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In German Trials, Airport Body Scanners Easily Confused
OverTheGeicoE writes "The German government just finished a 10-month test of millimeter-wave body scanners made by L3 Communications. It appears they are not happy with the results. The devices raise false alarms 7 times out of 10, and are confused by layered clothing, boots, zippers, pleats, and even incorrect posture. Australia recently started a trial, and the second person in at the Sydney airport set off the alarm repeatedly due to sweaty armpits."
sweaty armpits
Now you will never be able to deport Ballmer. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Contrary to the popular belief, there indeed is no God.
As far as I understand, the primary (and probably only) purpose of those scanners is to make their manufacturers a buttload of money. I think they're doing that perfectly fine, so it's definitely a success!
I guess the TSA uses scanners which show the actual scan. In Germany, the scanner's software identifies potential objects and marks them on a schematic picture, so you're not seen naked on the screen. Humans are better at interpreting patterns, and more importantly they learn. After the first few times they've seen sweaty armpits on the scan, they'll probably recognize them. If the software misinterprets sweaty armpits as hidden objects the first time, it will do so for every person until eventually the software gets an explicit update to not misidentify sweaty armpits.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
Given that the Americans are insisting that these scanners are used globally[1], at least the Germans are concerned with the health and privacy of their citizens.
[1] and you thought the TSA situation stinks - now Washington is bullying the EU into using them too. Citation? RTFA
The Euro/Aus scanners don't show the direct image. It is processed to separate the "normal" (clothes and body) from "abnormal" (weapons), and then displays the "abnormal" against a generic silhouette. The idea is that the scanners will be easier to introduce into countries with stronger privacy laws/culture than the US. However, it seems to be fooled by variations in bodies and clothing.
TSA systems have human operators interpret the images directly. They quickly get used to ghosting and artifacts and stop issuing false positives. However, tests (official and otherwise) show that they also fail to detect actual weapons.
Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.
I think the rate of actual terrorists is .000000001%, so essentially all positives are false positives.
The determined Real Programmer can write Fortran programs in any language.