Silk Road forums
Discussion => Off topic => Topic started by: Jack N Hoff on June 02, 2013, 01:41 am
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http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-07/laser-can-instantly-scan-you-anything-and-you-would-never-know-it
That inconspicuous brown box above is reportedly a new kind of laser-based molecular scanner that can collect spectroscopic information from more than 150 feet away. It can instantly probe your clothing and luggage for chemical traces of anything--explosives, drugs, biological matter--and you will never even know it.
So says Gizmodo in a mildly terrifying piece posted this morning about Genia Photonics’ laser scanning device, contracted by an entity called In-Q-Tel, which is basically a group of private technology incubators working for the CIA. The idea, reportedly, is to install this molecular scanner in airports and border crossings and the like, where it can deliver instantaneous (it analyzes in just 50 picoseconds) spectroscopic analysis of people and cargo from a distance--and likely from an unseen location. Authorities could scan everyone passing through an airport terminal, sports stadium, or customs check.
Or it could scan everyone simply walking down a street. It’s supposedly portable, so it could be deployed anywhere from far enough away that the subject wouldn’t have to know about it. Reports Gizmodo's anonymous author:
“The small, inconspicuous machine is attached to a computer running a program that will show the information in real time, from trace amounts of cocaine on your dollar bills to gunpowder residue on your shoes. Forget trying to sneak a bottle of water past security—they will be able to tell what you had for breakfast in an instant while you're walking down the hallway.”
DHS says the technology will be ready for deployment in just one or two years. You can practically hear the privacy rights groups gathering their pitchforks for this one.
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dam man.
and you know people are going to be all for it and everyone against it is going to be "suspicious" or a "threat"
gonna be keeping a close eye on this one.
thanks hoff. +1 for you
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That is fucking horrifying.
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Sometimes technology can suck major dick. Still pretty cool though.
Who knows where the government will be sticking these things.
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So is this going to be the end of the Road?
Seems like USPS would have one of these handy above where you would drop off a package..
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So is this going to be the end of the Road?
Seems like USPS would have one of these handy above where you would drop off a package..
We don't know where or what they will use these devices for. :-\
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thats fucked
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If true that is actually some terrifying shit. I can 100% see the practical uses and there are tons of legit ones but fuck man... its still going to suck.
I wonder what type of legal implications this will have. For example, imagine going to a bank that had one of these and you're getting ready to deposit a large sum of cash and this machine picks up "significant" (whatever that may be) amounts of cocaine on the cash. Would you be questioned? Reported? Detained?
The amount of information this gives to authorities is terrifying.
"Genia Photonics has 30 patents on this technology, claiming incredible biomedical and industrial applications—from identifying individual cancer cells in a real-time scan of a patient, to detecting trace amounts of harmful chemicals in sensitive manufacturing processes."
Now those are some pretty cool uses of this technology. This is basically an example of "with great power comes great responsibility"... this technology has the potential to help many people but it also has the potential to harm many people. Yes you probably have to be doing something illegal for it to harm you even though the "crime" you are committing might be harmless.
"There has so far been no discussion about the personal rights and privacy issues involved. Which "molecular tags" will they be scanning for? Who determines them? What are the threshold levels of this scanning? If you unknowingly stepped on the butt of someone's joint and are carrying a sugar-sized grain of cannabis like that unfortunate traveler currently in jail in Dubai, will you be arrested?
And, since it's extremely portable, will this technology extend beyone the airport or border crossings and into police cars, with officers looking for people on the street with increased levels of adrenaline in their system to detain in order to prevent potential violent outbursts? And will your car be scanned at stoplights for any trace amounts of suspicious substances? Would all this information be recorded anywhere?"
That just gave me the chills. The future is scary, gentleman.
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eventually when the robots take over, i'm sure they will destroy these tiny lasers. even evil robots need drugs sometimes.
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Um, that makes me rather uncomfortable. Still, though, these things probably cost a fortune. You have to imagine taxpayers will be outraged if the USPS tried to put them in every post office. I think SR will survive for now, at least (I hope).
Shit sure gives me the willies though
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"There has so far been no discussion about the personal rights and privacy issues involved. Which "molecular tags" will they be scanning for? Who determines them? What are the threshold levels of this scanning? If you unknowingly stepped on the butt of someone's joint and are carrying a sugar-sized grain of cannabis like that unfortunate traveler currently in jail in Dubai, will you be arrested?
I can't believe you remembered that article I posted two months ago about the man who got four years in prison in Dubai for a sugar grained size piece of cannabis on his shoe.
Valid points though. Technology is crazy!
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Um, that makes me rather uncomfortable. Still, though, these things probably cost a fortune. You have to imagine taxpayers will be outraged if the USPS tried to put them in every post office. I think SR will survive for now, at least (I hope).
Shit sure gives me the willies though
I wasn't posting it to have anything to do with the postal system. Just in general. They do want to use them in airports though.
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Um, that makes me rather uncomfortable. Still, though, these things probably cost a fortune. You have to imagine taxpayers will be outraged if the USPS tried to put them in every post office. I think SR will survive for now, at least (I hope).
Shit sure gives me the willies though
I wasn't posting it to have anything to do with the postal system. Just in general. They do want to use them in airports though.
I wonder how they'd handle it in airports now that pot is legal in many places?
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"There has so far been no discussion about the personal rights and privacy issues involved. Which "molecular tags" will they be scanning for? Who determines them? What are the threshold levels of this scanning? If you unknowingly stepped on the butt of someone's joint and are carrying a sugar-sized grain of cannabis like that unfortunate traveler currently in jail in Dubai, will you be arrested?
I can't believe you remembered that article I posted two months ago about the man who got four years in prison in Dubai for a sugar grained size piece of cannabis on his shoe.
Valid points though. Technology is crazy!
Umm... I didn't know you ever posted such a thread. I quoted that from the article, hence the quotation marks. You think I can write or think on that level? ::blush::
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"There has so far been no discussion about the personal rights and privacy issues involved. Which "molecular tags" will they be scanning for? Who determines them? What are the threshold levels of this scanning? If you unknowingly stepped on the butt of someone's joint and are carrying a sugar-sized grain of cannabis like that unfortunate traveler currently in jail in Dubai, will you be arrested?
I can't believe you remembered that article I posted two months ago about the man who got four years in prison in Dubai for a sugar grained size piece of cannabis on his shoe.
Valid points though. Technology is crazy!
Umm... I didn't know you ever posted such a thread. I quoted that from the article, hence the quotation marks. You think I can write or think on that level? ::blush::
HAHA! To be honest, I didn't reread this article. I copied and pasted this drug scanning article from the newbie section. It was one of my first 25 posts and I felt it deserved to be in the Off Topic section instead of newbie hell. ;D
Here is the newbie section drug scanning lasers thread which actually talks about a lot more like tunnel boring machines, nuclear tunnel boring machines, underground military bases, underground maglev bullet trains and more. http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=144014
Here is the Dubai thread I posted awhile ago http://dkn255hz262ypmii.onion/index.php?topic=144012
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If it was mass produced, that could possibly be the end to drug dealing period. Hopefully someone starts working on some sort of encasing that can reflect/redirect the scanner or mimic something else... I guess we should appreciate what we have until then.
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Makes me think that the future might actually be like the movie Dredd. Not in my lifetime of course.
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I think there are always more intelligent people with more technology skills coming up with some very innovative ideas. It will be inevitable that someone somewhere will devise technology against this. Remember the gov't is slow, they don't even have budget to hire enough postal workers to process mail, not alone purchase, install, and implement such as laser device.
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I think there are always more intelligent people with more technology skills coming up with some very innovative ideas. It will be inevitable that someone somewhere will devise technology against this. Remember the gov't is slow, they don't even have budget to hire enough postal workers to process mail, not alone purchase, install, and implement such as laser device.
They couldn't care less about the postal budget. Low budget. Their budget on fighting drugs is much higher and their budget on fighting terrorism is even higher. If they try to say this is for fighting terrorism then they automatically have substantially more money for this. Who knows.
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I wasn't posting it to have anything to do with the postal system. Just in general. They do want to use them in airports though.
That's probably a lot more realistic. Somehow they were able to install those millimeter wave "naked body" scanners in like every airport. There seemed to be a lot of public opposition to those scanners. Privacy concerns and what not. And yet they're everywhere. :-\
Babylon!