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Council, 2003; Wright, 2002). Some of them
are well-known and debated, like electro-shock
implements (Dermengiu et al., 2008; Institute
for Security Studies, 2016), sound weapons
(Davison, 2009a; Volcler, 2013) or chemical
riot control agents (Schep et al., 2015).
Others are less well-known, like thermal
lasers, radiofrequency or directed energy
devices (Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Direc-
torate, 2011; Risling, 2006; United States Air
Force Research Laboratory, 2002).
Specifically, one of the less known and
most expanding areas of technological devel-
opment in recent years is that of so-called Di-
rected Energy Weapons (DEW). These are based
on the use of different forms of distant energy
emission devices (laser, radiofrequency, mi-
crowave or other) directed against an individ-
ual or focused towards specific areas within
the human body (Davison, 2009b). As an in-
strument of coercion and torture, they can
be used from a certain distance and become
unaware to the victim. They also allow for con-
tinuously targeting a person. In the short term,
they cause thermal pain that can be unbearable
and in the medium and long-term, they can
potentially cause lesions in the skin or inter-
nal organs. There are also complex behavioural
effects, still under study (Davison, 2009b).
Nanotechnology and torture
Nanotechnology is the modern and rapidly
expanding field of medicine that applies the
use of nanoparticles (particles with a size of
less than 100 nanometres [nm]) for preven-
tive, therapeutic and diagnostic purposes. It
is based on the introduction of these particles
into the body through different transporters
New Non-Lethal Weapons with potential use as torture devices
Chemical weapons •Incapacitating agents (e.g. CS, CN, CR, OC) used as gases or sprays
•Chemicals that target neurotransmission receptors aiming to
produce anxiety, submissiveness or fatigue
•Chemicals that act as malodorant or produce nausea or vomiting
•Chemicals that produce temporary neurotoxic paralysis.
Electro-shock devices •All kinds of guns, projectiles, batons or belts.
Acoustic devices •White sound that produces irritability, insomnia and anxiety
•Low-frequency sound that causes headaches, disorientation and
nausea.
•Sound isolation devices – sound deprivation
•Sound saturation devices
Light devices •Strobe lights, dazzling lasers, flash binding lights that cause
disorientation and temporal blindness
Microwave generators •Increase water body temperature creating general or focused
burning sensations
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and directing them through the bloodstream
to specific targets in the human body. Nano-
technologies have applications in the fight
against degenerative neurological disease, in-
fectious processes and chemotherapy where
targeted actions are sought to increase efficacy
minimizing secondary effects. But in parallel,
for the last 20 years, the military industry has
also been researching its potential application
as a powerful tool in neurowarfare (Altmann,
2004). Nanomedicine as a non-invasive strat-
egy has enormous potential and enormous
dangers, and has yet to be specifically regu-
lated by an international treaty (Nixdorff et
al., 2018). Nanoparticles do not necessar-
ily require an injection site and can be ab-
sorbed via the skin or nasal passages. Just as
an example of its potential applications, some
programmes already allow for the permanent
tracking of the movements of animals, a tech-
nology quite close to the conspiracy-minded
ideas of many antivaccine groups.
Chemical weapons are thought of as prod-
ucts that can be deployed on a large scale in
war contexts, such as in the case of Agent
Orange gas in Vietnam (Verwey, 1977) or
White Phosphorus Bombs used in Gaza or
Syria (Crowley, 2016; Dando, 2015). This
being true, less well-known is the develop-
ment of chemicals linked to nanotechnologies.
A recent review has found a wide array of re-
search into aerosol-delivered toxins and neu-
ro-regulators (Nixdorff et al., 2018). Its use
has been reported in episodes of poisoning
with permanent neurological damage involv-
ing Russian dissidents over the last decade.
Also the use of oxytocin and other empathic
substances and their potential applications in
psychiatry and mental health are well known
(Lane et al., 2013; Leppanen et al., 2018) and
they have proposed as contemporary forms
of truth serum (Marks, 2010; Walsh, 2014),
something that, for now, is far from reality.
Neural implants
A neural implant is a device placed inside the
body that interacts with neurons. In the early
days these were electrodes implanted through
the cortex, but over time they have evolved
into microchips that require minimal surgery
for implantation and do not require external
power supplies. Neural implants have multi-
ple applications in medicine, especially related
to neurostimulation in motor and sensory
disorders, but also epilepsy, and they are in
early experimentation stage in depressive and
obsessive-compulsive disorders (Costa e Silva
& Steffen, 2017). This is a rapidly progress-
ing research area in which biochips and im-
plants are built in new and better materials
that produce no tissue rejection, incorporat-
ing nanotechnologies to diminish the size and
with more powerful software to control and
interact with the neural system (Dabbour et
al., 2021; Salari et al., 2022; Wan et al., 2021)
while, again, there is no international regu-
lation of its use (McGee & Maguire, 2007).
The most important concern regarding the
use of neuroimplants – not in the near future,
for now - is represented by the possibility of
controlling an individual’s mental functions
via wireless waves interacting with the electric
activity of the brain. From the perspective of
torture, it has been claimed that they could
be used in the future to manipulate memory
and emotions and to induce hallucinations
and psychotic-like symptoms, among many
other harmful effects (J. Illes & Hevia, 2021;
Krishnan, 2016; Leung et al., 2019).
Unveiling the brain: Accessing thoughts
and feelings
If anything resembles a future in which it
is possible to control the human mind, it is
through the hundreds of civil and military re-
search projects on Mind-Brain interfaces and
Remote Neural Monitoring. One step ahead of
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284 30 ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL ISSUE
SECTION III: PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE
neuroimplants, the aim of mind-brain inter-
faces is to impant devices that allow for wire-
less bi-directional communication between
the brain and the external world. Under the
coverage of medical projects, new generations
of ever more powerful cortical modems devel-
oped by the military industry1 are marketed
and already in use in pilot experimental sub-
jects. In its present basic form, they allow to
control orthopaedic systems with the mind,
but in their more advanced modalities, corti-
cal modems allow the user to ‘inject’ images
or sounds directly into their visual or auditory
cortex1,2 allowing blind people to partially
recover their sight or the brain damaged to
restore their ability to recall some memories3,
among other uses.
Different labs in Europe, Japan and the US
have also developed headsets and other extre-
nal devices that act as Brain-Computer Interfaces
y detecting and amplifying EEG signals, allow-
ing patients to communicate with researchers
and control external devices simply by imag-
ining the actions of their body parts (Bates,
2021), a technology that will have many poten-
tial benefits for patients suffering neurological
disorders. There are now on the market differ-
ent basic portable devices that monitor electric
brain activity4,5 and electromyography signals6
for no-touch game interfaces, emotional train-
ing and mindfulness practice, among others.
Different Thought-to-Text devices are already
available (Willett et al., 2021) and ready to
1 https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2015-01-19
2 https://www.sbir.gov/node/736761
3 https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/203718-
darpa-dreams-cortical-modems-and-neural-
ramplants-for-restoring-active-memory
4 https://www.bitbrain.com/neurotechnology-
products
5 https://www.mindtecstore.com/NeuroSky-
Brainwave-Starter-Kit-EEG-Headset
6 https://store.neurosky.com/
be marketed. If EEG waves can be amplified
to the point of being detected by an external
device without the need of a headset or exter-
nal electrodes -a possibility that will be real in
a short time -, in popular terms, mind-read-
ing and telepathy will be technologically pos-
sible (Brigham & Kumar, 2010; Vorontsova
et al., 2021).
Big data, security and surveillance in law
enforcement
This decade will undoubtedly be remem-
bered as the decade of Big Data. The exist-
ence of super-computers with the capacity to
process millions of data bytes in milliseconds
and to integrate and analyse almost instanta-
neously databases from very diverse sources
has opened the door not only to an unprec-
edented advertising invasion but also to the
integration of databases on human beings that
include and combine, for instance, biometric
data, activities, movements, expenditures and
opinions, among many other elements. Always
in the name of security and the fight against
terrorism, and pushed by the new Cold War
jargon, governments approve the existence of
databases with use restricted to military and
law-enforcement special units over which
there are few to any means of transparency or
control. Such databases, in the form of anti-
terrorist files of persons ‘under special sur-
veillance’, have always existed. The difference
is that the current databases aim to slowly
include all citizens, and they are transnational
in nature7. The citizen is confronted, once
again, with the need and duty to rely on the
good faith of institutions and governments.
Most of these data are in the hands of private
companies and police and military agencies
7 https://www.politico.eu/article/eu-pushes-to-link-
tracking-databases/
... The key problem for the research originated from the definition in threats in the context of ill-treatment and torture by Sales P [2], as a form of communication between perpetrator and victims that entails a message of coercion or punishment. With the digital extensions of the torture environment, the fundamental texts of the International Criminal Court (ICC) are seen to be the existing legal texts that outlined the framework against social Darwinist realities [3,4]. However, the cognitive element does not serve well for the torture victims' rehabilitation in the sociostructural environment of torture, where the jurisdiction of the ICC is limited and the only global entity having theoretical universal jurisdiction, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), originates from the de facto territorial controls of the entities that provide immunity indefinitely for the perpetrators. ...
Article
Full-text available
- Jul 2023
... Disinformation renews the definitions of terrorism. Terrorism has always been perceived as physical evidence, whereas cybercrimes as psychological harms [15]. Such case-based political and legal perceptions and definitions largely resulted from the ignorance on the mass psychological effects' detrimental harms to democratic decisions and democratic justice. ...
... The key problem for the research originated from the definition in threats in the context of ill-treatment and torture by Sales P [2], as a form of communication between perpetrator and victims that entails a message of coercion or punishment. With the digital extensions of the torture environment, the fundamental texts of the International Criminal Court (ICC) are seen to be the existing legal texts that outlined the framework against social Darwinist realities [3,4]. However, the cognitive element does not serve well for the torture victims' rehabilitation in the sociostructural environment of torture, where the jurisdiction of the ICC is limited and the only global entity having theoretical universal jurisdiction, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), originates from the de facto territorial controls of the entities that provide immunity indefinitely for the perpetrators. ...
Preprint
Full-text available
- Jun 2023
... Disinformation renews the definitions of terrorism. Terrorism has always been perceived as physical evidence, whereas cybercrimes as psychological harms [15]. Such case-based political and legal perceptions and definitions largely resulted from the ignorance on the mass psychological effects' detrimental harms to democratic decisions and democratic justice. ...
... The purpose of the article is to develop social understandings in the power-incentivized structuralized torture environment. Adopted an institutional rationale in categorization of the torturers' power positions, and further illustrated the technical engineering flowcharts behind the operations [8,9]. From the form of communication, put forth a descriptive definition with the organizational method of social engineering attack as a social engineering tool or a threat that causes a risk to cyber security [10]. ...
Article
Full-text available
- Apr 2023
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