Europeans plan to monitor airline passengers in flight

Has it really come to this? Scientists working with on the Paris-based Security of Aircraft in the Future European Environment project are spending £25 million to develop an onboard threat detection system that relies on tiny cameras to monitor the behavior of aircraft passengers in flight. The idea is to marry video and audio analytics technology to individual passenger priofiles in order to preempt terrorist activity. Not only would the system alert to behaviors indicative of nervousness — rapid eye movements, blinking excessively, or licking lips — an attached microphone could pick up on suspicious chatter as well, especially recitations of the Koran or other Muslim prayers. “We’re trying to develop technologies that indicate the differences between normal passengers and those who may be a threat to others or themselves,” said Catherine Neary of BAE Systems.

Although the system could probably not be deployed for at least ten years, the airline industry has expressed interest in the scheme (though they hope the costs will be mnageable — a doubtful proposition). Still, the industry is not putting all of its eggs in one basket. A British Airways spokesperson said: “While we welcome new research and development that advances aviation security, we believe the emphasis and funding for any new initiatives would be better placed on preventing terrorists boarding aircraft in the first place.” Needless to say, the initiative has drawn fire from civil liberties groups, but according to Neary, all video and audio recordings would be destroyed at the end of the flight.

-read more in this IOL report