Technology is like a wireless lie detector

Newspaper accounts are using words like “Orwellian” and “the stuff of science-fiction nightmare” to describe a new kind of technology being tested by the Homeland Security Department and Transportation Security Administration. The technology would use an array of scanners at security checkpoints that could detect all kinds of readings from individual who pass through them – measuring their heart rate, body temperature and breathing speed to look for unusually high levels of anxiety. Anyone who displays such symptoms presumably would be pulled out of line for additional scrutiny and questioning. The system, called Malintent, is still at least a few years away from use in airports – assuming it turns out to be effective. The backers of the technology note that it uses the same principles as a lie detector, but it doesn’t require the traveler to be wired to anything. Proponents say that high levels of anxiety in a scanned traveler could indicate that he has something to hide, or he is extremely stressed – as a terrorist would be when going through security. However, critics note that travelers could be stressed for any number of reasons, most of them having nothing to do with terrorism. TSA has already trained hundreds of its airport agents in how to look for visible signs of stress and anxiety in travelers, but the new technology is expected to be more foolproof than simply watching individuals.