The Last Ditch by Tom Paine

Link: The tiny airline spy that spots bombers in the blink of an eye | News | This is London.

This is, to say the least, an unwise application of technology. Fanatics going, as they believe, directly to Paradise may well be no more stressed than an innocent nervous flyer. Consider this chilling quote;

A separate microphone will hear and record even whispered remarks. Islamic suicide bombers are known to whisper texts from the Koran in the moments before they explode bombs.

There is no point in detecting such whispers unless the intention is – during those “moments” – to take out the whisperer à la Jean Charles de Menezes. There will be no time to explain that, actually, the software has done what software often does. Or even that you were reciting verses from the Koran because you were scared by turbulence.

Would you want your life to depend on voice analysis software? Consider also the impact on innocent flyers of the knowledge that their every twitch is being analysed electronically to determine if they are to be killed by a “sky marshal” without warning. Are they likely to be more or less twitchy than a suicide bomber?

I fly regularly. I am posting this from a departure lounge at Frankfurt Airport. I know I take risks when I travel, but I am less afraid of a terrorist on my flight than I am of “security” ideas like this one.