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DEL.ICIO.USIt makes you wonder if some brains leave more distinct fingerprints than others
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Senate Brain Fingerprinting Technology Study Committee meets this morning down in Gray, Ga.
And no, we didn’t know they left smudges, either.
“Brain fingerprinting” is the name offered up by its inventor, a fellow named Lawrence Farwell of Iowa.
In simple terms, it’s a next-generation lie detector that measures brain waves like an electroencephalogram. That’s an EEG to you laymen.
The CIA apparently helped fund its development. A suspect is fitted with a sensor-laden headband and shown a series of flashing pictures on a screen.
If an image — a picture of a crime scene, for instance — is familiar, the suspect’s brain triggers a response somewhere within 300 and 800 milliseconds.
“So far, they haven’t been able to find anyone who’s been able to fool the test,” said the committee chairman, John Douglas (R-Social Circle). Here’s a link to a PBS video on the topic.
Douglas inherited the chairmanship of the study committee from state Sen. Jim Whitehead of Columbia County, who left the chamber last year for an unsuccessful run at Congress.
Advocates of brain fingerprinting want legislative approval so that the technique can be used in criminal proceedings. Douglas said the machines have already been used in Iowa and Missouri — in one case helping to free a man, and in another case resulting in a conviction.
The GBI is to testify at today’s hearing. We won’t be there, but we understand the agency isn’t quite convinced of the merits of brain fingerprinting.
The committee could make a final decision regarding legislation on Dec. 14, when it meets at the Marietta Conference Center.
But if the matter is still in doubt then, we suggest a three-month field test at the state Capitol, using 236 guinea pigs — er, lawmakers — as willing test subjects.
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Comments
By Will Jones
November 28, 2007 10:51 AM | Link to this
Let the Roman Catholic CIA strap their gizmo on the head of George W. Bush and show him images of the WTC dropping at the speed of gravity, then strap it on his father and show him images of Dealey Plaza and John Kennedy’s head exploding…right is right and wrong is wrong. Treason is wrong and the CIA should improve its image by finding and punishing the Bush traitors.
By wtf
November 29, 2007 11:21 AM | Link to this
Huh? Go back in your underground bunker.
By repete
November 29, 2007 11:42 AM | Link to this
will jones is a nut job