronto, has lived as a cyborg for more than 20 years, wearing a web of wires, computers and electronic sensors that are designed to augment his memory, enhance his vision and keep tabs on his vital signs. Although his wearable computer system sometimes elicited stares, he never encountered any problems going through the security gates at airports.
Last month that changed. Before boarding a Toronto-bound plane at St. John's International Airport in Newfoundland, Dr. Mann says, he went through a three-day ordeal in which he was ultimately strip- searched and injured by security personnel. During the incident, he said, $56,800 worth of his $500,000 equipment was lost or damaged beyond repair, including the eyeglasses that serve as his display screen.
His lawyer in Toronto, Gary Neinstein, sent letters two weeks ago to Air Canada (news/quote), the airport and the Canadian transportation authority arguing that they acted negligently and seeking reimbursement for the damaged equipment so that Dr. Mann could put his wearable computer back together again.
The difficulties that Dr. Mann faced seem related to the tightening of security in airports since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. But he had flown from Toronto to St. John's two days earlier without a hitch.
On that day, Feb. 16, he said, he followed the routine he has used on previous flights. He told the security guards in Toronto that he had already notified the airline about his equipment. He showed them documentation, some of it signed by his doctor, that described the wires and glasses, which he wears every waking minute as part of his internationally renowned research on wearable computers.
He also asked for permission not to put his computer through the X-ray machine because the device is more sensitive than a laptop. He said that the guards examined his equipment and allowed him to board the flight.
But when he tried to board his return flight on Feb. 18, his experience was entirely different. This time, he said, he was told to turn his computer on and off and put it on the X-ray machine. He took his case to Neil Campbell, Air Canada's customer service manager at the St. John's airport, and spent the next two days arranging conversations between his university colleagues and the airline.
The security guards continued to require that he turn his machine on and off and put it through the X-ray machine while also tugging on his wires and electrodes, he said. Still not satisfied, the guards took him to a private room for a strip-search in which, he said, the electrodes were torn from his skin, causing bleeding, and several pieces of equipment were strewn about the room.
Once his system was turned off, turned on again, X-rayed and dismantled, Dr. Mann passed the security check. When he was finally allowed to go home, some pieces of equipment were not returned to him, he said, and his glasses were put in the plane's baggage compartment although he warned that cold temperatures there could ruin them.
Without a fully functional system, he said, he found it difficult to navigate normally. He said he fell at least twice in the airport, once passing out after hitting his head on what he described as a pile of fire extinguishers in his way. He boarded the plane in a wheelchair.
"I felt dizzy and disoriented and went downhill from there," he said.
Air Canada said that there was no record that any of Dr. Mann's baggage had been lost and that the Canadian transportation agency, Transport Canada, had required that his belongings be X-rayed. "We don't tell the security firms that there is going to be an exception made," said Nicole Couture-Simard, a spokeswoman for Air Canada. "We don't have that authority."
Transport Canada declined to comment on the case except to say that it was reviewing it.
Considering that even tweezers may be confiscated when a passenger boards a flight these days, the stricter scrutiny that Dr. Mann faced may not seem surprising. But for him, the experience raises the question of how a traveler will fare once wearable computing devices are such fixtures on the body that a person will not be able to part with them.
"We have to make sure we don't go into a police state where travel becomes impossible for certain individuals," Dr. Mann said.
Since losing the use of his vision system and computer memory several weeks ago, he said, he cannot concentrate and is behaving differently. He is now undergoing tests to determine whether his brain has been affected by the sudden detachment from the technology.
Alejandro R. Jahad, director of the University of Toronto's Program in E-Health Innovation, who has worked closely with Dr. Mann, said that scientists now had an opportunity to see what happens when a cyborg is unplugged. "I find this a very fascinating case," he said
This is *not* Kevin Warwick, the British psuedoscience jackass who's been walking around for a few years with an RFID pet tag under his skin.
It is Professor Steve Mann (http://eyetap.org/mann/), one of the first inventors of a *real* wearable, and a downright cool guy. I didn't know he had any implants- does anyone have any more information? I'd imagine his equipment would be a bit more advanced than the snake-oil Warwick's been showing around.
Is typing some simple html so difficult?
Since losing the use of his vision system and computer memory several weeks ago, he said, he cannot concentrate and is behaving differently.
"they" have seem similar occurrences in individuals that often use PDA to jot down things in that some individuals tend become dependant on the technology. I am sure this case is making for an interesting study, but I am more curious on learning more about some of the devices he has wired himself into and how he uses them. So far this is probably the best link I have found detailing the technologies he is using.
Saying Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.
here's an editorial on that incident from the Washington times:
5 .h tm
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20020202-3287461
Seems that the airport security weren't even aware of what the CMH was.
Well at least the INS managed to get Mohammed Atta his student visa.
From a personal point of view, however, I've not particularly noticed any inconvenience from heightened airport security, and I live in NYC.
Frankly, I think this airport security frenzy is a great illustration of closing the barn door after the horse has run off.
evanchik.net
Given that he accessed everything through his wearable, and that his HUD was quarter VGA (240x180?), he probably designed his site for that medium, which explains the big text and scarcity of graphics. Add that to the fact that he probably wrote the code for his site on his wearable, and this is what you get.
Try using lynx to visit the site, and tell us if it still seems confusing.
Two years ago Steve Mann had a very similar run-in with AirCanada, they being very hostile towards him bringing his equipment on-board, and damaging some of his equipment in the process.
His detailed description with photos is at Air Canada Irresponsibility.
Can we get a "-1 Wrong" moderation option?
As the spokesperson pointed out, this has nothing to do with the airline. The first step in addressing this is identifying the parties involved - probably the airport, and maybe a private security firm.
In one fell swoop they cut him off from his augmented memory and processing, and then threw his visual system for a loop, hence the need for a wheelchair.
I'm a graduate student at the University of Toronto, and interact with Prof. Mann on an intermittent basis (did a project under him a few years back, meet him in the lab whenever I'm borrowing his soldering equipment).
He can see fine without his HUD. It's not a complete visual transformation overlay - it's a wearable computer display, functionally equivalent to most of the other wearable displays you can buy. He's been working on information-overlay projects for years, many of them successful, but to say that he has "vital" vision-enhancement programs running at all times is a drastic overstatement.
Likewise, "augmented memory" consists of him either teleconferencing with someone or doing a Google lookup. He's perfectly capable of finding his way through this university, or an airport, without augmentation.
Use common sense, people. If he was disoriented, I'd suspect it to be the result of a many-hour delay with inadequate food/water or of an overly-zealous search as opposed to loss of any electronics.
Despite the claims in the slashdot blurb, Mann does not have any implants. The NYTimes story mentions that electrodes were removed from his skin. These are the same as those sticky things they attach when someone gets an EKG or polygraph test, and are presumably used by Mann to measure physiological things like heart rate or skin conductance. Mann claims that when they were removed he bled -- kind of like ripping off a really sticky band-aid...
a couple of days ago i watched the nature of things special on Steve Mann. they have a website about him with lots of pictures and information.
... and I have a computers lecture right before Professor Mann's course (check it out at http://wearcam.org/ece1766.htm) in the same room.
Hence I see Steve Mann, usually on a weekly basis.
All you Slashdot'ers will be relieved to know that he is still using his wearable computer, his display glasses still work, etc.
I personally have doubts about this article for three reasons:
A) The issue has shown up in a NY times article, yet I haven't heard about it from any of my campus news sources OR the Toronto Star (www.thestar.ca)
B) I've never seen Professor Mann wearing electrodes as mentioned in the article, and can see no reason as to why he would (his system is not biometric, to my knowledge he uses a sort of keypad as well as visual feedback of his eyes to interface with it)
C) Even though Professor Mann wears his device most of the time, my computers professor (who I believe knows him personally) has seen Professor Mann remove his device without disability.
I've emailed my computers professor to see if he knows any more about this story, I'll reply if I find out any more.
--
Eamon McDermott
ENGSCI 0T5
ERTW$$
Of course, one could conceivably acquire those parts, pack them with explosives, and board the plane pretending to have an artificial heart.
Dyolf Knip
I can personally speak to the stupidity of airline security. I travel frequently (weekly), and know the routine, take off all metal, put it in my bag, take my laptop out, let them run it all through the xray machine and go about my buissness. Well the Xray "technician", I use that term very loosely I think crackhead (from the looks of her) working the Xray system would be a more apt description, saw something odd (probably drug induced hallucinations) and Xray'd my laptop for about 5 minutes, then they had me turn it on and off and Xray'd it again. Suffice to say it destroyed the system. I don't get it, I am a white male in my early 20's, clean cut etc etc. I by no means fit any profile of a terrorist (which so far have all been Middle Eastern Men, ages 18-40). Oh well, airport security is not effective and will not do anything in the future other then annoy people, cause delays and destroy delicate equipment.
AFAIK, you cannot be forced into having something X-Rayed. Instead, you can request that your belongings be hand-inspected, which arouses suspicion and causes delays. the most common occurrance is Photographers, as X-Rays kill film.
Actually, you can look at the events of the airline bailout more thoroughly. Sure, the reward that you talk about seems just like that - free money. But, it looks more to be like a subsidy. We can compare it to past farmer-gov relationships. The government doesn't want the market flooded with an excess of products, otherwise the price of the products will drop out due to the extreme surplus of supply, and various farmers will go broke - which we don't want under certain circumstances because not all farmers may produce all products (as well as other reasons). So they (the gov) pay the farmers to either not produce a certain amount of a certain product for a given time period, or they buy already produced products and store them or allow them to go to waste. In this case, the gov just bought $15 billion worth of plane ticets, and the airlines didn't produce the flights (a service here, but keeping the product mentality going is more pleasing). As well, I am sure the airlines wouldn't have minded at all to not receive the bailout as long as the amount of scheduled flights remained the same. The amount of money lost far exceeded the bailout that the airlines received, so the net reward gained was still negative (the attacks can be considered a reward here - just kind of like getting underwear for Christmas is a present, heh).
Look up Glaser safety slugs. There is ammo that is safe for use on airplanes and federal marshals use it.
------------ Baron Von F.