Stealth Buildings Was Re: "X-Ray Gun" for imperceptible searches

17 Dec 2003


      At 06:56 PM 8/12/96 EDT, you wrote:
Since metal blocks the waves and stands out on the screen one could affectively
block its use by putting up a fine metal mesh on the interior of all walls 
that are exterior to the house.  The same could be said for clothing that 
looks normal but has a metal mesh liner, like say a trench coat.
...
I would wonder if a jamming device (preferably area-effect with a 
slowly randomly varying swathe of area, to avoid figuring out who was carrying
it) would be possible, or some variety of shielding (i.e., emitting waves
looking similar to flesh).
  -Allen
...
Direct Media
                   NEW X-RAY GUN TRADES PRIVACY FOR SAFETY
     Copyright © 1996 Nando.net
     Copyright © 1996 The Associated Press
...
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (Aug 12, 1996 09:47 a.m. EDT) -- The latest
  weapon against terrorism can see right through you.
...
The Passive Millimeter Wave Imager can X-ray through clothing to "see"
  a concealed weapon, plastic explosives or drugs. A police officer can
  surreptitiously aim it into a crowd from as far away as 90 feet.
...
The new X-ray gun is becoming a symbol for an unlikely alliance of
  civil libertarians and gun owners who fear the fight against crime and
  terrorism may be waged at the expense of personal freedoms.
...
"I'm incredibly concerned," said John Henry Hingson, a past president
  of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, meeting here
  this past week. "The entire nation could become a victim of illegal
  searches and seizures and the law is powerless to protect them from
  these police abuses."
...
But in these nervous times following the the crash of TWA Fight 800
  and bombings at the Olympics, Oklahoma City and the World Trade
  Center, many Americans are now willing to trade some of their privacy
  and civil liberties for greater security.
...
A poll last week by the Los Angeles Times found that a majority of
  people -- 58 percent -- said they would curtail some civil liberties
  if it would help thwart terrorism. Thirteen percent said it would
  depend on what rights were at stake. The poll didn't ask people to
  single out any rights.
...
The Clinton administration has proposed increased wiretapping and
  other anti-terrorism steps, and is doling out research grants for
  cutting edge anti-crime technology that once may have been intended
  for only military use.
[...]
...
Two models are being developed of the Passive Millimeter Wave Imager,
  a creation of Massachusetts-based Millimetrix Corp.
...
The larger one, about the size of a shoebox, is mounted on a patrol
  car and pointed at the unsuspecting person. The gadget doesn't send
  out X-rays; instead, it picks up electromagnetic waves emitted by
  human flesh.
...
Anything that stands in the way of those waves -- like a gun -- or
  anything that emits weaker waves -- like a bag of cocaine or a plastic
  explosive -- will show up on a little screen in the patrol car.
...
Clothes emit no waves. Neither do walls, allowing the device to be
  used from even outside a room.
...
A second model is a smaller, battery-operated version that an officer
  can operate by hand, like a radar gun.
...
Millimetrix hopes to field test the larger model soon at a police
  agency.
...
Hingson argues the device runs roughshod over bans against illegal
  searches and seizures. The law says police can stop and frisk a person
  only when an officer has a "reasonable suspicion" the person is armed
  or involved in a crime.
...
Millimetrix points out that while the imager can see through clothing,
  it still leaves people some privacy. The device's display screen, the
  company says, "does not reveal intimate anatomical details of the
  person."
...
Chip Walker, spokesman for the National Rifle Association, noted that
  devices like the imager threaten the legal rights of people in 31
  states who are allowed to carry concealed weapons with proper
  licenses.
...
"We certainly support efforts to disarm criminals, but we need to be
  careful that we're not painting with too broad a brush here," he said.
...
Walker said that as troubling as terrorism is, people may be playing
  into terrorists' hands by giving up their privacy.
...
"One of the broader issues is that if we start giving up certain civil
  liberties, that essentially means that the terrorists are starting to
  accomplish one of their goals," he said.
PGP encrypted mail preferred.  
E-Mail me for my key.
Scott J. Schryvers <schryver@radiks.net>

Scott Schryvers

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