At 11:37 AM 10/3/04 -0400, R. A. Hettinga wrote:

Unlike the TSA's recently announced program to use computer databases to scan for suspicious individuals whose names occur on passenger lists, SPOT is instead based squarely on the human element: the ability of TSA employees to identify suspicious individuals by using the principles of

surveillance and detection. Passengers who flag concerns by exhibiting unusual or anxious behavior will be pointed out to local police, who will then conduct face-to-face interviews to determine whether any threat exists.

Nice to see another euphemism for cultural prejudgice: "the human element", mein fuhrer (insert Dr Strangelove image) Reminds me of how you can't use race in eg loan application processing, but you *can* use neural nets whose behaviors are hidden in the nodes. (As a lib, I know its wrong to tell folks they can't use predicate-X; but for the state to use eg race disguised as "the human element" is criminal.) PS: do cargo planes have kevlar doors yet?