Chinese Researchers' 'Terror Cam' Could Scan Crowds, Looking for Stress

concertina226 (2447056) writes Scientists at China's Southwest University in Chongqing are working on a new type of camera that takes Big Brother to a whole new level – the camera is meant to detect highly stressed individuals so that police can catch them before they commit a crime. The camera makes use of hyperspectral imaging, i.e. a 'stress sensor' that measures the amount of oxygen in blood across visible areas of the body, such as the face. Chinese authorities are deeply concerned about the recent spate of deadly attacks occurring in public places, such as the mass stabbing attack by eight knife-wielding extremists in the city of Kunming, Yunnan in March, which left 29 civilians dead and over 140 others injured.

Psycho Pass

[Major Ralph]

And before long they'll be labeling people as latent criminals and locking them up before they ever even commit a crime.

I can see a large false positive rate

[Chrisq]

People on the way to the dentist, or a job interview, or even a first date might get called in. At the same time Muslims take great pains to brutalise and desensitise [dailymail.co.uk] their kids so they will be less likely to show stress.

In other news...

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

'Terrorists' quickly discover that a few milligrams of clonazepam right before the big martyrdom operation is way less haram than getting shitfaced and at least as effective at masking anxiety. In other news, state security services are stretched thin in their new battle against 'cosmetics', a class of nefarious concealment powders and pigments specifically designed to mask the user's true facial state. On a happier note, authorities report that perps with anxiety disorders are much easier to interrogate than the other kind and credit a 58% increase in the number and detail of mostly-voluntary confessions to a new focus on these low resistance criminals...

Clearly this is the wrong approach

[NoNonAlphaCharsHere]

What is needed is more knife-control laws, or, as they're known in this country, "knife-safety" laws. It is self-evident that if the government were to take away everyone's knives, these kinds of incidents would cease.

Re:Is there a way to cheat ?

[CanHasDIY]

There are people who says that there is a way to cheat the lie-detector - and I am wondering of there is a way to cheat this new hyperspectral imaging thing ?

Yea - it's called "being exactly the type of sociopath you would want stopped by this sort of thing."

See, a sociopath won't show stress before committing a crime, because they don't stress about such things; that sort of behavior is normal for them.