CNET reports that the Department of Homeland Security is developing a technology to predict intent through monitoring behavioral changes.
This could be used for all sorts of benign things, like a police officer approaching your car and knowing whether or not you were about to do something rash—he can brace himself before you get too close. The article also cites uses in high traffic events or at border crossings where behavioral analysis can aid in law enforcement.
One can’t help but wonder about the privacy implications this will entail. DHS has said that the system doesn’t store any personally-identifiable information about individuals, but it does require that information to function. Hopefully this system won’t garner the same omniscient status as had the pre-cogs in Spielberg’s film. But even in that case, this system, as any computer system, could be exploited in myriad ways. The technology is only useful within safe, reasonable limits that respect our privacy and agency as human beings.