IP: "Brain fingerprinting"

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Tue, 02 Oct 2001 10:02:30 -0400
> To: farber () cis upenn edu, bobf () frankston com, Dan Bricklin <DanB () trellix com>
> From: "David P. Reed" <dpreed () reed com>
> Subject: "Brain fingerprinting"
> Cc: "David Coursey" <david () coursey com>
>
> Technology millionaire Steve Kirsch is getting a lot of publicity for a 
> variety of antiterrorism ideas packaged in technical form.  In ZDNet 
> today, David Coursey seems to have become a believer in his latest idea, 
> "brain fingerprinting" at airports. Coursey buys the idea based on such 
> testimony as the FBI deeming "brain fingerprinting" _100% accurate_, with 
> _no false positives_ and _no false negatives_ - claims that have never 
> before been swallowed so credulously by a journalist.
>
> http://www.skirsch.com/politics/plane/ultimate.htm
>
> This sounds like the worst form of technological flim-flammery, and 
> deserves to be exposed as such.  There simply are no tests that can 
> reliably do what is claimed.  One might as well believe in Astrologically 
> based security.
>
> And Kirsch's analysis of the civil liberties questions involved are 
> absurdly simplistic.  Essentially he seems to be claiming that if you are 
> pure of heart you will pass, but that anyone whose feelings are provoked 
> by certain images in certain ways should be defined as a "terrorist" 
> (except those who happen to be trained killers, who we know to be 
> especially good because they are "Navy SEALs").  We don't know if people 
> who "lust in their heart" will commit adultery, and we don't know that 
> people who dislike America will commit terrorism.  We certainly can't 
> experimentally validate such ideas scientifically.
>
> It's absurd to convict people based on some primitive attempt to measure 
> their thoughts and feelings, rather than their actions.  That is a new 
> standard never before heard of in US history.
>
> - David
> --------------------------------------------
> WWW Page: http://www.reed.com/dpr.html



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