Where is Proxmire Golden Fleece award when we need it -- Was -- Big Brother

[David Farber <dfarber () cs cmu edu>]

This brings out again a problem with NSF reviewing. Most folks I talk  
with believe that the NSF Peer process , at least in Comp Sci, trims  
away the potentially exciting research and funds SAFE projects where  
the risks are low (and often the payoff). I can not speak to this  
effort since all I have seen is the press release bull but if it is  
accurate then Dave is right on. djf

ps I would like to see the proposal.


Begin forwarded message:

From: "David P. Reed" <dpreed () reed com>
Date: October 7, 2007 12:21:33 PM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Cc: ip () v2 listbox com
Subject: Re: [SPAM] [IP] Big Brother

Dave - this is to science what Astrology is to Astronomy.  A lot of  
pseudo-math mumbo-jumbo hiding a false hypothesis.

There being no valid and tested theories as to what measures predict  
malfeasance, all that is being proposed is a vast array of  
calculations in support of a theory as valid as that the position of  
stars at the instant of one's birth determines one's fate.

In other words, it's cyber-bullcrap (or Univ of Buffalo crap).   The  
NSF should be excoriated for such shameful pseudo-science.
I had thought that scientific peer review was at the base of NSF  
decisions.  Not peer review by witch doctors who think waving lines  
of code over a human can predict behavior.

I am bloody serious.  Where are the National Academies?  Even  
Proxmire would have been justified calling for the Golden Fleece on  
this one.  Before building the system, perhaps some scientific  
evidence might be required of the proposers?

And of course, when the "system" shows that a person is a likely "bad  
actor", will we throw him/her in permanent pre-trial detention  
without habeas corpus, much less a review of the "science" supposedly  
supporting the Dept. of Precrime's actions?

- David

David Farber wrote:
> http://www.engadget.com/
>
> 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  
> <http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/13/china-outdoes-itself-with- 
> unprecedented-surveillance-initiative/>? 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.
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