[IP] The Telegraph: Passengers' chat will be recorded to foil hijackers
Begin forwarded message:
From: bobr@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: September 10, 2006 9:27:35 PM PDT
To: dave@xxxxxxxxxx
Subject: The Telegraph: Passengers' chat will be recorded to foil
hijackers
Dave
Perhaps for IP.
Do they honestly believe we will stand for this?
Bob Rosenberg
P.O. Box 33023
Phoenix, AZ 85067-3023
Mobile: 602-206-2856
LandLine: 602-274-3012
bob@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Passengers' chat will be recorded to foil hijackers
By David Millward, Transport Correspondent
(Filed: 11/09/2006)
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/09/11/
nplanes11.xml
Air passengers could have their conversations and movements monitored
as work
intensifies to design the terrorist-proof aeroplane.
Researchers in Britain and Europe are looking at technology that
would see a
comprehensive network of microphones and cameras installed throughout
the aircraft,
including the lavatory, which would be linked to a computer.
This computer would be "trained" to pick up suspicious behaviour,
said Catherine
Neary, of Bae Systems, one of the British participants in a £24
million European
Union project Safety of Aircraft in Future European Environment.
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"It would pick passengers who are behaving oddly or in an unruly
manner," she said.
"They may appear nervous, or could be getting up while the plane is
taxiing. If
someone looks as if they are praying, the microphones would be able
to tell if they
were by picking up key words."
Eventually, the computer would be programmed to understand a variety
of languages.
"Passengers are not being snooped on by humans, but by machines which
will process
the data, which would not be stored after the flight unless there is
an incident,"
she said.
"There are likely to be cameras and microphones in the toilet,
because that is where
terrorists go to assemble bombs." The camera could also be trained to
detect
seemingly harmless items being left in aircraft lavatories that could
later be
assembled to make a lethal device.
"If people know they will be safer, they will be happy to accept the
sensors, but we
are considering the legal implications of this."
Bae Systems is co-operating with Reading University on the project
designed to make
the aircraft as secure as possible. "We are concentrating on onboard
threat
protection," said James Ferryman, a lecturer in computer science.
"We would be looking at ways in which people behave which would give
rise to
suspicion. It is a challenge to distinguish between situations – such
as two
children play fighting or someone being attacked."
The aviation industry is monitoring the project closely. ''We are
always looking at
new initiatives that would enhance security," a British Airways
spokesman said. "BA
already has CCTV which monitors activity outside the reinforced
cockpit door. But we
believe it is robust ground security which is the key to safety in
the air."
Even before the aircraft takes off, passengers could be swept with an
"electric
nose" a hand-held device which could tell if they had had any contact
with
explosives.
Other initiatives include sophisticated biometric cameras at the
check-in desk and
departure gate. By comparing the iris, it could check that the
passenger presenting
him or herself at the airport was the one boarding the aircraft.
Work is already in hand to examine putting electronic chips on
luggage that would
match ones embedded in the boarding pass. They would make it easier
to link
passengers to their bags or, more importantly, find them when they
are separated.
Information appearing on telegraph.co.uk is the copyright of
Telegraph Group Limited
and must not be reproduced in any medium without licence.
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