Interloper connectivity and the tinfoil hat

The use of EEG headsets is now subject to aggressive commercial interests. The laboratory scene of electrode helmets and oscilloscopes has been replaced by convenient mass manufactured devices interfacing with Android or iOS apps. Affordable technology in the form of medical implants are incorporated into daily usage which risk vulnerability to potentially invasive psychological surveillance.

There has often been a 'rushing to market' of technology which arguably requires greater testing in the form of real world simulation. Many remote electroencephalography systems have recently been appraised by bug hunters and security researchers. In one study over 150 apps on the Neurosky App Store were proved as vulnerable to proximity attacks.

Collaborative ventures circumventing the boundaries between healthcare and recreational products have been working their way into the popular consciousness for decades. The counting of footsteps and cardio vascular targets are now common conversation around the office water cooler. Unsurprisingly the familiar spectre of over monetization lurks in the background of this sensitive combination of medical innovation and commercial profiteering.

The 2018 Strava heat-map of military bases was not the result of extensive hi-tech satellite imaging by nefarious forces, but a big data oversight resulting from partnership between the U.S State Department and vendors of the FitBit. This lapse in data containment happened despite the existence of numerous control mechanisms. Like most governmental bodies, both the DoD and the State Dept. are subject to policies designed specifically to prevent such significant data breaches. Fitness data represents information which a civilian user may or may not consider protected by their supposedly inalienable right to privacy. However there's a profound difference between someone harvesting anonymised public information cataloging heartbeat recovery rates and the covert harvesting of brain activity data.

There exists a multitude of comprehensive checks and balances in place to prevent military personnel from broadcasting the location of their deployment. These substantial layers of prevention were circumvented by the seemingly innocent usage of a comparatively simple technology - an affordable jogger gizmo. Consequently the existence of bases (in areas which were considered embarrassing to their operators) was reported all over the web and in the columns of numerous broadsheets and tabloids. How exactly these layers of prevention were effectively disregarded, represents more carefully guarded information.

_{* The Strava heatmap has since been edited to remove the allegedly erroneous depiction of extensive infrastructure in Antarctica.}

Casually conducting a search on 'remote electroencephalography' produces results from numerous research papers. In addition the speculation of various tech and healthcare pundits is published in popular journals. Many allude to the emergence of psychological surveillance being a matter for futurist speculation. Several clearly spell out the fact that remote EEG is not only a contemporary reality, but has actually been in place for some time. This awareness disparity can be explained by the yawning divide between consumer technology and non-consumer technology. In the 70's and 80's the popular impression of this divide amounted to estimates in the region of several decades. What the average punter did not comprehend is that the difference should not be considered in linear terms. The advances in technology covered by the 'black' or USAP mantle are not pegged to a steady head start. That's not how technological progress works. Instead it should be considered in parabolic terms. The advances of today are exponentially capitalised upon by the advances of tomorrow. Consequently the state of development in a technological field progresses at a constantly accelerating rate. This basically means that the 20th century estimates of decades should now be expressed in centuries. Consider the state of technology several centuries ago.

Transport was the domain of steam powered boats and trains. This technology was comparable in both consumer and non-consumer fields. If the tech gap was as big as it is now, Joe Public would have spent a gut churning week sailing to the New World in a steamship, while military personnel enjoyed tea & scones at Mach4.

Prior to the world wide conflicts in the early 20th century, the closest the average punter got to computing power was wearing a garment produced by Cartwright's steam powered loom or listening to steam valves firing off in sequence on the chassis of a traction engine like the one pictured above. Leveraging the established technology of tines on the wheel of a musical box, the differently pitched valves are triggered by a large belt comparable to a punch card or ticker tape input device. The steam powered traction engine did not go on to dominate the fossil fuel paradigm despite the seemingly magical onboard entertainment. The musical aspect became a novelty considered in the same terms as the air horns on an articulated lorry. Impressive enough, but purely a concession to the whimsical.

Fascinating, now what on earth is your point?

Traction engine sequenced music resulted from an established consumer technology being combined with the wonderous marvel that was the invention of steam power. In the same way, remote EEG represents the combination of an established research field paired with advances in affordable wireless detection. The revenue associated with steam powered organ music was relatively finite. There is an ongoing fuel cost and a substantial capital investment required to purchase the traction engine. These costs were recouped from the entry fees of the various village fetes and fairgrounds where this display of engineering prowess could be experienced. However trivial, the music produced still represents a product or a service. Conversely, assuming that only a very few people are prepared to voluntarily give up the sovereignty of their mind, the product or service associated with remote EEG surveillance is not comparable. The only exploitation that could possibly be interpreted in the production of traction engine music, would be the callous disregard of the posthumous rights of organisms that died millions of years before they became coal. In direct contrast, the human rights of persons subjected to remote EEG surveillance have been cast aside. Were this blatant disregard to be in the interests of national security or the preservation of societal well-being, it would be a contentious enough matter. When the interests are overtly commercial, the ethical ramifications are really very clear and extremely jarring.

Today the phrase 'tinfoil hat' is employed in a pejorative manner to cast aspersions on the mental stability of anyone questioning mainstream narratives. However the chronological record of the terminology indicates that apart from some isolated references prior to the 1950's there was no mention of it in the popular consciousness. One could theorise that the technological advances during and after WW2 have some relevance in this regard. Thin sheets of Tin were replaced by thinner and cheaper sheets of Aluminum as a result of 'moonshot' metallurgical advances. Insulating the brain from external surveillance would previously have utilised alternative materials. Long hair and / or fabric insulation constitute cultural traditions in multiple societies.

The reality of experiments conducted on live humans during WW2 by the so called 'axis of evil' are well documented. The scientific value of these inhumane experiments has been heavily capitalised on by a great number of commercial organisations. Admittedly there have also been substantial advances in primary healthcare as a direct result. Some of the current principles used to treat victims of hypothermia are based on the data acquired by repeatedly torturing POW's with cold water immersion. Many of these experiments were deliberately fatal. The ethical footprint of programs conducted in the field of consciousness and neurology is no less substantial. The much denied activities of the Montauk Project and MK Ultra were proven by the discovery of thousands of pages of records which had been long forgotten and left in an old filing cabinet. These highly incriminating documents allegedly survived the hurried shredding inspired by J. Edgar Hoover's frenzied desire to obtain the associated data, or so the legend goes.

Much of the defamatory references in popular culture to the wearing of tinfoil hats has obscured the physical principle behind the concept. The same principle behind the Faraday cage, has been extrapolated into the modern manufacture of the SCIF (Sensitive compartmented information facility).

Establishments invested in information assurance rely on extensive ISO documentation and regulatory frameworks for preserving the integrity of information security. Unsurprisingly, preserving the integrity and sovereignty of the electronic impulses in an individuals body is not detailed by anyone at all. Instead the data seems to be perceived as 'ambient' data which can be ruthlessly mined by anyone with access to the technology. Whether this technology was originally developed by the Nazis is not a matter of public record. There is a thread of plausibility in the theory that such technology has existed for much longer. The use of reflective or refractive surfaces in religious architecture dates back many centuries.  However, given the buy up after WW2 manifested in the form of Operation Paperclip, it's not a major leap of deduction to theorise that remote EEG was further developed in some grotesque wartime research.

It appears extremely unwise to entrust speculative commercial interests with technology devised for any identifiably inhumane purposes. When these commercial interests inhabit a framework which evades accountability, the checks and balances would be unlikely to be exposed to any external oversight. Development by non civilian groups is frequently disseminated to municipal bodies with investment in controlling populations. Product development which ignores ethical responsibility is unlikely to be suddenly made morally righteous when handed off to public sector customers. For example, the alleged manufacture of electric batons in the UK for export to offshore markets, was a matter for prolific news debate in the 1990's.

There is also an issue of competency. The persons conducting covert surveillance of human brain activity are extremely unlikely to be members of any healthcare profession. More realistically they would probably be members of some sinister clandestine outfit with a motivation predicated purely on control. Given the Strava heatmap example, there is an unavoidable question of qualification in regards to the harvesting of more significant data types. The accidental leaking of geographical information is one thing, but having peoples psychological data leaked or sold without their knowledge or permission represents something from the most horrific and brutally dystopian science fiction.

Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety