I had an idea last night that involves a connection between the Super Bowl and the pilgrimage that all muslims are required to take at least once in their lives.
In 2001, the government used facial recognition technology at the Super Bowl in Tampa Bay in order to search for possible terrorists or criminals in the crowd.
What if we were able to get our good friends, the Saudis, to participate in doing this facial recognition thing at Mecca?
I realize that the vast majority of muslims are peace-loving people, but there are many nasty terrorist groups out there who are united by one thing - they're muslim. Wouldn't it make sense to try to identify muslim terrorists at the place where all of them are supposed to go at least once in their life? (The annual pilgrimage to Mecca is described here.)
I know this idea will never take place. For one thing, I'm not sure that facial recognition technology is far enough advanced to be worthwhile. For another, the Saudis aren't really our good friends and cooperating with the Infidels is probably not real high on their list. Finally, it's just plain politically incorrect.
Well, facial recognition software, cool idea though it is, just ain't ready for prime time. The error rate is still way too high. It's a nice thought though isn't it.
Posted by: Teresa at January 28, 2004 06:20 PM