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Rapiscan's Backscatter Machines May End Up In US Federal Buildings
McGruber writes "The Federal Times, a weekly print newspaper published by Gamnett Government Media Corp, is reporting that the Rapiscan Systems 'backscatter' passenger screening machines used by the U.S. Transportation Security Administration will likely be redeployed to federal buildings. Rapiscan System's backscatter machines have exposed passengers to radiation since they were first installed. As previously reported on Slashdot, TSA decided last month to stop using the machines because the manufacturer was unable to make changes to the machines that were mandated by Congress. Now TSA is attempting to sucker another federal agency into taking the nude-o-scopes."
What better place for people to exposed to needless cancer risk from ionizing radiation concentrated just below the surface of their skin than the place that voted for this?
=~ s,(.*),<sarcasm>$1</sarcasm>,g if any_point_you_wish();
You continue to fly.
You continue to work under unacceptable conditions.
Strike or suffer.
ruoy4bni
They would be great for checking the freshness of avocados. And maybe they can be used to irradiate the meat you buy.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
What a fucking waste of money
So is it Rapiscan as in "add" or Rapiscan as in "ape"?
(should have tried with cyanide gas first)
Questions raise, answers kill. Raise questions to stay alive.
Has there been some new threat to federal buildings that bypasses already existing metal detectors and x-ray conveyors such that the privacy and health of civil employees and visitors need be compromised? Or, are we trying to make sure the manufacturers' profits stay up?
Put one each doorway in all of the NSA buildings.
I occasionally fly out of Hartford/Sringfield (BDL) and they used to have these GE bomb sniffers & metal dectors. Which I don't think many would object to - metal detector and just something to sense explosives - that's pretty much all we really need.
Anyway, they were removed for these Rapidscans. I asked the TSA guy while he was feeling me up (I opt out ALWAYS when I see a Rapidscan) about those GE machines and commented how I MUCH prefered them.
He said, "They were a maintenance nightmare. So we got rid of them."
Now the Rapidscans are sitting there doing nothing.
So, while the sheep are so terrified of the extremely unlikely event of another 9/11 (the new cockpit doors eliiminated that threat), we will keep spending money on SHIT produced by companies that are well connected to Congress - maybe GE should have hired Chertoff.
Of course, the sheep will jump in their cars, speed around and tailgate, eat their junk food, and gain ever more weight. And while they are on their deathbeds, dieing form heart disease or from other complications from obesity or carcinogens while their savings are wiped away and collectors come after them for their healthcare bills (insurance never covers it all), they can be rest assured that they did not die a quick death from a terrorist.
Microsoft Kinect Spy System
THIS ARTICLE IS BEING SCRUBBED FROM THE NET. THE SITE IT WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED TO YANKED THE PLUG ON THEIR WHOLE SITE!!! COPY/PASTE THIS ARTICLE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE TO DISCUSSION FORUMS, BLOGS, FACEBOOK, TWITTER, AND ARCHIVE AND MIRROR THIS DOCUMENT SO IT DOES NOT VANISH FOREVER!
"So you just got the Kinect/Xbox360 gaming system and you're having fun, hanging out in your underwear, plopped down in your favorite lounge chair, and playing games with your buddies. Yeah, it's great to have a microphone and camera in your game system so you can "Kinect" to your pals while you play, but did you read that Terms of Service Agreement that came with your Kinect thingy? No? Here, let me point out an important part of that service agreement.
If you accept the agreement, you "expressly authorize and consent to us accessing or disclosing information about you, including the content of your communications, in order to: (a) comply with the law or respond to lawful requests or legal process; (b) protect the rights or property of Microsoft, our partners, or our customers, including the enforcement of our agreements or policies governing your use of the Service; or (c) act on a good faith belief that such access or disclosure is necessary to protect the personal safety of Microsoft employees, customers, or the public."
Did you catch that? Here, let me print the important part in really big letters.
"If you accept the agreement, you expressly authorize and consent to us accessing or disclosing information about you, including the content of your communications⦠on a good faith belief that such access or disclosure is necessary to protect the personal safety of Microsoft employees, customers, or the public."
OK, is that clear enough for ya? When you use the Kinect system, you agree to allow Microsoft (and any branch of law enforcement or government they care to share information with) to use your Kinect system to spy on you. Maybe run that facial recognition software to check you out, listen to your conversations, and keep track of who you are communicating with.
I know this is probably old news to some, but I thought I would mention it because it pertains to almost all of these home game systems that are interactive. You have to remember, the camera and microphone contained in your game system have the ability to be hacked by anyone the game company gives that ability to, and that includes government snoops and law enforcement agents.
Hey, it's MICROSOFT. What did you expect?
And the same concerns apply to all interactive game systems. Just something to think about if you're having a "Naked Wii party" or doing something illegal while you're gaming with your buddies. Or maybe you say something suspicious and it triggers the DHS software to start tracking your every word. Hey, this is not paranoia. It's spelled out for you, right there in that Service Agreement. Read it! Here's one more part of the agreement you should be aware of.
"You should not expect any level of privacy concerning your use of the live communication features (for example, voice chat, video and communications in live-hosted gameplay sessions) offered through the Service."
Did you catch it that time? YOU SHOULD NOT EXPECT ANY LEVEL OF PRIVACY concerning your voice chat and video features on your Kinect box."
###
"Listen up, you ignorant sheep. Your government is spending more money than ever to spy on its own citizens. That's YOU, my friend. And if you're one of these people who say, "Well I ain't ever done nothing wrong so why should I worry about it?' - you are dead wrong. Our civil liberties are being taken away faster than you can spit. The NSA is working away on its new "First Intelligence Community Comprehensive National Cyber-security Initiative Data Center' to keep track of every last one of us. This thing will be the size of 17 football stadiums. One million square feet, all to be fille
Archived @:
http://slexy.org/view/s21UWKzafS
http://hpaste.org/79175
https://paste.debian.net/plain/216145
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The hum that helps to fight crime (ENF) Electrical Network Frequency analysis
"For the last seven years, at the Metropolitan Police forensic lab in south London, audio specialists have been continuously recording the sound of mains electricity.
It is an all pervasive hum that we normally cannot hear. But boost it a little, and a metallic and not very pleasant buzz fills the air. ...
"The power is sent out over the national grid to factories, shops and of course our homes. Normally this frequency, known as the mains frequency, is about 50Hz," explains Dr Alan Cooper, a senior digital forensic practitioner at the Met Police.
Any digital recording made anywhere near an electrical power source, be it plug socket, light or pylon, will pick up this noise and it will be embedded throughout the audio.
This buzz is an annoyance for sound engineers trying to make the highest quality recordings. But for forensic experts, it has turned out to be an invaluable tool in the fight against crime.
While the frequency of the electricity supplied by the national grid is about 50Hz, if you look at it over time, you can see minute fluctuations. ...
Comparing the unique pattern of the frequencies on an audio recording with a database that has been logging these changes for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year provides a digital watermark: a date and time stamp on the recording.
Philip Harrison, from JP French Associates, another forensic audio laboratory that has been logging the hum for several years, says: "Even if [the hum] is picked up at a very low level that you cannot hear, we can extract this information."
It is a technique known as Electric Network Frequency (ENF) analysis, and it is helping forensic scientists to separate genuine, unedited recordings from those that have been tampered with."
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20629671
- http://cryptogon.com/?p=32789
#
Met lab claims 'biggest breakthrough since Watergate'
Power lines act as police informers
- http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06/01/enf_met_police/
#
Noisy, muffled, incoherent recordings are an audio engineerâ(TM)s worst nightmare, but all too often they contain vital evidence in criminal trials. Itâ(TM)s the job of the forensic audio specialist to extract that evidence.
- http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jan10/articles/forensics.htm
#
(discussion forum) Electrical network frequency analysis, Mains frequency variations detectable in digital audio recordings?
- http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=81346
#
Met Police use electrical 'hum' to solve crimes
The Metropolitan Police is using the "hum" of background noise produced by mains electricity to help solve crimes, it has been disclosed.
- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9739037/Met-Police-use-electrical-hum-to-solve-crimes.html
#
Related Research
- http://www.ece.umd.edu/~ravig/Research.html
#
Engineers Use Electrical Hum To Fight Crime
- http://science.slashdot.org/story/12/12/12/1331243/engine
TEMPEST Attacks! LCD Monitor leaks system noise to FRS
This post is one example of why Tor developers should focus on anti-TEMPEST-ing the Tor Browser, in color, fonts, etc.
===
I don't operate any wireless equipment at my living location. This includes computers, computer equipment, routers, non-computer equipment, etc.
I'm having a problem with one of my LCD monitors.
It works without problems. That was until I picked up some heavy static noises from a hand held radio. I eliminated all sources of generating this type of noise until I came towards an LCD monitor. When the monitor is on and there is content on the screen the radio makes several types of garbage(static) sounds. As I manipulate contents on the screen, maximize and minimize windows, open different applications, the radio responds with scratchy(static) noises to match the activity on the screen. This includes typing and mouse movement.
When I switched the desktop background to a solid black color without wallpaper, the radio noise went down to almost nothing. But when I loaded any program with a white background, the noise from the radio exploded in volume.
When I passed the radio across different computer and non-computer electronic devices other than the LCD monitor, the wired mouse made a high pitched squeal sound within the static. None of the other computing devices such as the tower generated any noise.
I tried CRT monitors and separate computers attached to the CRT monitors but they did not generate any noise in the radio. On the computer connected to the net, I unplugged the cable leading to the router to rule this out but it made no difference, the LCD monitor is at fault.
While monitoring the radio noise, there were several instances where the noise on the channel being monitored stopped, and I switched to another channel and the same noise appeared. Why would the noise from the LCD switch channels during normal use of the LCD? Back and forth throughout the day the noise generated by the LCD would switch from one channel to the next and back to the first channel again.
The noise extends several steps within my living location. I'll test this another day to determine if it extends outside my living location and if so by how many feet.
The computer/monitor are grounded and attached to a surge protector. I'm not sure what I need to do to stop this, or if I should ignore it.
I assumed LCDs would be quieter than CRTs when it came to noise.
Unless I have a radio tuned to a specific channel, the LCD does not generate any noise which I can detect, unless it's above my hearing capacity.
The LCD monitor also functions as speakers, and while the sound cable is connected to the tower, I have disabled the onboard sound in my BIOS. The only other connection is the DVI cable to the tower.
How may I decrease this noise or eliminate it? It seems like the LCD is a mini radio station. When I turn it off the noise in the radio stops, if I blacken the screen the noise lessens. When I switch to a colorful background or load white screened applications like a web browser the noise jumps up loudly. I've tried grabbing and moving a browser window around the screen and the movement matches the noises in the radio.
Would any of this be considered normal?
==-
This certainly isn't unheard of, it's because some part of the monitor is unshielded. The more fix-it stuff is at the top of the following, with the technical backdrop that just might be good to know is at the bottom.
Unfortunately, the issue is most likely the panel charging the LCs. The only thing you can do is see if the manufacturer will replace it or upgrade you. Complain to the manufacturer, be sure to come up with some important thing it's interfering with(if I recall some medical devices use some sort of radio).
If the issue is actually internal wiring which is highly unlikely as detailed below, and it isn't in warranty, attempt to shield it yourself. To shield it yourself, you'll need thin foil(not kitc
50 Million Potentially Vulnerable to UPnP Flaws - January 2013 Articles and Downloads
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Multi-Article Document:
Part 1 - Article: 50 Million Potentially Vulnerable to UPnP Flaws
Part 2 - Article: Security Flaws in Universal Plug and Play: Unplug, Don't Play
Part 3 - Router Scan: Universal Plug and Play - Router Security Check
Part 4 - Download: ScanNow for Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) | For Windows
Part 5 - PDF: Whitepaper: Security Flaws in Universal Plug and Play: Unplug, Don't Play.
Part 6 - Article: Millions of devices vulnerable via UPnP
Part 7 - Article and Discussion: 50 Million Potentially Vulnerable To UPnP Flaws
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Translate this collection (does not include software download(s) and PDF(s): http://translate.google.com/
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COPYRIGHT: The New Zealand Copyright Act 1994 specifies certain circumstances where all or a substantial part of a copyright work may be used
without the copyright owner's permission. A "fair dealing" with copyright material does not infringe copyright if it is for the following
purposes: research or private study; criticism or review; or reporting current events.
###
This Multi-Article Document Has Been Mirrored At The Following Sites (RAW = text):
http://hpaste.org/81561 (RAW: http://hpaste.org/raw/81561)
http://kpaste.net/66c9a3
http://oxynux.org/pastebin/n3rae9-1874
http://pastebin.com/XHkXHfuF (RAW: http://pastebin.com/raw.php?i=XHkXHfuF)
http://paste.blixt.org/9819498
http://paste.lisp.org/display/135035 (RAW: http://paste.lisp.org/display/135035/raw)
http://paste.yt/p2605.html (RAW: http://paste.yt/P2605.txt)
http://slexy.org/view/s2r3Si2W3C
https://paste.debian.net/230670/
http://www.inetpro.org/pastebin/11699 (RAW: http://www.inetpro.org/pastebin/11699/view/raw)
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(Part 1): 50 Million Potentially Vulnerable to UPnP Flaws
by Brian Donohue | January 29, 2013, 1:15PM
https://threatpost.com/en_us/blogs/50-million-potentially-vulnerable-upnp-flaws-012913
"In a project that found more than 80 million unique IP addresses responding to Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) discovery requests, researchers at Rapid7 were shocked to find that somewhere between 40 and 50 million of those are vulnerable to at least one of three known attacks.
A Rapid7 white paper enumerated UPnP-exposed systems connected to the Internet and identified the number of vulnerabilities present in common configurations. Researchers found that more than 6,900 product models produced by 1,500 different vendors contained at least one known vulnerability, with 23 million systems housing the same remote code execution flaw.
Between June 1 and Nov. 17, 2012, Rapid7 conducted weekly scans that sent simple service discovery protocUPnPol (SSDP) requests to each routable IPv4 address. In all, 2.2 percent of all public IPv4 addresses responded to the standard UPnP discovery requests. So, 81 million unique IP addresses responded and, upon deeper probing, researchers determined some 17 million further systems exposed the UPnP simple object access protocol (SOAP). This level of exposure was far higher than researchers had expected, according to
"Everything we see has some hidden message. A lot of awful messages are coming in under the radar - subliminal consumer messages, all kinds of politically incorrect messages..." - Harold Ramis
"RFID in School Shirts must be trial run"
The trial runs began a LONG time ago!
We're way past that process.
Now we're in the portion of the game where they will try and BRAINWASH us into accepting these things because not everyone BROADCASTS themselves on and offline, so RFID tracking will NEED to be EVERYWHERE, eventually.
RFID is employed in MANY areas of society. RFID is used to TRACK their livestock (humans) in:
* 1. A lot of BANK's ATM & DEBIT cards (easily cloned and tracked)
* 2. Subway, rail, bus, other mass transit passes (all of your daily
activities, where you go, are being recorded in many ways)
* 3. A lot of RETAIL stores' goods
* 4. Corporate slaves (in badges, tags, etc)
and many more ways!
Search the web about RFID and look at the pictures of various RFID devices, they're not all the same in form or function! When you see how tiny some of them are, you'll be amazed! Search for GPS tracking and devices, too along with the more obscured:
- FM Fingerprinting &
- Writeprint
- Stylometry
tracking methods! Let's not forget the LIQUIDS at their disposal which can be sprayed on you and/or your devices/clothing and TRACKED, similar to STASI methods of tracking their livestock (humans).
Visit David Icke's and Prison Planet's discussion forums and VC's discussion forums and READ the threads about RFID and electronic tagging, PARTICIPATE in discussions. SHARE what you know with others!
These TRACKING technologies, on and off the net are being THROWN at us by the MEDIA, just as cigarettes and alcohol have and continue to be, though the former less than they used to. The effort to get you to join FACEBOOK and TWITTER, for example, is EVERYWHERE.
Maybe, you think, you'll join FACEBOOK or TWITTER with an innocent reason, in part perhaps because your family, friends, business parters, college ties want or need you. Then it'll start with one photo of yourself or you in a group, then another, then another, and pretty soon you are telling STRANGERS as far away as NIGERIA with scammers reading and archiving your PERSONAL LIFE and many of these CRIMINALS have the MEANS and MOTIVES to use it how they please.
One family was astonished to discover a photo of theirs was being used in an ADVERTISEMENT (on one of those BILLBOARDS you pass by on the road) in ANOTHER COUNTRY! There are other stories. I've witnessed people posting their photo in social networking sites, only to have others who dis/like them COPY the photo and use it for THEIR photo! It's a complete mess.
The whole GAME stretches much farther than the simple RFID device(s), but how far are you willing to READ about these types of instrusive technologies? If you've heard, Wikileaks exposed corporations selling SPYWARE in software and hardware form to GOVERNMENTS!
You have to wonder, "Will my anti-malware program actually DISCOVER government controlled malware? Or has it been WHITELISTED? or obscured to the point where it cannot be detected? Does it carve a nest for itself in your hardware devices' FIRMWARE, what about your BIOS?
Has your graphics card been poisoned, too?" No anti virus programs scan your FIRMWARE on your devices, especially not your ROUTERS which often contain commercially rubber stamped approval of BACKDOORS for certain organizations which hackers may be exploiting right now! Search on the web for CISCO routers and BACKDOORS. That is one of many examples.
Some struggle for privacy, some argue about it, some take preventitive measures, but those who are wise know:
Privacy is DEAD. You've just never seen the tombstone.
It's pretty amusing watching people freak out over these things and call them nude-o-scopes and similar. Just like with gun-control laws, I don't care a lot about the underlying issue, but it's so tempting to take a stance just because the NRA folk are so bloody nuts.
For every problem, there is at least one solution that is simple, neat, and wrong.
Clearly, only visitors would be subjected to these kinds of scanning's, making it feel a lot like a way to keep voter participation to a minimum. Imagine having to pass through these 2+ times a day (before/after lunch) just to be a part of the system as a non-elected participant.
At the pre-launch meeting:
VP of marketing: we have several suggestions for the product name
CEO: it doesn't really matter, the sale is a shoe-in. We could call it anything we want.
Product manager: O RLY!?
"The agriculture ministry is not in charge of Gundam" - Japanese ministry official.
News at 6 from North:
In the land of the free and the home of the brave, people are so afraid terrorist attack, they have decided to give up their own liberty (and possibly their health) in exchange for (a possibly false sense of) security.
.....
I think that might be how the rest of the world perceive the new USA.
Adult movie theaters should be snatching (pun intended) these things up. New 21st century peep show technology!
The millimeter wave scanners run at 30 GHz.. 1mm wavelength. I think that propagation at 30 GHz is fairly well understood. Penetration is very small, so energy is deposited in the skin.
The only thing more disgusting than Congress would be an image of Congress, nude.
The USA has become a country too afraid to make their enemies feel insulted to do anything about terrorism.
We're in a new liberal world order here, and our "leadership" is far more interested in appeasing terrorists than actually doing anything about the problem of terrorism.
Our solutions to terrorism thus far have been to topple two nation-states, only one of which had anything to do with terrorism, and then retreat and cower in the corner and beg the world for forgiveness.
The citizens and non-citizens alike already know they are taking a risk in visiting a federal building. ;)
DOJ already has these in place... I worked on a contract in and out of that building all this past Summer....
As long as every official is FORCED AT GUNPOINT to go through them. Every single senator, Secretary, Tzar, even the President needs to be forced to use them at gunpoint like all of us have had to.
And every single one of the police force and security forces as well. they get the exact same treatment that is forced upon the rest of us.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
TSA still claims that NIST evaluated the machines and declared them safe even though NIST has plainly stated that it did not and can not.
No doubt some TSA officials are investors in Rapiscan. So there's no way that company will be taking a loss on these things.
Have gnu, will travel.
I was thinking I'd buy up all the old machines at bargain basement prices and then sell them to companies that do ore-employment drug testing.
A common way to beat a drug test is to smuggle in clean urine, say, in a condom taped to your thigh. If people had to be naked-imaged first, this would be quite difficult.
If these machines can't be used to fight terrorism, my company could facilitate their use fighting the war on drugs. And make a tidy profit too.
I was hoping that they could go into prisons instead of being destroyed. But only prisoners and their scumbag visitors have to. Go through them. Prison staff and lawyers get safe ones when they need to be screened. Actually scratch that, send the lawyers through the back scatter too.
If installed in Congress the low levels of radiation might actually render congress-men and (and -women) infertile, reducing the chances of their genetic material being passed on without the use of a clerk or student aid worker.
how democracy like.
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
That would make more sense if anyone in America had actually supported this.
Chertoff, the former Homeland Security secretary, has spent years explicitly pushing Rapiscan in airports. His security consulting agency includes a client that makes the machines.
But don't tell me - "The Holocaust" yadda yadda yadda.
The Jews own your country. The shitty little rogue state of Israel tells your Congress what to do, the Jews run your media, your banking system, and tell you when to go to war for THEM. And yet you cretins still defend these parasites as if they are gods on earth, and mustn't be criticised. Why?
www.prothink.org
Seems fraternities could fund their parties by selling the pictures.
The primary risk is that the radiation is concentrated at the skin, but the "safety" studies the TSA was claiming to have used assumed that it's spread out through the body. Nobody wanted to take responsibility for doing an honest risk assessment. And because they were able to take them out of use because they didn't have a censorship feature, they didn't have to address that, but if they get deployed in Federal buildings, they might have to face serious challenges that they can't deflect by saying "Terrorist Underwear Bombers!"
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
The TSA folks have apparently been passing around X-ray porn for a while, in spite of official claims that the machines don't support it. And the standard images of the naked TSA official that they keep putting in press releases are low-res newspaper-quality versions, not the full resolution that the actual operators can see if they want.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
If you were paying attention a decade or two ago, Federal court buildings and many state and local court buildings all got metal detectors in a big hurry after some judge got shot by somebody who didn't like a decision they'd made.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Who's the branding genius behind the name "Rape-Scan Systems".
I mean, really, that's exactly what it is--but usually they don't admit it so blatantly . . .
Not only are these scanners a very expensive waste of money as they fail to detect what they're supposed to detect, they're also a health hazard. Please stop this overpriced security theater and use the resources to actively prevent wannabe-terrorists from becoming the real thing. That's much more effective on every level. I mean even if the scanners actually work, what's to prevent a terrorist from setting off a bomb in the queue of people waiting to be scanned...? - By removing the terrorist of course. i.e. preventing radicalization or use early detection to identify and incarcerate those beyond prevention.
"For every complex problem, there is a solution that is simple, neat, and wrong." -- H.L. Mencken (1880-1956) --
There was a Congressional mandate for the TSA to do a real safety study on these machines.
After stalling for a long time, the timing of the machine's removal from airports may have made this request moot.
The removal and re-deployment should not be an excuse for the TSA to get out from under this request.
Rapey-scan
There, I said it.