Socio-technical systems of anticipatory truth verification in the field of airport security
Final Report Abstract
In order to increase national security, various security actors have been developing and testing machine-based automated threat prediction, particularly for border control contexts. These screening procedures use semi- or fully automated systems that measure non-verbal behaviour and psychophysiological parameters to identify people with so-called “malicious intentions” or “mal-intent” for short. Airports are places with specifically high security requirements, thus making them an ideal testing and deployment location. The project builds on three years of research, also funded by the DFG (2017-2020), in which we analyzed the genesis and current state of the art of lie detection methods in Germany. Against this background, the present project investigated how deception detection methods, which have so far been predominantly based on psychological knowledge and expertise by security personnel, can be transferred to automated systems. The overarching goal of the project was to investigate how security concerns and notions of “truth” materialize in the development of new technical systems. To this end, the following aspects were examined: Firstly, the background against which new technical systems of anticipatory truth verification are developed, as well as the epistemic basis of these systems. Secondly, which demands developers face; thirdly, which negotiations take place in the human-machine interaction in order to deal these demands during development; and fourthly, how the systems are practically designed and deployed. With our project, we were able to show that there is a massive gap between the demands and visions of new automated security technologies in general and deception and intention detection in particular. Human-machine interaction and the understanding of truth and its generation are of particular importance. As we have discerned key concepts such as ground truth and ignorance/non-knowledge that play a central role in understanding and interpreting automation in security settings. Out project also made important theoretical contributions to better understand and sociologically reflect how human-machine interactions are rearranged and reconceptualized in modern day security scenarios.
Publications
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Zur Usability von eGates im Testlabor des Biometrieevaluationszentrums, Forschungsbericht, Aachen
Bettina Paul, Sylvia Kühne & Torsten Voigt
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Wahrheitssuche als Antinomie. Über die Funktion von Technikskepsis und Maschinenglauben in der Lügendetektion. In: Leben Regieren. Natur, Technologie und Gesellschaft im 21. Jahrhundert, hrsg. von Katharina Hoppe, Jonas Rüppel, Franziska von Verschuere und Torsten H. Voigt. 71-94. Frankfurt und New York: Campus
Paul, Bettina, Larissa Fischer & Torsten H. Voigt
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“I Don’t Know if It Wanted Me to Dance”. On Leading and Being Led in Human-eGate Interaction, in: Tecnoscienza–Italian Journal of Science & Technology Studies, 14 (2), 27-44
Paul, Bettina & Sylvia Kühne
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(In)tangible Teamwork. Humanimalia, 15(1), 75-104.
Paul, Bettina
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Gut Feelings and Algorithms: Searching for Harmful Intentions in Airport Security Processes. Engaging Science, Technology, and Society, 10(3).
Kühne, Sylvia & Paul, Bettina
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Iconic Materiality, or the Ambivalent Fascination of Cinematic Lie Detection Depictions (in Germany). In: Tacit Cinematic Knowledge: Approaches and Practices (Ed. by Rebecca Boguska, Guilherme Machado, Rebecca Puchta & Marin Reljic), Lüneburg: Meson Press, 147-163
Paul, Bettina & Larissa Fischer
