Posted on 08/26/2010 10:44:09 AM PDT by Neil E. Wright
Already thought those full body scanners at the airports were a bit much when it came to privacy? How about having government officials sitting in a van next to you scanning your car as you drive by with the same basic technology, without you even knowing about it? Jay points us to the news that a version of the same backscatter x-ray scanner technology found in airports has also been sold to the US and other governments to mount on vans to scan nearby vehicles to see what's inside. Apparently, the company has sold 500 of these already. Many of them are used in war zones to scan for things like car bombs, but apparently some of them are in use in the US, letting them see views such as the following on nearby vehicles:
"Liberal" politicians don't look at George Orwell's "1984" as a warning, they look at it as an instruction manual. ---- Jim Quinn
I’m grateful that FR is one place I won’t see “If it prevents one crime/saves one life/stops the spread of a disease it’s worth it” posts when it comes to these sort of high jinks.
To the extent these are used in war zones ... sounds like a good idea.
To the extent they are used in the United States, you’d better have a warrant or probable cause. This isn’t the same thing as law enforcement looking in a car window (which is legal). This is an invasive search.
SnakeDoc
Besides the obvious invasion of privacy issue here, what is the potential health threat to the public if this is happening?
Do such legal safeguards exist at our borders?
I have no problem with the US Gov’t using this technology in a ‘no man’s land’ area between Mexico and the USA.
Exactly! Do we need to wear dosimeters now? Or more importantly, lead-lined codpieces?
Oh, you’ll see it - just not from conservatives and libertarians.
Yup, scott beat me to it.
It appears to be the microwave based technology. The radio-activity you are thinking about (X-rays) would require a emitter on the other side of the subject.
This simply looks through the first couple layers of the subject. Depending upon the energy behind the waves, these are no more harmful than your cell phone, calculator, laptop, PC, FM radio or high voltage transmission lines that criss-cross our country delivering power to every home in the USA.
True enough. This seems like it would be a reasonable immigration and customs enforcement technology ... where a pre-entry vehicle search should be expected.
SnakeDoc
About a month ago I was on highway 52 just south of St. Paul MN, when I saw two brand new vehicles parked in the median parallel to traffic. One was a small truck and the other was a Suburban. Both had Department of Homeland Security markings on them. I wandered why homeland security vehicles were parked in the median of a major highway. After reading this article, I wander if it was one of these X-ray vehicles.
Countermeasures, anyone? Enough is enough.
in before the statists, but they'll be here.
True enough. This seems like it would be a reasonable immigration and customs enforcement technology ... where a pre-entry vehicle search should be expected.Yup. That's where it belongs. On the border. (Or with a warrant.)
turn it up a few rads and you have instant sterilization guns.
hmmm which country though of using radiation x-rays as a means of covert sterilization....somthing in the 1930’s.
There were all sorts of white, unmarked, probably Homeland Insecurity vans in 2006, watching the Minutemen. You heard that right, not the alien criminals but the watchers watching them. There were all sorts of rumors then (I have no hard evidence though it probably exists, some took photos) about the spy technology being used on us. They sure had a lot of antennas coming out of their cars. And mind you, this was in the middle of nowhere, so pretty easy to spot. Also, the ACLU was out there at the ranches, photographing us as we came and went.
They one-world government is acclimating us to being watched at all times, we are in the police state already, especially here in the Southwest.
They NEVER use that technology, not even red light cameras (which I oppose also because they mainly catch innocent yellow light turners, no, not me because I avoid the intersections) on foreign nationals.
It wouldn’t be sensitive and “we” want to encourage criminals but make the law-abiding citizens paranoid and frightened.
“We” even set aside federal lands for the invaders now, where they can freely set fires, hunt wildlife, leave tons of trash, defecate in streams, etc. We Americans must pay for the privilege of entering these areas, if they even remain open to us. And are harassed endlessly for various permits. Not to mention prison time if we start a forest fire.
All your privacy are belong to us.
>>Besides the obvious invasion of privacy issue here, what is the potential health threat to the public if this is happening?<<
Can’t agree with you more. We already know that these full-body scanners increase the risk of cancer, but yet, the youtube video on this touts it as a wonderful safety measure. Things seem to be getting more Orwellian as each year passes by.
>>I have no problem with the US Gov’t using this technology in a ‘no man’s land’ area between Mexico and the USA.<<
Yeah, that’s the place to be driving around with these vans, not just down random streets like they showed in the youtube video.
Were they large white van/truck looking things? If they were, then that was them. Have you seen the youtube video on them? Pretty creepy.
Ditto!
“To the extent they are used in the United States, you?d better have a warrant or probable cause. This isn?t the same thing as law enforcement looking in a car window (which is legal). This is an invasive search.”
Yep. This isn’t plain view and violates reasonable expectation of privacy.
“All your privacy are belong to us.”
Hugh invasion of privacy! This is series.
The old saw applies, “if you don’t have anything to hide, why fret”.
Sounds very useful near border areas, high crime districts, and undercover surveillance operations......
Not to mention a little peekaboo inside someone’s domicile.
The Surveillance State advances a little more.
HOA’s and certain communities could even enforce diktats and ordnances on the use of certain materials like alcohol and tobacco inside one’s not so private property.
The Nannyists smile.
No, I based it on this from the excerpt: "the same backscatter x-ray scanner technology ..." and that doesn't sound like microwaves. I think you are thinking of the naughty-bits scanner for people and this is the technology for luggage and other inanimate objects. After all, we're not talking about a few layers of clothing but rather vehicle and truck bodies. I believe the backscatter sensing is what lets the emitter be in front and the receiver is reading reflections.
Indeed.
I dare them to bring a case to trial based on evidence from one of these rigs.
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
The backscatter would also show solid elements on the emitter side of the truck - these seem to simply be front-side and only reach ‘into’ the truck about a foot or so.
Randomly backscattering X-rays in this fashion would destroy sensitive equipment (computers, hard drives), cause severe problems for the operators of the equipment, and the other problem is ‘focus’.
Whereas by increasing the microwave amplitude, you can either opt to go through a few layers of cotton/rayon/linen/polyester or bump it up a bit and go through brick, layers of metal, glass and cement.
If you are thinking of seeing the ‘reflection’ and intereprating the density based upon that - I can agree - but this would not work with radioactivity. Microwaves would work - and the airports demonstate this works on a daily basis. Same principle, higher amplitude or different frequency or a mix of both.
However, there were posts that came out of the corners of the back of the truck so that the truck could be leveled. There were also air conditioning boxes on the back section (above the cab?). It reminded me of a commercial version of a military command truck.
What really caught my eye was that this truck was between the north and southbound lanes of the highway and leveling posts were deployed so it was fulfilling it's purpose there.
I heard about this yesterday. I guess tinfoil won't be a countermeasure for this tech.
Right, but.... What if the feds decide to drive around looking for guns in your home?
Airport Scanner Technology Mounted On US Gov't Vans To Scan What's In Nearby Vehicles
(It was sarcasm)
I live in Texas, everyone has guns in thier home, car, etc. and it is all legal.
I liev in Texas too. I am in the Conservative area of Travis county. Most of my neighbor know I have guns and they do as well.
Heck, I clean my guns in the garage. I had a local cop stop by one day and he was impressed with my “collection” of weapons.
You can be sure that he made a permanent note next to your address about your collection.
On the border crossings this sort of thing would be fantastic. At the border there is no 4th amendment. But of course using this sort of thing anywhere else should require a warrant, or some other sort of court order.
Where this would also save a lot of time and stress is on those occasions when there’s some “suspicious vehicle” left parked somewhere it shouldn’t be, like a big Ryder truck left parked in front of a Federal building. Send in one of these trucks to immediately, and non-invasively, find out whether the truck is full of office supplies, or drums of ANFO.
He know me personally anyway. He invited me to go to their practice range, if I didn’t have a place to shoot. He is a “cool cop” and also ex military.
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