Security Checkpoints Predict What You Will Do

An anonymous reader writes "New security check points in 2020 will look just like something out of the futuristic movie, The Minority Report. The idea of the new checkpoints will allow high traffic to pass through just as you were walking at a normal pace. No more waving a wand to get through checkpoints — the new checkpoint can detect if you have plans to set off a bomb before you even enter the building."

Comments

And with a 100% conviction rate

[Anonymous Coward]

Trials will be deemed unnecessary in 2025.

Re:And with a 100% conviction rate

[MrNaz]

According to the last group in the White House, trials became unnecessary on Sept 11, 2001.

finally!

[InsertWittyNameHere]

finally! we'll know what women want!

Re:finally!

[mikewas]

No, we'll only know what they think they want.

Re:finally!

[Anonymous Coward]

They want to have a lot of attention. If that means sleeping with you to get it, they do that. If you're willing to give them the attention they want without them having to sleep with you, they're all about that, too. That's why the friendzone sucks.

Retarded

[drsmall17]

This is retarded. Suppose I have to go to the bathroom and look nervous like I won't make it time? I'll probably set off the scanner as a suspected terrorist.

Re:Retarded

[Rude Turnip]

When I was flying back home after visiting a client, I ran towards the men's room at the Cleveland airport and set off an explosion.

Horse Shit

[DynaSoar]

The FAST system detects physiological signs of stress. In testing it detected "hostile intent" in volunteers. The obvious question is how can volunteers have valid hostile intent? You can't test deception with fake deception. The generalizability of physiological response to stressors is a basic tenet of physiological psychology (the folks who brought you FAST's grand dad, the polygraph).

The volunteers knew they were volunteers in a study and in no danger. In practice, this device will trigger on every person who is nervous about flying, because the physiological markers for stress are the same regardless of the reason. There will be many, many more of those than with 'hostile intent'. The test study was unable to have adequate control (real, naive persons) to prove its claim.

Most people can learn simple biofeedback techniques to control physiological reactions to some degree. Those with hostile intent don't need to get very good at it, they just need to be able to control it better than an untrained person with a fear of flying.

FAST isn't supposed to work. Its owners know it can't. It's just supposed to be believable enough to convince the public that it could catch bad guys to increase public confidence, and to convince the government that further funding is warranted.

Stick the designers in it and ask them if it can tell hostile intent from fear of flying (and base GAO investigation of the program upon the result, to make it more salient). They'll say yes. Either it'll trigger and show them to be lying, or it won't and so it doesn't work.

Re:stupid idea

[clarkkent09]

The chances of being on a plane blown up by a terrorist are so minuscule that to willingly submit to a demeaning treatment and long waits in order to have "peace of mind" seems irrational.

As we saw in India terrorists can just as easily walk into a train station or a hotel and open fire on everyone in sight, so would you like every public place to install metal detectors and strip searches for even more peace of mind? Whatever you do there is some risk involved. I suggest you learn to live with it instead of supporting making everybody life gradually more and more miserable until perfect safety is achieved, which of course will never happen.