Our Transportation Security Administration here in the States has purchased 12 specialized scanners from QinetiQ of Britain. QinetiQ's hardware is reportedly able to rapidly scan a moving crowd to spot concealed weapons and explosives. We're not quite sure how it works, but it wouldn't be as sluggish as using x-rays to scan instead.
But just how much does the technology allow authorities to see? It may seem modest, but if I want to keep the fact that I wear Scooby Doo underwear a secret, that's my prerogative. The technology has already been tested, apparently without protest, at the Staten Island ferry terminal and at Pier 90, both in New York City, so maybe it's not all bad.
Still, tomorrow's headline: lead underwear becoming fashionable.
Times Online, via The Raw Feed
editor@dvice.com
By Cory at 4:31 PM ON 01/15/08
It's sad really. This is the time we live in. More and more "security measures" are being used to "protect us" and I don't feel any more secure. I feel less secure. I feel like I am guilty of something every time I fly. So I no longer fly.
I wonder if one day I will be subjected to things like this while walking/driving down the street.
Where can I opt out of your bullshit conflicts and your bullshit security measures?
By tucek at 6:08 PM ON 01/16/08
"We're not quite sure how it works" - looks like a tera hertz scanner technology to me...
By dungeonrat at 3:05 AM ON 06/02/08
As the "tired old" saying goes; if you've got nothing to hide, then you've got even less to worry about. I'm sorry for those of you who don't fly any more, but unfortuneately the world as we knew it has changed; and not for the better. The reality is that in order to try to keep all of us safe from those who would kill us because we don't pray to Allha five times a day, government is going to become ever more intrusive in our everyday lives. Personally I don't like that any more than the next person, thats a simple fact of life these days. So grow up and get used to it. The constitution guarentees life, liberty, and the persuit of happiness; not privacy!
By Dumb struck at 5:06 PM ON 07/18/08
This is to give dungeonrat something to think about.
Those that are willing to give up their liberty for security desirve neither. Paraphrased from Thomas Jefferson.