creepy 'security'

[miriam_e]

In yet another example of how the "security" industry is spawning some of the creepiest people and creating insecurity, we read of how some Homeland Security people are doing their damnedest to create a "Precrime" unit, like in Philip K. Dick's story Minority Report, except that instead of psychics, they want to use a machine.
http://www.techhive.com/article/241583/homeland_security_develops_a_pre_crime_detecting_machine.html

I can see it now. Someone who gets the 'flu or is unusually quiet because of some disappointment, or who decides to improve their behavior, or organises a secret party for a friend's birthday, will become a 'precrime' suspect. Only the most boring people would be safe, and then only until something unsettling happened to them.

If such a device ever came into use then the only way to be truly safe might be to never provide a baseline set of habits -- always eat and sleep at different times, constantly change your speech and other mannerisms. It would be weirdly stressful, though perhaps not as stressful as knowing this thing was constantly watching for any deviation from your norm.