Slashdot Mirror
Inside a Full-Body-Scanning X-Ray Van
Velcroman1 writes "In August, Slashdotters learned that full-body scanners were roaming the streets in vans: 'The same technology used at airport check points, capable of seeing through clothes and walls, has also been rolling out on US streets where law enforcement agencies have deployed the vans to search for vehicle-based bombs. Fox took a ride in one of the $800,000 vans, videotaping the entire event — and continues the debate about security, privacy, and health risks."
Come on, tell me, what's the real purpose of this stuff? 8 million flights without a successful terrorist attack since 9/11. All attempts either simply failed or were prevented using pre-9/11 technology, yet we still get these naked body scanners.
Now we also need them roaming the streets? "Hey Joe, hottie on your six, make a turn and flip the switch boy, let's see what she's got!". Anything else doesn't come near a justification.
Fox took a ride in one of the $800,000 vans, videotaping the entire event -- and continues the debate about security, privacy, and health risks.
The Government's new definition of debate: you keep talking amongst yourselves, we'll keep implementing.
Look where all this talking got us, baby.
AS&E says the system is safe for operators and subjects, and that "one scan of the ZBV is equivalent to flying in an airplane at altitude for two minutes."
and my general understanding is even if you were exposed to a dosage from one of these machines, it would be equivalent to a chest x-ray or less," McCabe told FoxNews.com.
The above two are not the same. Assuming normal airline altitudes, it takes hours of flying to get the equivalent radiation dose of a chest x-ray.
"It was a secondary screening mechanism for trucks going into a loading dock
So if your job requires you to drive a truck into the loading dock every day, it better be much lower than "chest x ray" levels.
Some related discussion here: http://ask.metafilter.com/142917/Cumulative-backscatter-Xray-risk
I'm gonna start carrying a mannequin in the trunk of my car.
Speaking of unreasonable searches. IANAM (I am not an American) and IANAL but wouldn't the ruling of Kyllo v. United States apply here? That case concerned infrared, not x-ray, technology, but it applied to surveillance of a house with technology that doesn't require the user to enter a house. The ruling also mentioned that the device used was not available to the public - same as these backscatter vans.
As such, could a lawyer explain how the use of these vans, at least pertaining to "viewing" homes, is not illegal per Kyllo v. United States?
Why is this not considered an illegal search? How can the government get away with just x-raying people now?
I smoked pot once. But I DID NOT inhale. Will you hire me?
This blurb in the article basically says it all...
While many dismiss / marginalize the threat of the drug war on people's freedoms, it's happening nevertheless. For example, there was a time when local police busting down doors was virtually unheard of - now it's common practice in all sorts of situations. Another is that people are now subjected to all sorts of demands, such providing government id / signing a form, to buy over-the-counter cough medicine. All in the name of the drug war - which is really a war against citizens.
For anyone who believes use of such technology to search people / private property will be ruled unconstitutional, think again - drug sniffing dogs are often allowed to search one's private property, such as one's vehicle, that's accessible from the street despite no "contraband" being in plain view.
One can practically count on such vans roaming the streets all throughout the U.S. in the near future "for your protection", but of course, much of the time, that won't be the real motivation.
Ron
In totally unrelated news, statistics show that tall, slender and well endowed women are more prone to being terrorists, not young middle-eastern bearded men.
~Syberz
You really believe either of the two parties in power in the US gives a shit about you and your individual rights? Obama is just as bad as Bush was, and Clinton and Bush before them.
The reason why people haven't burned DC down is because 90+% vote for those two parties, thinking that they are different. They are just two sides of the same coin. If you vote, and vote for "change" and yet vote for one of the two parties, and you deserve to get what you get, more of the same.
Libertarians are outraged, but we're also marginalized to meaninglessness. Nobody cares, and that is why DC still stands.
Agent K: A *person* is smart. People are dumb, stupid, panicky animals, and you know it.
Ever heard of Alberto Gonzales? Look hard enough, and you can get a yes-man who will sign off on anything.
That guy would have stripped any and all provisions in the constitution under the provision of "we're allowed to because we say so".
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
I
Am
Not
A
Merkin
We have a non-American citing U.S. Supreme Court cases while many Americans would wonder whether that show comes on before or after Judge Judy... *sigh*
Two of my imaginary friends reproduced once
What really pisses people off is not the bias of Fox. CNN, MSNBC, Fox, ABC, CBS all are biased. The real problem about Fox is that people watch it. No one watches the others.
Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
Reporters and news operation executives are NEARLY unanimous in contributing to Ds and not to Rs. >80% typically. (Plenty of documentation on that is available, thanks to campaign finance reporting laws.)
You appear to be confused. The OP was discussing the organization itself (that is, who ultimately controls things), not the private citizens employed by the organization. You then quoted statistics about private citizens giving.
If you can't see the difference, consider what it would mean to an employee that the organization that signs their paycheck, and determines whether they'll be employed tomorrow, is invested in one party winning over the other.
You're comparing apples and oranges.
"Hey, what happened to our backscatter van?"
"Well, we drove by a container full of parabolic satellite dishes, and our input stages were fried."
It's a dream I have...
Everybody gets what the majority deserves.