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

[Scott Schryvers <schryver@radiks.net>]

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 &copy 1996 Nando.net
>>      Copyright &copy 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.
>
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Scott J. Schryvers <schryver@radiks.net>