[humanmarkup-comment] Fwd: FW: Psychometrics on the way?

[Rex Brooks <rexb@starbourne.com>]

I got this yesterday and meant to post it then, but got very busy and 
forgot. Needless to say, I find it relevant to our work if not 
immediately then eventually.

Ciao,
Rex

>Subject: FW: Psychometrics on the way?
>Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2002 22:25:32 -0700
>Thread-Topic: Psychometrics on the way?
>Thread-Index: AcJGBzRwVbjVwDL0QGCekZYE/IYfhgBgKprQAFLRjdI=
>From: "Monica Martin" <mmartin@certivo.net>
>To: <rexb@starbourne.com>
>X-Rcpt-To: <rexb@starbourne.com>
>X-DPOP: DPOP Version 2.4a
>Status: U
>
>
>
>	-----Original Message-----
>	From: Lawson, William J (Bill), MGSVC
>	Sent: Mon 8/19/2002 8:11 AM
>	To: BIOMETRICS@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM
>	Cc:
>	Subject: Re: Psychometrics on the way?
>
>
>
>	Hello Henry,
>
>	Just a friendly reminder, You and I had discussed this very same
>concept
>	(psychometrics, Neurometrics, EEG fingerprint, neural
>fingerprint)
>	several months ago.  At that time, I called your attention to
>published
>	papers at www.icdri.org, here are the links:
>
>	http://www.icdri.org/biometrics/biometrics.htm
>	http://www.icdri.org/biometrics/let_me_in.htm
>	http://www.icdri.org/biometrics/new_wave.htm
>
>	The papers have also been republished:
>	"Let Me In!!! (Biometric Access & Neural Control), International
>Center
>	for Disability Resources on the Internet (ICDRI), November 2001.
>	Republished at www.NextInterface.net, March 2002 and at
>	www.FindBiometrics.com, April 2002.
>
>	"The New Wave (Biometric Access & Neural Control), International
>Center
>	for Disability Resources on the Internet (ICDRI), April 2002.
>	Republished at www.ISOC.org, June 2002 and presented at the INET
>2002
>	Conference (Washington DC).
>
>	And let us not forget the Survey and its' introduction
>	http://www.icdri.org/biometrics/to_be_or_not.htm.
>
>
>	Here is your response:
>
>***********************************************************************
>
>	From: Henry J. Boitel [ mailto:boitel@mindspring.com]
>	Sent: Friday, March 29, 2002 2:10 PM
>	Subject: Neurometrics
>
>	Bill,
>	Sounds like you are at the cutting edge. The
>	implications for people with disabilities are
>	tremendous. In fact, the implications for all people
>	are truly wondrous. In a way we are all disabled in
>	terms of achieving that to which our imaginations can
>	aspire, and we have made a good start at reducing those
>	disabilities. There was a time when flying or
>	telephoning or photographing or televising and a lot
>	of other things were as remote in likelihood as
>	neurocontrolling.
>
>	Best wishes,
>	Henry
>
>
>************************************************************************
>	***********************
>
>	-----Original Message-----
>	From: Henry J. Boitel [ mailto:boitel@MINDSPRING.COM]
>	Sent: Saturday, August 17, 2002 11:56 AM
>	To: BIOMETRICS@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM
>	Subject: Psychometrics on the way?
>
>
>	Whether or not the capabilities described in the following
>	article can be realized in the near future remains to be
>	seen.  However, as speculated on the BC list, not long ago,
>	there is little doubt that substantial funds and time are
>	being spent to determine that feasibility.
>
>	Enhancements to be added to the Computer-Aided Passenger
>	Pre-Screening (CAPPS) system would have as their goal the
>	measurement of bodily functions, including brain waves,  by
>	means of covert and/or overt sensors, for the purpose of
>	detecting potentially dangerous or hostile states of mind.
>	(In every sense of the classic definition of the term, these
>	would be biometric measurements, but they would be geared
>	not to determining who someone  is, but, rather, what that
>	person's mental attitude is.)
>
>	This article is from The Washington Times and can be found
>	at http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020817-704732.htm
>
>	There is no mention of whether there is any intent  of also
>	using the system at press conferences of the executive and
>	legislative branches.
>	______________________________________________
>	NASA plans to read terrorist's minds at airports
>	By Frank J. Murray  THE WASHINGTON TIMES
>
>	Airport security screeners may soon try to read the minds of
>	travelers to identify terrorists.
>
>	Officials of the National Aeronautics and Space
>	Administration have told Northwest Airlines security
>	specialists that the agency is developing brain-monitoring
>	devices in cooperation with a commercial firm, which it did
>	not identify. Space technology would be adapted to receive
>	and analyze brain-wave and heartbeat patterns, then feed
>	that data into computerized programs "to detect passengers
>	who potentially might pose a threat," according to briefing
>	documents obtained by The Washington Times.
>
>	NASA wants to use "noninvasive neuro-electric sensors,"
>	imbedded in gates, to collect tiny electric signals that all
>	brains and hearts transmit. Computers would apply
>	statistical algorithms to correlate physiologic patterns
>	with computerized data on travel routines, criminal
>	background and credit information from "hundreds to
>	thousands of data sources," NASA documents say.
>
>	The notion has raised privacy concerns. Mihir Kshirsagar of
>	the Electronic Privacy Information Center says such
>	technology would only add to airport-security chaos. "A lot
>	of people's fear of flying would send those meters off the
>	chart. Are they going to pull all those people aside?"
>
>	The organization obtained documents July 31, the product of
>	a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the
>	Transportation Security Administration, and offered the
>	documents to this newspaper. Mr. Kshirsagar's organization
>	is concerned about enhancements already being added to the
>	Computer-Aided Passenger Pre-Screening (CAPPS) system. Data
>	from sensing machines are intended to be added to that mix.
>	NASA aerospace research manager Herb Schlickenmaier told The
>	Times the test proposal to Northwest Airlines is one of four
>	airline-security projects the agency is developing. It's too
>	soon to know whether any of it is working, he says.
>
>	"There are baby steps for us to walk through before we can
>	make any pronouncements," says Mr. Schlickenmaier, the
>	Washington official overseeing scientists who briefed
>	Northwest Airlines on the plan. He likened the proposal to a
>	super lie detector that would also measure pulse rate, body
>	temperature, eye-flicker rate and other biometric aspects
>	sensed remotely. Though adding mind reading to screening
>	remains theoretical, Mr. Schlickenmaier says, he confirms
>	that NASA has a goal of measuring brain waves and heartbeat
>	rates of airline passengers as they pass screening machines.
>
>	This has raised concerns that using noninvasive procedures
>	is merely a first step. Private researchers say reliable EEG
>	brain waves are usually measurable only by machines whose
>	sensors touch the head, sometimes in a "thinking cap"
>	device. "To say I can take that cap off and put sensors in a
>	doorjamb, and as the passenger starts walking through [to
>	allow me to say] that they are a threat or not, is at this
>	point a future application," Mr. Schlickenmaier said in an
>	interview. "Can I build a sensor that can move off of the
>	head and still detect the EEG?" asks Mr. Schlickenmaier, who
>	led NASA's development of airborne wind-shear detectors 20
>	years ago. "If I can do that, and I don't know that right
>	now, can I package it and [then] say we can do this, or no
>	we can't? We are going to look at this question.
>
>	Can this be done? Is the physics possible?" Two physics
>	professors familiar with brain-wave research, but not
>	associated with NASA, questioned how such testing could be
>	feasible or reliable for mass screening. "What they're
>	saying they would do has not been done, even wired in," says
>	a national authority on neuro-electric sensing, who asked
>	not to be identified. He called NASA's goal "pretty far
>	out." Both professors also raised privacy concerns.
>	"Screening systems must address privacy and 'Big Brother'
>	issues to the extent possible," a NASA briefing paper,
>	presented at a two-day meeting at Northwest Airlines
>	headquarters in St. Paul, Minn., acknowledges.
>
>	Last year, the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional police
>	efforts to use noninvasive "sense-enhancing technology" that
>	is not in general public use in order to collect data
>	otherwise unobtainable without a warrant. However, the high
>	court consistently exempts airports and border posts from
>	most Fourth Amendment restrictions on searches.
>
>	"We're getting closer to reading minds than you might
>	suppose," says Robert Park, a physics professor at the
>	University of Maryland and spokesman for the American
>	Physical Society. "It does make me uncomfortable. That's the
>	limit of privacy invasion. You can't go further than that."
>	"We're close to the point where they can tell to an extent
>	what you're thinking about by which part of the brain is
>	activated, which is close to reading your mind. It would be
>	terribly complicated to try to build a device that would
>	read your mind as you walk by." The idea is plausible, he
>	says, but frightening.
>
>	At the Northwest Airlines session conducted Dec. 10-11, nine
>	scientists and managers from NASA Ames Research Center at
>	Moffett Field, Calif., proposed a "pilot test" of the
>	Aviation Security Reporting System. NASA also requested that
>	the airline turn over all of its computerized passenger data
>	for July, August and September 2001 to incorporate in NASA's
>	"passenger-screening testbed" that uses "threat-assessment
>	software" to analyze such data, biometric facial recognition
>	and "neuro-electric sensing." Northwest officials would not
>	comment.
>
>	Published scientific reports show NASA researcher Alan Pope,
>	at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., produced a
>	system to alert pilots or astronauts who daydream or "zone
>	out" for as few as five seconds.
>
>	The September 11 hijackers helped highlight one weakness of
>	the CAPPS system. They did dry runs that show whether a
>	specific terrorist is likely to be identified as a threat.
>	Those pulled out for special checking could be replaced by
>	others who do not raise suspicions. The September 11
>	hijackers cleared security under their own names, even
>	though nine of them were pulled aside for extra attention.
>
>
>
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>	The preceding was forwarded by the Biometric Consortium's
>Electronic
>	Discussion Group.  Any opinions expressed here do not
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>	reflect those of the Biometric Consortium.  Further distribution
>	is prohibited.
>
>	Problems and questions regarding this list should be sent to
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-- 
Rex Brooks
Starbourne Communications Design
1361-A Addison, Berkeley, CA 94702 *510-849-2309
http://www.starbourne.com * rexb@starbourne.com