October 8, 2011 06:31 am EDT

US Department of Homeland Security developing system to predict criminal intent

We're not exactly lacking in opportunities for Minority Report references these days, but sometimes they're just unavoidable. According to a new report from CNET based on documents obtained by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, the US Department of Homeland security is now working on a system dubbed FAST (or Future Attribute Screening Technology) that's designed to identify individuals who are most likely to commit a crime. That's not done with something as simple as facial recognition and background checks, however, but rather algorithms and an array of sensors and cameras that can detect both physiological and behavioral cues that are said to be "indicative of mal-intent." What's more, while the DHS says that it has no plans to actually deploy the system in public just yet, it has apparently already conducted a limited trial using DHS employees -- though no word on the results of how well it actually works, of course. Hit the source link below for the complete (albeit somewhat redacted) documents.

US Department of Homeland Security developing system to predict criminal intent originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 08 Oct 2011 02:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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