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,"'"

6 of 257 comments (clear)

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

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

  2. ACLU by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Why does ACLU hate America so much?

  3. Re:Silly people! by JeanBaptiste · · Score: 5, Funny

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

  4. 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.

  5. Sounds like a good alternative to political debate by expro · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Monthly Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of candidate or elected politicians to find out what part of what they spew is intended to be deceptive.

  6. This is a joke right? by StateOfTheUnion · · Score: 5, Insightful
    fMRI is pretty primitive . . . just realtime video of where the blood goes in the brain. Using it to detect lies is like using Sherlock Holmes magnifying lens to scientifically examine the Moon from the Earth. The resolution and focus is horrible with respect to the density of information processing in the brain.

    Additionally, research into decision making processes and incentives by psychologist and economists using fMRI is in its infancy. To believe that we could accurately detect lies with fMRI when we don't even know how people make decisions or react to incentives is impossibly optimistic. The promise of a reduced sentence for telling the truth could completely change the fMRI results. The fact that the Guantanamo guard that kicked the sh*t out of you last week is in the room could completely change the fMRI results. The color of the room may change the fMRI results. And so on . . .

    We just don't have enough historical data to do this reliably.