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Now Police Can 'See' Through Walls

Posted by Roblimo on from the move-along-there's-nothing-to-see-here dept.

Bram writes "Just found an article about another way to invade privacy." He's talking about hand-held radar systems police can use to detect breathing, beating hearts or other motion through walls and other obstacles. Sounds like a declassified version of the Ground Support Radar [GSR] units we used years ago in the Army. I can see why police would want them, and I can also see why Bram considers them a privacy threat. Depends on how they're used, I suppose.

2 of 231 comments (clear)

  1. If the police can obtain these... by jd · · Score: 3
    Then it won't be long before they're on sale at Walmarts. Now, I don't mind too much if the police can detect where an intruder is in a building, but I =do= mind criminals, vandals and opportunist thieves having resources like this.

    I also object to the idea of the media being able to get hold of such devices. Would you be happy if your local newspaper decided to monitor how often people went to the bathroom?

    The police are the least of my concerns, for something like this. My other concerns are fairly trivial ones, anyway, but that one is so minute it doesn't bother me in the least.

    --
    It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
  2. Why would you want to block it? by Fastolfe · · Score: 3

    Probably not, since your walls are not similarly "protected".

    Of course, why in the world would you want to build your home so that it *blocked* these types of things? In all likelyhood, the only time you might EVER see one of these things in action near your home is after an earthquake or an explosion that has demolished your house and you are trapped beneath a rather heavy pile of debris.

    Fireman: "Nope, I'm getting no reading at all from under this structure..."

    You (whisper): "Urmmph..! hh..hhell..hhellpp..."