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

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

******

Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2001 00:12:47 -0700
From: Todd Jonz <todd () tj org>
To: declan () well com
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,
todd () tj org				bayl bhgynjf jvyy unir cevinpl. 




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