Spycams being used on planes

Studying passengers to "detect terrorism"

30 May 2008 14:12 GMT / By Katie Scott

So they are plans afoot to monitor our emails, phone calls and the websites we visit, but now it seems our facial expressions are also going to be scrutinised by "security experts".

Boing Boing says that European airlines are already testing spycams, which will be put in every seat on planes.

These Panopticon-in-the-sky will "detect terrorism" in passengers' facial expressions.

They are currently being trialled in an EU Security of Aircraft in the Future European Environment (SAFEE) project.

There is one camera in every passenger's seat, with six wide-angle cameras to survey the aisles.

Software then analyses the footage to detect developing terrorist activity or "air-rage" incidents.

"It looks for running in the cabin, standing near the cockpit for long periods of time, and other predetermined indicators that suggest a developing threat", says James Ferryman of the University of Reading, who is one of the system's developers.

Sweating or nervously touching your face could also be picked up, says Ferryman, who added that the computer's ability to detect threats uses information gleaned from security analysts in the intelligence community.

And we'd have to kill you if we told you about it.

Full tags

Gadgets, Cameras, Spycams, EU