ACLU Files for Info on New Brain-Scan Tech

An anonymous reader writes "According to their website, the ACLU has filed a FOIA request seeking information on the new Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging service being made available to the government for use on suspected terrorists which can produce 'live, real-time images of people's brains as they answer questions, view images, listen to sounds, and respond to other stimuli. [...] These brain-scanning technologies are far from ready for forensic uses and if deployed will inevitably be misused and misunderstood," said Barry Steinhardt, Director of the ACLU's Technology and Liberty Project. "This technology must not be deployed until it is proven effective -- and we are a long way away from that point, according to scientists in the field,"'"

Comments

First post(?)

[mmell]

for somebody who wonders: why do scientists always insist on technology being "reliable" before the government can use it? I ask you, where would we be if we had left science to be "certain" that the A-bomb would work back in '45? I'll tell you where . . . not here!

Pesky scientists! Won't let the government fry terrorists just because the proof isn't surefire. Imagine!

Tinfoil hats

[Aqws]

Guess the tinfoil hat brigade may of been on to something.

Re:Tinfoil hats

[BenjiTheGreat98]

If you've seen the videos I've seen you won't want to be wearing a tin foil hat when you're near and MRI machine........

Re:Tinfoil hats

[Intron]

Never turn on an MRI machine in a hardware store. Trust me.

Silly people!

[TheRaven64]

Surely they know that the only scientific way of telling if someone is a terrorist or not is to measure the space between their eyes. Terrorists are scientifically proven to have eyes closer together the The Good Guys(TM)

Re:Silly people!

[JeanBaptiste]

Of course you'd say that, you have the brainpan of a stagecoach tilter!

Re:Silly people!

[philcolby]

I guess that makes hammerhead sharks the "Best" guys.

Re:Silly people!

[Bodrius]

I thought the reliable test was to see if the terrorist floats.

ACLU

[Anonymous Coward]

Why does ACLU hate America so much?

One step closer...

[ruben.gutierrez]

... to foiling thought crime forever. By the way, oil production is up 20%, the Dow Jones is up 12 points, unemployment is down to 1%, North Korea has agreed to halt their missle testing, and the war in Iraq is over.

do not mod this up..

[Connie_Lingus]

I, for one, welcome our truth detecting, brain-scanning overlords.

Re:do not mod this up..

[Duhavid]

My scanner says no, you dont.

Prepare...

Wha tdoy ouge twhe nyo udis ectahu manbra in?

[jamiesan]

I pulled this out of my scrabble bag. If those pan-dimensional beings would've had this technology, they wouldn't have wanted to disect Artur's brain.

Re:Wha tdoy ouge twhe nyo udis ectahu manbra in?

[drinkypoo]

I pulled this out of my scrabble bag. If those pan-dimensional beings would've had this technology, they wouldn't have wanted to disect Artur's brain.

No entry found for disect.
Did you mean dissect?

Are you really that lame, or did you just spell it that way to save a character because you ran out of space?

Re:Faulty systems can still work some of the time.

[Anonymous Coward]

"And no one would ever use a single source of information for that kind of thing, so that isn't an issue."

So optimistic. I like that. Stay gold Johnny!

I for one

[bherman]

welcome our new government overlords



oh crap......now they can tell I'm lying about that.

Ob. Futurama Quote

[sailracer6]

Just think what this device could do for politics!

Morbo: "Morbo demands an answer to the following question. If you saw a delicious candy in the hands of a small child. Would you seize and consume it?"

John Jackson: "Unthinkable."

Jack Johnson: "I wouldn't think of it."

Morbo: "What about you, Mr. Nixon? I remind you that you are under a truth-o-scope."

Nixon [sweating]: "The question is vague. You don't say what kind of candy and whether anyone is watching. And anyway I certainly wouldn't harm the child."

I can see it now....

[VoidEngineer]

*** CLANK *** CLANK *** CLANK ***

Investigator: What were you doing on the 8th of June?

*** CLANK *** CLANK *** CLANK ***

Suspect: What?

*** CLANK *** CLANK *** CLANK ***

Investigator: What were you doing on the 8th of June?

*** CLANK *** CLANK *** CLANK ***

Suspect: WHAT?!

*** CLANK *** CLANK *** CLANK ***

Investigator: WHAT WHERE YOU DOING ON THE 8TH OF JUNE?!

*** CLANK *** CLANK *** CLANK ***

Suspect: WHAT?! I CANT HEAR YOU!!

*** CLANK *** CLANK *** CLANK ***

Investigator: WHAT WHERE YOU...

Investigator: Can you turn the noise on this thing down?

Technologist: Not really, but I'll see see what I can do.

*** THUNK *** THUNK *** THUNK ***

Investigator: What were you doing on the 8th of June?

*** THUNK *** THUNK *** THUNK ***

Suspect: WHAT?!

(those MRI scanners are *real* loud)

It's The outside, Not The Inside

[Kozar_The_Malignant]

These guys have it all wrong. You can tell the terrorists, criminals, and other defectives by measuring the shape of thier skull. Forensic phrenology also has the advantage of requiring less expensive hardware leaving more of the budget to be spent on comely, scantily-clad lab assistants and an adequate supply of lab alcohol.