Spotting the Airline Terror Threat

[Major Variola (ret)]

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?