The Computers of Star Trek (8 page)

Some of these episodes rank among
Star Trek's
finest adventures. Yet, from a strictly logical point of view, these incidents are unbelievable based on the technology of the time. In every instance, the crime was discovered not through investigation but by chance. Worse, most of these incidents involve Starfleet officers, which indicates a shocking lack of internal security in an organization charged with protecting the safety of the Federation.
^g

Life in the twenty-third and twenty-fourth centuries is obviously much different from today. Clearly, personal freedoms are strictly protected by the government and any attempt to infringe on them (“Paradise Lost,”
DS9
) is regarded with suspicion. Still, considering the power and scope of Federation computer systems, the lack of effective security in the
Star Trek
universe is perhaps the most unbelievable aspect of the shows.

It's quite clear why security is so lax. If it wasn't, dozens of episodes would disappear from the ships' logs. Believable security is the bane of all script writers (and most novelists). It stretches
credibility that Captains as brilliant and astute as Janeway and Picard wouldn't impose stricter security measures on their vessels. But the demands of television force us to believe that ship security is one subject not taught at Starfleet Academy.

Though Federation starships are equipped with the most powerful computers ever constructed, this technology isn't being used to strike an appropriate balance between ship safety and individual privacy and freedom. It's difficult to believe that in the twenty-third and twenty-fourth centuries, these problems wouldn't have long ago been solved. Each of the described predicaments could be neutralized using technology displayed in Star Trek—and with computer software in development today.

Too often, onboard security personnel are put at risk, even killed hunting alien intruders or guarding dangerous prisoners. These tasks would be handled better and more safely by the ship's computer. Keeping the starship secure shouldn't be difficult for a computer network already programmed to monitor life-support systems, maintain engine stability, and operate the communications array.

On the original
Enterprise
, carrying over four hundred people, intruders often blend in with the crew or hide in remote sections of the ship. The ship is even invaded by Federation officers from the future (“Trials and Tribblations,”
DS9
), who interact with the crew and captain without detection.

Once, Captain Kirk is actually framed for murder by a crewmember who fakes his own death then keeps out of sight in the ship's engineering decks (“Court Martial,” TOS). When Kirk finally realizes what's happened, he uses the ship's computer to track down the criminal. It's obvious from the astonished reactions of the tribunal that such an activity has never been done before. Which makes sense by television logic, because otherwise there would be no plot. With minor modifications, the same programs
could be adapted to keep the starship free of any unwanted guests.

The
Enterprise
computer system is capable of monitoring and recording all conversations taking place on the ship and playing them back for authorized personnel (“Turnabout Intruder,” TOS). Using consoles and communication posts scattered throughout the ship, the computer can even detect the heartbeats of every person on board (“Court Martial,” TOS). Furthermore, it can be programmed to block out specific heartbeats. Kirk proves there's an unauthorized person on the
Enterprise
by progressively blocking out the heartbeats of everyone known to be on board. Finally, when there should be silence, one heartbeat remains.

As we've noted, all starship crewmembers and visitors wear communicator badges. The computer system can use this badge to determine the location of anyone anywhere on the ship. These ID badges could easily be linked into the ship's transportation system, making it impossible to travel from one sector of the vessel to another without proper identification.

A simple combination of these few programs would result in a very basic but quite dependable security system. Here's how it would operate.

The ship's computer would constantly oversee all crewmembers' locations by their badges, matching their locations with a map of the ship. At the same time, the computer would continually monitor heartbeats throughout the vessel. More heartbeats than communicators would indicate intruders on the
Enterprise
. Any local excess of either heartbeats or communicators would be noted by the computer, and in the event of an intrusion, these areas of mismatch would be sealed off by force fields. As an additional backup, the computer system could immediately check all conversations taking place in that area, identifying all voices logged into the communications network, and sorting out any that aren't on file.

This program would work for all beings having hearts. Given the sophistication of the
Enterprise
computer system, it could certainly be modified to detect other, equally distinctive sounds that would betray any alien presence on the ship. This extremely simple system makes only limited use of the ship's internal sensors, which could easily identify every crewmember and guest by his or her unique chemical signature (as a dog does) or by the “bioelectric field.” The Federation probably would refrain from such intrusive monitoring out of respect for privacy.

Anyone not wearing a communicator badge would immediately be identified by the computer system as an intruder. Without an ID, that being could not travel from deck to deck or section to section. Forcefields could be employed by the computer to immediately imprison the intruder (“Brothers,”
TNG
). It could even be arranged that none of the ship's amenities—doors, lights, replicators, and other functions—would work for a person without a badge. Badges would also be coded by rank to prevent unauthorized personnel from entering secure areas. As a visitor, Ralph Offenhouse could never have simply walked onto the bridge during a tense standoff with the Romulans. (“The Neutral Zone,”
TNG
) Something like this system is used on the starships of the twenty-fourth century though it appears to function erratically.

Any such system, however, would compromise personal privacy. Secret rendezvous for whatever purpose would be impossible. Equally chilling would be the knowledge that the ship's computer is monitoring all communication and possibly recording the most intimate and private conversations. Despite undoubtedly strict limits on the use of such information, the fact remains that any person on board can be spied on to an almost unlimited extent, all of the time. Even with the best intentions, life must be a strain. For example, a captain who gave the crew even the slightest reason to doubt his integrity might find it impossible to lead.

Personal privacy could be protected by a series of safeguards on the computer system. For example, suppose the ship's computer has a malfunction and is acting strangely (a fairly common
Trek
plot line). Worf and Chief O‘Brien must shut it down and fix it. But Chief O'Brien knows that, quite often, he has trouble with the artificially intelligent ship's computer, which seems to have a mind of its own. He and Worf require absolute privacy. The computer must not know what they're plotting. Worf and O'Brien need only deactivate the computer's ability to record their conversations. Their voice prints and DNA patterns, to name only two examples, should presumably suffice to identify them to the computer and grant them the required privacy. Still, a computer capable of generating a Professor Moriarity might decide to disobey them, if it was malfunctioning.

Regardless, privacy issues would still exist, as they already do in holosuites and holodecks. Though the holosuites are commonly used to for exercise and relaxation, they do represent a possible privacy concern. Perhaps Quark programmed a holosuite for a romantic interlude with an imaginary version of Dax. To protect his privacy, Quark would keep the program on a “disk” or even delete it after every use. Still, disks can be stolen, disks can be copied, and any competent computer engineer could program the holosuite computer to save secret files of all deleted programs.

Another danger of holosuites is the distinct possibility that users could become so strongly attached to holocreated characters to threaten their mental health. Though rarely discussed, holosuites could cause major emotional or psychological problems for distraught or lonely individuals (Reg Barclay in “Hollow Pursuits,” TNG; Harry Kim in “Alter Ego,” VGR).

Still, if anything, the ship's computer as programmed in the twenty-fourth century is too protective of individual privacy. Though the
Enterprise
computer can pinpoint the location of any
individual on the ship, it doesn't unless specifically asked. (The same appears true of all Starfleet ship computers and the system on
Deep Space Nine
.) When Captain Picard is kidnapped from his quarters by Q, the computer doesn't alert the crew that he is missing (“Q Who?”
TNG
). This lack of concern seems to be carrying personal privacy to an extreme.

On the other hand, twenty-fourth century values are sure to be very different from ours. The people of the real twenty-fourth century may well have a fetish for privacy that we would view as irrational. Yet exactly what they consider private might seem very strange to us.

Communicator badges and sound recognition software aren't the only solutions to ship's security. A number of other identification systems are in development today that would work just as easily. Biometrics is the name given to the field of using a computer to verify an individual's identity based on unique biological traits. While biometric methods are based on human characteristics, it isn't a far leap to imagine that three centuries in the future, biometrics will have advanced to identify aliens as well as Terrans.

Security concerns continue to grow as crime and fraud grow increasingly sophisticated as we approach the twenty-first century. The United States government has established a focal point for biometric research called the Biometric Consortium. Over a hundred different high-tech companies are registered with the Consortium, each vying to develop a fool-proof method of determining a person's identity. Spain uses biometrics to identify people qualified for unemployment and medical benefits. In the United States, the immigration system and various hospitals use biometrics. Russia plans to use biometrics in its banking systems, and France and Germany plan to use biometrics on credit cards. Several countries are even using DNA as a biometric identification technique. Many countries plan to use these systems
for everything from social security and banking systems to election and polling control. The problems of security in the future that we've discussed in this chapter are already a major concern today.

The most common form of biometrics, and the one in use in secure installations throughout the world today is fingerprint recognition. The chance of two people having the same fingerprint is less than one in a billion. Biometric finger scanners merely require a person to place a finger onto a computer screen for a second. Surprisingly, the fingerprint is not analyzed by the whorls of the print (as seen in numerous police and FBI shows over the decades) but by a computerized picture of the finger comprised of tens of thousands of small dots mapping the skin. In a fairly short interval, this pattern can be compared to millions of fingerprints on file and ensure positive identification of the individual.

Of course, such a system isn't perfect. As suggested by more than one gruesome crime drama, fingerprint analysis doesn't work if the finger being analyzed isn't attached to the proper hand. Nor is there a national, much less world-wide fingerprint data bank available to determine wanted criminals. But because of its speed and low cost, biometric fingerprint identification has become commonplace in many banks and financial institutions.

A somewhat more sophisticated system used at institutions that require more rigid security (such as nuclear power plants, government laboratories, high-tech military installations) is the Biometric Handshape Recognition scanner. The name of the device makes clear its function. Individuals working at the installation put their hand inside a scanner and multiple cameras working in conjunction with an advanced computer program map a three-dimensional image of the hand. According to the developers of this technology, the exact shapes of hands differ and confirmation of an individual's identity is fool-proof. Of course,
the system only works when comparing the hand-print to those on file, and is relatively time consuming.

A third method of biometric identification is popular in James Bond films, European banks, and a few top-secret installations. It is iris prints, where an infra-red light scans a person's iris and matches the scan against a print on file. According to the Biometric Consortium, iris scans are more accurate than DNA tests. Unfortunately, most people object to having their eyes scanned by infra-red beams and this method of identification is costly and unpopular.

Perhaps the most promising system of biometric identification is facial recognition technology. NVisage from Neurodynamics uses a combination of cameras and computers to form a three-dimensional scan of a person's face that can be made in full light or complete darkness. This identification method is popular because of all the biometric techniques, it is the least intrusive and can be done without the person being aware of the action. In a future where computers and scanners will be built into the walls of a starship, facial recognition would be a natural method of maintaining security.

Another promising technique presently under development is bodynets—identification of the unique electric auras that surround people. Still in the basic developmental stages are ID chips planted in a person's hand that would automatically open doors and trigger proper security codes in research centers. Similar research is being done involving nanochips that would be injected into people's fingertips.