Buffalo Tom
Jan 24th, 2004, 11:13 AM
Bio-security still a fantasy (http://www.thestar.ca/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1074899415787&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154)
I've worked on projects that were on the periphery of biometrics (developing a low-cost VR glove), and even there, the difficulties in these problem spaces were too overwhelming for the current technology. I can't believe the American security establishment thinks the technology is mature enough to provide effective tracking and identification of potential miscreants, let alone believe they can establish a database of the unique biological identifiers of the most wanted international fugitives. You'd have to have Osama Bin Laden and other terrorists in custody first to get their retinal scans and such other markers; but if you had them in custody, then you wouldn't need to have these systems. Idiotic.
The mention at the end of the article of NASA working on neurological scanning technology gave me the willies.
I've worked on projects that were on the periphery of biometrics (developing a low-cost VR glove), and even there, the difficulties in these problem spaces were too overwhelming for the current technology. I can't believe the American security establishment thinks the technology is mature enough to provide effective tracking and identification of potential miscreants, let alone believe they can establish a database of the unique biological identifiers of the most wanted international fugitives. You'd have to have Osama Bin Laden and other terrorists in custody first to get their retinal scans and such other markers; but if you had them in custody, then you wouldn't need to have these systems. Idiotic.
The mention at the end of the article of NASA working on neurological scanning technology gave me the willies.