FC: A modest proposal: Use brain scans to ID potential terrorists

From: Declan McCullagh (declanat_private)
Date: Tue Oct 16 2001 - 16:53:55 PDT

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    Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2001 00:12:47 -0700
    From: Todd Jonz <toddat_private>
    To: declanat_private
    Subject: Thought police: a "serious" proposal
    
    Declan,
    
    Every once in a while an outrageous idea is proposed that I have
    trouble categorizing; a part of me finds it laughable due to its
    impracticality and sheerly preposterous nature, while another part
    of me is scared silly that there are individuals out there who would
    actually propose such an idea.
    
    Silicon Valley entrepreneur Steve Kirsch (Mouse Systems, Frame
    Technology, Infoseek, Propel) is currently advocating just such an
    idea.  In a nutshell, Kirsh has proposed the creation of a "voluntary"
    federal database of "brain fingerprints", a record of a person's brain
    wave activity when shown images with which a terrorist would have a
    strong personal connection (such as the inside of a terrorist training
    camp or the contents of a terrorist code book), and correlating these
    to iris scans.  Prior to boarding an airliner a passenger would look
    into an iris scanner and a fully automated system would retrieve the
    associated brain fingerprint and decide whether the individual would
    be allowed to board or -- well, Kirsch's proposal doesn't go into
    what becomes of individuals who receive a negative evaluation from
    his proposed system.
    
    You can find all the gory details and some spirited debate on this
    concept in the following locations:
    
    	"Identifying terrorists before they strike" by Steve Kirsch
    	http://www.skirsch.com/politics/plane/ultimate.htm
    
    	An article in "The Register" blasting this proposal
    	http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/57/22020.html
    
    	Debate between Kirsch and the author of the "Register" piece
    	http://cryptome.org/brain-scan.htm
    
    I'll bet you thought the term "thought police" was only a metaphor.
    
    (Disclaimer:  Steve Kirsch was one of the founders of Infoseek, as
    was I; even during the best of times our relationship would probably
    be most accurately described as "tense.")
    
    
    --
    Todd Jonz				When cryptography is outlawed,
    toddat_private				bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl. 
    
    
    
    
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