Sunday, February 1, 2009

Eavesdropping Invention is a "Sickness" Detector

via crooze.fm
"If you thought the airport denizens of the TSA were already obnoxious, wait until they get their mitts on a Sick Traveler Detector. It's a software idea by Belgian company Biorics, which can determine if travelers are sick by the sound of their coughs...

The tech involves installing dozens of microphones around an airport security area or any public space
, and running all the coughs they pick up through a special software algorithm that can tell the difference between a dry throat-clearing hack and a loogy-dripping, bubbling and wheezing honk, aka a "productive cough."


In their patent application, the privacy-invading chutzpah of the inventors is astonishing, where they even suggest eavesdropping on cell phone conversations to glean their illness detection data." (more) (patent)