Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

ACLU Files for Info on New Brain-Scan Tech

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the also-requesting-information-on-psychics dept.

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,"'"

13 of 257 comments (clear)

  1. First post(?) by mmell · · Score: 3, Funny
    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!

  2. Tinfoil hats by Aqws · · Score: 5, Funny

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

    1. Re:Tinfoil hats by Intron · · Score: 4, Funny

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

      --
      Intron: the portion of DNA which expresses nothing useful.
  3. Silly people! by TheRaven64 · · Score: 4, Funny

    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)

    --
    I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    1. Re:Silly people! by JeanBaptiste · · Score: 5, Funny

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

    2. Re:Silly people! by philcolby · · Score: 3, Funny

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

    3. Re:Silly people! by Bodrius · · Score: 4, Funny


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

      --
      Freedom is the freedom to say 2+2=4, everything else follows...
  4. ACLU by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Why does ACLU hate America so much?

  5. One step closer... by ruben.gutierrez · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... 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.

  6. Wha tdoy ouge twhe nyo udis ectahu manbra in? by jamiesan · · Score: 3, Funny

    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.

  7. I for one by bherman · · Score: 3, Funny

    welcome our new government overlords



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

    --
    Error: Sig not found.
  8. Ob. Futurama Quote by sailracer6 · · Score: 4, Funny

    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."

  9. I can see it now.... by VoidEngineer · · Score: 3, Funny

    *** 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)