Technology and big brother gadgets, for better or worse, have taken us to the next possible step in TSA screening. A passenger’s increased heart rate and heavy breathing sets off an alarm. A machine senses his skin temperature fluctuation, and TSA crews move in to question him and further the investigation. Is he a terrorist? Or is he simply a passenger nervous about flying?
The Feds have great hopes that this high tech big brother technology will pay off big. The biometric equipment is ow being tested and implemented by the TSA, in airports all over the US. Critics state that such types of screenings may be invasive and mishandled.
The futuristic equipment works on the same theory as a polygraph, looking for sharp swings in body temperature, pulse and breathing that signal, the kind of anxiety exuded by a would-be terrorist or criminal. Unlike a lie-detector test that hard wires subjects to sensors as they answer questions, the new technology scans people as they walk by a set of cameras.
The TSA thus far has trained more than 2,000 screeners to observe passengers as they walk through airports, questioning those who seem oddly nervous. The system would be portable and fast according to the project manager who envisions machines that scan people as they walk into airports, train stations or arenas. Those flagged by the machines would be interviewed in front of cameras that measure minute facial movements for signs of attempted deception.