Full body scanners coming to an aiport near you
posted Nov 25th 2005 12:15PM
Looks like US airports are about to get a taste of those
total-body scanners we last saw in London's Heathrow.
Fortunately (we think!), instead of using retina boiling X-Rays, a company called SafeView will take advantage of that
Milimeter Wave technology we told you about earlier in
the year allowing for a full 3D view of everything (yes everything) concealed 'neath your duds. Now don't fret Doris,
the technology also allows your happy-places to be blurred keeping you safe from ogling, bored security pervs. The scan
takes about 1.5 seconds and requires you to stand still inside a chamber like that pictured to the right. While the
technology is said to replace pat-downs, it can not see inside your, uh, cavities so you've still got that going for ya
thrill seekers.
[Via primidi]
"..the technology also allows your happy-places to be blurred keeping you safe from ogling, bored security pervs.."
and henceforth the dawn of exploding underpants terrorism was ushered in
is that a stick of dynamite in your pants or...
This is going to really make the terrorists think harder about how they're going to smuggle in all those plastic guns that have been banned (but not yet actually invented). The body cavity will be the only way "in," so to speak.
Perhaps someone will invent the 'terroristic thought' detector instead of the 'prohibited item' detector. Walk into the scanning booth, it scans your brain using functional MRI and advanced open-source AI algorithms for any destructive *thoughts* you might be thinking.
Anyone having any destructive thoughts will be instantly stunned with an electric shock, and rendered helpless while government agents tie you up with nylon cuffs and transport you to your own little corner of Cuba never to be seen or heard from ever again.
George Orwell had it wrong. His novel 1984 did not go far enough. I advise all citizens to boycott the airlines totally, and to arm yourselves against the tyranny that surely is at this very minute descending upon us all.
George Orwell had it wrong. His novel 1984 did not go far enough. I advise all citizens to boycott the airlines totally, and to arm yourselves against the tyranny that surely is at this very minute descending upon us all.
Just wait 'til they're able to tie this is with one's complete posting history on the internet! That's when it gets REALLY scary. ;)
My fiance had a Seven Year Itch Marilyn Monroe experience at the Tampa Airport. They are testing these clear enclosed vestibules that shoot air up from the ground sniffing for explosive traces on top of the typical metal detector stuff I guess. She said she was 'locked' into the chamber and wasn't informed to hold her clothing down. Also the lines were slow because it taks about 25 seconds for each passenger to go through the thing.
They are using the similar air puffing device at SFO. Looks like it is manufactured by GE: http://www.sfexaminer.com/articles/2005/04/15/news/20050415_ne02_explosive.txt
So can I get a camera with this "Millimeter Wave" technology... and .... um.... you know =)
Hey, I saw this on the shopping mall in NJ several month ago!!!
It provides a free service for shoppers, to tell you the perfect size of several retail stores! Like, someone is fit for Size M for Retail A, but Size S for Retail B, etc.
I think it's the same one...
All this worry about goods being safe from prying eyes. Heck...if it keeps peeps from putting their grubby digits all over me they can screen cap whatever they want from the neck down and post it on the net for all I care...(but I'm not an attractive woman, so I'm not a likely target...).
As for the '1984' comments, scary stuff indeed. I mean even it it actually WORKS and they can see if you are planning to hijack a plane or blow up an airport with any degree of accuracy...think of what this means for US. The geek-fringe element ! I mean what geek worth his/her silicon (and for tha matter what engadget poster) hasn't chuckled when going through the security checks at airports and spent the next few minutes idley musing about how he/or she would go about defeating the security measures ? It's a geek reflex I'm telling you. But if it were suddenly displayed on an FP in technicolor it might not look so innocent...
"Think about it..." - Falling Down
It sorta resembles the Orgasmatron from the movie "Sleeper."
I had to go through the explosive detecting "phonebooth" at DFW last month... But they seemed to be picking every Nth person, not everybody had to go through it.
Oh man, I'm not getting in this thing if there's even any chance of there being a fly in the chamber... or Dr Who for that matter.
Hehe, thrill seekers, well, there are ways to hide the unique scent of explosives, I would imagine there are other far more lethal weapons than plastic guns, all sorts of things, that could be shoved in the @*# to hide, you just have to ask yourself, how Kinky can a terrorist possibly be?
No, no, in all seriousness, I'd say we'd be more secure with these around, even though it's intrusive, add another layer, employ a special-service-esque group of people in airports, trained to identify signs of a trouble maker and all that great jive.
yeah let's keep giving up more an more rights in the name of freedom until we no longer truly free. Well not like we really are anyway.
I do agree that we need some creative methods to keep us safe. But where is the limit?! What's next? Since traveling is increasingly becoming a pain, then I think those "terrorists" have somehow succeeded... They are making our lives uncomfortable by the day, with the screenings, and the cameras, and "threats"...
I think all these measures are just another way of making us all feel more scared (cuddled under the government's wings) rather than safe.
It will be interesting to learn whether current government bigwigs (Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Rove, etc.) will have to submit to scans when they become civilians in a few years and begin flying commercially. I picture Rumsfeld "assuming da position" while an airport screener waves the wand around him - or, perhaps Condi stepping into the wind booth.