Identifying Terrorists by Brain "Fingerprinting"
Silicon Valley entrepreneur Steve Kirsch is advocating that this new computer-based technology be used to identify terrorists and disallow entry into the U.S., expel foreign nationals, and restrict the mobility of U.S. citizens who are "branded" terrorists, based on test results. In a nutshell, brain fingerprinting identifies the perpetrator of a crime accurately and scientifically by measuring brain-wave responses to crime-relevant words or pictures presented on a computer screen. 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 ... 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.
No, I'm not making this up. Kirsch, founder of Infoseek, is dead serious about this idea - he says its "proven 100% accurate in over 100 tests, including tests on FBI agents and tests for a US intelligence agency and for the US Navy". Naturally, this would require the existence of a federal database of these "brain fingerprints" ...
"Mr. Watson, would you step up, attach the sensor headband, and and view into the scanner."
"Mr. Watson, will you come with us, please ..."