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Discussion => Security => Topic started by: raven92 on July 13, 2012, 04:44 am

Title: DHS - New Terahertz Lasers can detect what you ate for breakfast at 50m instantl
Post by: raven92 on July 13, 2012, 04:44 am
http://gizmodo.com/5923980/the-secret-government-laser-that-instantly-knows-everything-about-you

[qoute]
Hidden Government Scanners Will Instantly Know Everything About You From 164 Feet Away
NAC

Within the next year or two, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will instantly know everything about your body, clothes, and luggage with a new laser-based molecular scanner fired from 164 feet (50 meters) away. From traces of drugs or gun powder on your clothes to what you had for breakfast to the adrenaline level in your body—agents will be able to get any information they want without even touching you.

And without you knowing it.

The technology is so incredibly effective that, in November 2011, its inventors were subcontracted by In-Q-Tel to work with the US Department of Homeland Security. In-Q-Tel is a company founded "in February 1999 by a group of private citizens at the request of the Director of the CIA and with the support of the U.S. Congress." According to In-Q-Tel, they are the bridge between the Agency and new technology companies.

Their plan is to install this molecular-level scanning in airports and border crossings all across the United States. The official, stated goal of this arrangement is to be able to quickly identify explosives, dangerous chemicals, or bioweapons at a distance.

The machine is ten million times faster—and one million times more sensitive—than any currently available system. That means that it can be used systematically on everyone passing through airport security, not just suspect or randomly sampled people.
Analyzing everything in real time

But the machine can sniff out a lot more than just explosives, chemicals and bioweapons. The company that invented it, Genia Photonics, says that its laser scanner technology is able to "penetrate clothing and many other organic materials and offers spectroscopic information, especially for materials that impact safety such as explosives and pharmacological substances." [PDF]

Formed in Montreal in 2009 by PhDs with specialties in lasers and fiber optics, 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.

Hidden Government Scanners Will Instantly Know Everything About You From 164 Feet AwayAbove: The Genia Photonics' Picosecond Programmable Laser scanner is capable of detecting every tiny trace of any substance on your body, from specks of gunpowder to your adrenaline levels to a sugar-sized grain of cannabis to what you had for breakfast.

Meanwhile, In-Q-Tel states that "an important benefit of Genia Photonics' implementation as compared to existing solutions is that the entire synchronized laser system is comprised in a single, robust and alignment-free unit that may be easily transported for use in many environments… This compact and robust laser has the ability to rapidly sweep wavelengths in any pattern and sequence." [PDF]

So not only can they scan everyone. They would be able to do it everywhere: the subway, a traffic light, sports events... everywhere.
How does it work?

The machine is a mobile, rack-mountable system. It fires a laser to provide molecular-level feedback at distances of up to 50 meters in just picoseconds. For all intents and purposes, that means instantly.

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.

The technology is not new, it's just millions times faster and more convenient than ever before. Back in 2008, a team at George Washington University developed a similar laser spectrometer using a different process. It could sense drug metabolites in urine in less than a second, trace amounts of explosive residue on a dollar bill, and even certain chemical changes happening in a plant leaf.

And the Russians also have a similar technology: announced last April, their "laser sensor can pick up on a single molecule in a million from up to 50 meters away."

So if Genia Photonics' claims pan out, this will be an incredible leap forward in terms of speed, portability, and convenience. One with staggering implications.
Observation without limits

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?

Hidden Government Scanners Will Instantly Know Everything About You From 164 Feet AwayAbove: A page from a Genia Photonics paper describing its ability to even penetrate through clothing.

There are a lot of questions with no answer yet, but it's obvious that the potential level of personal invasion of this technology goes far beyond that of body scans, wiretaps, and GPS tracking.
The end of privacy coming soon

According to the undersecretary for science and technology of the Department of Homeland Security, this scanning technology will be ready within one to two years, which means you might start seeing them in airports as soon as 2013.

In other words, these portable, incredibly precise molecular-level scanning devices will be cascading lasers across your body as you walk from the bathroom to the soda machine at the airport and instantly reporting and storing a detailed breakdown of your person, in search of certain "molecular tags".

Going well beyond eavesdropping, it seems quite possible that U.S. government plans on recording molecular data on travelers without their consent, or even knowledge that it's possible—a scary thought. While the medical uses could revolutionize the way doctors diagnose illness, and any technology that could replace an aggressive pat-down is tempting, there's a potential dark side to this implementation, and we need to shine some light on it before it's implemented.

    The author of this story is currently completing his PhD in renewable energy solutions, focusing on converting waste to energy in the urban environment. Even while most of this information is publicly available, he wanted to remain anonymous.
[/quote]
Title: Re: DHS - New Terahertz Lasers can detect what you ate for breakfast at 50m instantl
Post by: DomesticShrooms on July 13, 2012, 05:29 am
Breaks out tinfoil suit*
Title: Re: DHS - New Terahertz Lasers can detect what you ate for breakfast at 50m instantl
Post by: owenk on July 13, 2012, 05:48 am
Just make sure you are less or more than but not exactly 164 feet away  ;D
Title: Re: DHS - New Terahertz Lasers can detect what you ate for breakfast at 50m instantl
Post by: BlarghRawr on July 13, 2012, 09:15 am
The worst part is, I know that if this is real, workable technology... I know it will be implemented. Everywhere. The greatest danger to any government is the population. Control the people and you stay in power. Lose control, lose power. I'm not normally one for conspiracy theory, but fuck...
Title: Re: DHS - New Terahertz Lasers can detect what you ate for breakfast at 50m instantl
Post by: phillipJfry on July 13, 2012, 03:42 pm
If they have this technology it wont be long until something similar is implemented that can see through packages to search for contraband.
Title: Re: DHS - New Terahertz Lasers can detect what you ate for breakfast at 50m instantl
Post by: Kappacino on July 13, 2012, 05:12 pm
Well this doesn't look good.
Title: Re: DHS - New Terahertz Lasers can detect what you ate for breakfast at 50m instantl
Post by: H4L101 on July 13, 2012, 08:10 pm
wow...i don't have anything else to say..
Title: Re: DHS - New Terahertz Lasers can detect what you ate for breakfast at 50m instantl
Post by: goblin on July 14, 2012, 12:53 am
It seems to me that when things get this far along (and I'm talking about this far along the road to total control and domination, which is what governments do), then self-destruction can't be far off.

When you get to a point where things get totally out of hand in terms of knowing about and spying on people and a feeling that there's "no way out", things start to break down. A sense of rampant paranoia (not just among the victims (the ones spied on)) but among the perpetrators. Distrust and fear and rigidity of thinking become the norm, leading to psychological points of stress so great that intellectual and moral degradation take over. Not to mention yet unknown factors leading to actual technological breakdowns. After that, a running backward stage is probable, and going back to earlier stages of technology, perhaps mixed with the parts of new technology that aren't threats to the humanity of the species. We might become a better world after all of this.

I am hopeful, because the alternative is too terrible to contemplate. I mean, who wants to live in such a suffocating world where there really IS no secret? Not me, buddy boy. A secret is what keeps us whole, what makes us human and gives us a sense of identity. Because I tell you , I'd rather die than submit. I hope I am not alone.

goblin
Title: Re: DHS - New Terahertz Lasers can detect what you ate for breakfast at 50m instantl
Post by: iamonion on July 16, 2012, 06:01 am
This is pretty unacceptable.
Title: Re: DHS - New Terahertz Lasers can detect what you ate for breakfast at 50m instantl
Post by: MockFrog on July 19, 2012, 03:27 pm
It seems to me that when things get this far along (and I'm talking about this far along the road to total control and domination, which is what governments do), then self-destruction can't be far off.

When you get to a point where things get totally out of hand in terms of knowing about and spying on people and a feeling that there's "no way out", things start to break down. A sense of rampant paranoia (not just among the victims (the ones spied on)) but among the perpetrators. Distrust and fear and rigidity of thinking become the norm, leading to psychological points of stress so great that intellectual and moral degradation take over. Not to mention yet unknown factors leading to actual technological breakdowns. After that, a running backward stage is probable, and going back to earlier stages of technology, perhaps mixed with the parts of new technology that aren't threats to the humanity of the species. We might become a better world after all of this.

I am hopeful, because the alternative is too terrible to contemplate. I mean, who wants to live in such a suffocating world where there really IS no secret? Not me, buddy boy. A secret is what keeps us whole, what makes us human and gives us a sense of identity. Because I tell you , I'd rather die than submit. I hope I am not alone.

goblin
I'd say you're right! Let's accelerate the destruction however we can.

MockFrog
Title: Re: DHS - New Terahertz Lasers can detect what you ate for breakfast at 50m instantl
Post by: long_hairhippie on July 20, 2012, 05:26 pm
mounted on a fucking drone
Title: Re: DHS - New Terahertz Lasers can detect what you ate for breakfast at 50m instantl
Post by: BanWork on July 20, 2012, 06:12 pm
1984
Title: Re: DHS - New Terahertz Lasers can detect what you ate for breakfast at 50m instantl
Post by: long_hairhippie on July 20, 2012, 07:51 pm
Wish there was a way to stop the funding of all this crap that costs billions, and is used against the very people that paid for it.
Title: Re: DHS - New Terahertz Lasers can detect what you ate for breakfast at 50m instantl
Post by: Audioslave on July 20, 2012, 09:00 pm
We just have to wait for all the old cunts in power to die.. the solution is to promote psychedelic psychotherapy and show all of the benefits to personality so we as a race can move forward instead of these nonsense laws
Title: Re: DHS - New Terahertz Lasers can detect what you ate for breakfast at 50m instantl
Post by: BanWork on July 20, 2012, 09:20 pm
It's a crazy situation, I do my bit my not paying tax on my earnings, I find paying tax immoral, cant avoid the tax on everything else tho. Driving is an ethical arse fuck for me, I have to do it but the Gov takes 70% tax on fuel.  :o

Like hippie says; flash forward 5-10 years and those lasers will be mounted on mini unmanned drones flying around the streets in the name of anti-terrorism scanning any poor fuckers for high adrenaline or traces of weed... The drone signals piggy wiggy control center and your location is automatically flagged, the operator is patched to nearby CCTV and follows you with the camera, five minutes later some bored, insecure micro dicked pigs turn up spoiling for a bit of violence and detain you for the night whilst they steal your DNA and take your mugshots.

To quote professor Hubert J. Farnsworth "I don't want to live on this planet anymore"
Title: Re: DHS - New Terahertz Lasers can detect what you ate for breakfast at 50m instantl
Post by: long_hairhippie on July 20, 2012, 10:02 pm
Yep, hell or even like the title says, if they scan you and you've eaten too many bigmacs that might be grounds for vaporization. Or at least government run fema fat camp. Where they make you concentrate on losing weight. Then what do they do once they have the populace whipped into shape? Probably a war against somebody. Imagine where mankind could be now if the amount of funds that went into war went into medicine or space travel or something useful. And the thing is once they have these powers it sets a precedent so it would be impossible to stop the implementation.  What ways will they think of to enslave humanity next i wonder.
Title: Re: DHS - New Terahertz Lasers can detect what you ate for breakfast at 50m instantl
Post by: soyyo1114873 on July 20, 2012, 10:26 pm
We just have to wait for all the old cunts in power to die.. the solution is to promote psychedelic psychotherapy and show all of the benefits to personality so we as a race can move forward instead of these nonsense laws
Only very few people will move forward with that, because few people will go in for it. But those few will be the ones to start the revolution.

But as goblin says, I wouldn't want to live in such a world as these pricks envision for us.

soyyo