Computer and behavioral scientists at the University of Buffalo are developing a system that will allow authorities to track faces, voices, bodies and various other biometrical data to create a score for how likely an individual is to commit a terrorist act. Sound like the scariest Big Brother plot since China's
ID card scheme? Well, rest assured, Winston Smith, the researchers only have your
best interests in mind. "The goal is to identify the perpetrator in a security setting before he or she has the chance to carry out the attack," says Venu Govindaraju, professor of computer science and engineering at the university, who was recently awarded $800,000 by the National Science Foundation to create such a system. "We are developing a prototype that examines a video in a number of different security settings, automatically producing a single, integrated score of malfeasance likelihood," adding that the system will incorporate machine "learning" capabilities, which will allow it to adapt over time. "Human screeners have fatigue and bias, but the machine does not blink," the researcher said, just before remarking that he was late for an appointment at the Ministry of Truth.
posted October 6th 2007 7:48PM
What? No jokes about Replicants and Rick Deckard?
It sounds more like the machine from Blade Runner than anything out of 1984.
The funding should be pulled on crap like this.
BTW did you know you are about 3 times more likely to be killed by bees or 70 times more likely by slipping in the shower or 270 times more likely in a traffic accident then a in a terrorist attack?
I think I'd rather take my chances with the terrorists then live with this system.
BTW Venu Govindaraju should be sent on an all expense paid trip to the photosphere of the sun for trying to bring such a dystopian thing into reality.
What a waste of 800K that money could have funded something good for society also it's embarrassing the NSF was involved.