5. Nanotech-
based sensors
“The detector generates a
continuous 'spectrum' of
information about any chemical
agents in its presence...”
“easily programmable”
6. Sewer monitoring has begun
“The test doesn’t screen people directly but
instead seeks out evidence of illicit drug
abuse in drug residues and metabolites
excreted in urine and flushed toward
municipal sewage treatment plants.”
7. “We found a drug molecule —
Everybody out for a breath check!”
8. Things worth detecting:
weapons of mass destruction
• Explosives, chemicals, nukes — today
• Bioweapons – in early stages — nasty, but
delicate and hard to control)
• Nanoweapons — later — like bioweapons,
but tougher and more controllable)
13. Top-down approach to
bottom-up problem
• Centralized
• Mandatory
• Monolithic
• Limited in participation
• Secretive
• Leads toward Surveillance State
14. Open Science-style
physical security
• Decentralized
• Minimal “Track the
• Voluntary/privatized problem,
not the
• Experimental people”
• Collaborative
• Open
• Transparent
15. Who can figure out
whether & how to collect
public sensing data?
• Need a community that understands the
relationships between:
• Security
• Privacy
• Functionality
• Freedom
17. Open Sensing-based Security:
What would it be like?
• Open source style development
• Citizen controlled
• Privacy oriented
• Verifiably limited
• Detects materials of concern
• Does not track individuals or
nonweapons (e.g. drugs)
18. What might we regard
as worth detecting?
• Real problems
• Anthrax (NYC, DC, FL 2001)
• Sarin (Tokyo, 1995)
• Ricin (London 2002, Las Vegas 2008)
• Later: syn bio accidents or abuse
19. Who gets the data?
• Communities negotiate
• Mutual data exchange, e.g. anthrax within 100 km
• Agreements on how to treat the data
• “Communities” size can vary from household to
nation, depending on what is detected (e.g., TNT
vs nukes)
20. Proposed law in
New York City
that will require
people to get a
license before
they can buy
chemical,
biological, or
radiological
attack detectors
Do we not have a “freedom to sense”?