Slashdot Mirror
Body Scanners for the London Underground
Ronald Dumsfeld writes "In a report in the TimesOnline, it is alleged that those lovely see-through-your-clothes scanners are to be installed in London's Tube stations. Part of the UK's Military-industrial complex, QinetiQ stands to make £150,000 to £2 million per station ($260,000 - $3.4 million) with their
Millimetre Wave Imagers."
WOOT! Hot nekkid ch1cks!1.
Not if you're sober.
What a load of shit! Fucking Americans... did your grandfather once sipped some Guiness and now you think it makes you qualified to comment on the Northern Ireland issue?
1. The "atrocities" (as you put it) in NI were covered in enormous detail by the British press.
2. The IRA didn't target buildings... they targeted civilians. They were terrorists
3. The IRA did not give warnings in "almost all cases."
4. "so it wasn't exactly big news when it happened." -- what fucking planet do you live on?
5. The IRA is not one organisation.
The fact is, most Americans know *nothing* about Northern Ireland and yet all seem to have a loudly voiced opinion on it. That's the reason legions of fat ignorant New York police officers (who think that Northern Ireland is somehow an "occupied territory" and the IRA are freedom fighters) kept raising money for the IRA to keep blowing up shopping centres full of men, women and children during peak shopping hours.
Before people start getting their knickers in a twist, they might want to remember that:
a) This story is being denied by the government and QinetiQ.
b) Tony Blair has specifically stated that he does NOT intend to bring in a raft of draconian laws and new surveillance powers.
Both of these were reported on the BBC.
Nearly 300 stations, including a couple of dozen where access to the tube system is gained by walking across the platform from another train service.
There are still dozens of stations where there's no ticket gate operating for half the day because the station's unstaffed.
The system can't be sealed around scanners, and if it can't be sealed, there's no point.
And if you try to get over half a billion sterling wasted like this past me and my fellow Londoners, we'll take you out back and beat you with a shovel.
direct copy of this comment
karma police: arrest this man, he talks in maths; he buzzes like a fridge, he's like a detuned radio. [radiohead]
A couple of months ago there was a big campaign in London to raise awareness of unattended packages. The slogan was something about don't take a chance, alert someone.
Around this time, I did see a suspect pacakge, and I called the police like a good shitizen. The full story is on my diary, but I'll give you the summary...
The police gave me such a hard time about calling them about the package that I swore then and there that I would never call them about anything again. I will get me and mine out of the way, and that's as far as it goes - civic responsibility be damned.
The woman on the other end of the line just kept asking why I thought the bag was suspicious, and I kept telling her that it was unattended, looked expensive and was out of place. Any two of these satisfied their stupid poster campiagn, but she even phoned be back to ask what made me think the bag was suspicious.
If the police want the public's help, then make it easy. If you've said call things like this in, then don't give me a hard time when I do.
Matter of fact, the Americans allowed IRA fundraising (they eventually outlawed them because their criminal activity was becoming an inconvenience).
Congress may have passed some sort of law against it for P.R. purposes, but the fundraising is still going on in the US.
This is just some dumb reporter trying to stir up trouble. Those machines will *never* be installed on the London underground: a) It's physically impossible. Anybody who's ever been there at rush hour will tell you this. b) There's kids in the crowd. Given the current anti-child-molester atmosphere this alone would be enough to stop it, but see point (a). c) People won't accept it. Period. Tube usage (especially female) would drop to zero. So forget it. It ain't gonna happen. Somebody somewhere may have "considered" it but it would be off the list in a few seconds flat.
No sig today...
With the truly conclusive research available as to the injurious effects of RF on human tissue I have to offer my experiences with RF from 20m to 70cm.
If you make contact with a radiator or counterpoise while a transmitter is operating you will suffer an RF induced burn.
Also ask those killed while servicing naval RADAR systems. Those are centimeter units running at significant power.
Now we have millimeter microwave being used to scan people. This will be used on a daily basis so exposure levels are sure to go up.
I wonder how long it will be before we know the true effects of concentrated RF on the body.
"You are aware a security company was conducting "exercises" on 7-7 in London simultaneously with the attacks? About bombs going off in the subway and on busses? At the *exact* same time the *exact* attack occurred in *exactly* the manner in which it happened? Reported on BBC audio, poofed away now." You realise that this is vastly over stated. The company ('Visor') are a DR / BC consultancy - they were conducting a DR rehearsal for a client (not London Underground, not the Metropolitan Poice, not Transport for London) based round the scenario of a terrorist attack targeting northern central London. DR rehearsals happen EVERYDAY. 'Visor' was acting on behalf of a company WHOLLY unrelated to ANY service affected on 7th July. The spokesman who made the comments obfuscated the actual story and played up the (non) coincidence and in return got his company name splashed around the press, tv and radio... The insinuation contained in the parent is unhelpful and distasteful.
Yes you were, and people did it all the time. You generally wouldn't see people with Bowie knives, but pocketknives and straight razors were common. I'm with the grandparent poster - flying is simply too much of a hassle now to be worth it for all except very long distance trips, and I don't believe we've had any measurable increase in real security.
Please stand clear of the doors, por favor mantenganse alejado de las puertas
No, he's saying that every dollar spent by the government is a dollar that could be spent elsewhere. If the UK or the USA took even a third of their terrorism money and put it towards building safer roads or more hospitals or training more police officers, they would save a hundredfold more lives.
By spending such a ridiculous amount on anti-terrorism, we are in fact giving the terrorists exactly what they want--we are allowing our *terror* to outweigh good our judgement and concern for human life.