As if facial recognition and digital fingerprinting weren’t scary enough, the Pentagon has reportedly developed a method for remotely identifying and tracking people through their heartbeat.
Heartbeats are as unique and distinctive as fingerprints, but are distinct in that they can be read from a distance. And it’s this that the Pentagon is taking advantage of, according to a report in the MIT Technology Review.
Developed to identify combatants in war zones, the idea is to listen in to those unique cardiac signatures using an infrared laser. Unlike other identification methods like facial recognition, it’s impossible to disguise a heartbeat in any way. The laser method also works through clothing at a distance of up to 200 meters (219 yards). In the future, this range could be extended to be even longer.
