With recent revelations about the government’s widespread surveillance, including PRISM, and Google’s disclosure that they don’t respect individual privacy by routinely subjecting emails to “automated processing,” one has to wonder where all of this is leading.
Like George Orwell’s classic 1984, Big Brother is truly watching us: cameras at almost every street corner, reading emails, listening in on phone calls, and watching what we type into search engines. But at least we’re safe in our private thoughts and memories, right? That may be about to change.
There is a technology called Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) which can measure changes in localized brain activity by watching blood flow in the brain. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging differs from the standard MRI, commonly used in radiology to map brain structure, in that fMRI can detect correlations between brain activation and activities a subject performs or experiences. In addition, fMRI can also infer information about memory in an individual.
So what does this mean? It means that fMRI could tell if you’re actually recalling a memory or not. It could also tell if you’ve seen or experienced something. All well and good in theory, except that these could translate into whom you’ve been associating with or talking to, or even whether or not you’ve committed a crime based on interpretation. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging could be the ultimate lie detector by “reading” your mind.
And the government is interested. Not only does it want into your emails and phone calls, it wants into your thoughts and memories as well. Since 9/11, the government has been pouring millions of dollars into “brain-based” lie detection technologies, including fMRI. Others are interested as well, including the military, law enforcement agencies, and even foreign governments.
Although fMRI is not yet readily accepted in courtrooms across the U.S., that may change. Many attorneys are pushing for its acceptance, and similar technologies are already in use in other countries. In India, for example, this type of technology was used to convict an individual and put them away for life.
Here in the U.S., a growing number of companies have been created using fMRI in lie detection. One such company is No Lie MRI in San Diego, California. According to Wikipedia, “the company charges close to $5,000 for its services” and depends “…on evidence such as that from a study by Joshua Greene at Harvard University suggesting the prefrontal cortex is more active in those contemplating lying.” And No Lie MRI has targeted governmental agencies as potential customers.
Perhaps in the future there won’t be a need for police to break down doors to collect evidence. The “Thought Police” will simply put you in a machine and break down the barriers in your mind to reveal everything about you: What you’ve experienced, what you’ve seen and heard, who you’ve ever associated with or spoken with or even loved. Your thoughts and memories will either free you or convict you, depending on someone else’s interpretation of them. And that’s the scariest part.
Aldous Huxley said “Every man’s memory is his private literature.” With these new technologies, your “private literature” could soon be public. So watch what you think, because it’s possible that one day someone else may be watching what you think as well.
Link: http://www.gcnlive.com/wp/2013/08/19/no-reasonable-expectation-of-privacy/
Share this post...
