Strip Search: Camera That Sees Through Clothes From 80 Feet Away

[austin552]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,336287,00.html

Monday, March 10, 2008

By Jonathan Leake


LONDON — A camera that can see through people's clothing at distances of up to 80 feet has been developed to help detect weapons, drugs and explosives.

The camera could be deployed in railway stations, shopping centers and other public spaces.

Although it can see objects under clothes, its designers say the images do not show anatomical details. However, it is likely to increase fears that Britain has become a surveillance society.

The new technology, known as the T5000 system, has attracted interest from police forces, train companies and airport operators as well as government agencies.

It has been developed by ThruVision, an Oxfordshire-based company spun out from the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, one of the British government's leading physics research centers.

It was designed for use in spacecraft and astronomy but researchers soon realized that cameras capable of seeing through clouds of cosmic dust could also see through clothing.

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Computer Uses Brain Scans to Read Minds This week the camera will be displayed at the Home Office scientific development branch's annual exhibition, Britain's premier showcase for security equipment, to be held on an RAF airbase in Buckinghamshire.

ThruVision already offers a smaller system designed for office foyers that can scan through clothing at a range of 30 to 40 feet.

This has been used at the Canary Wharf complex in east London, which is home to several global banks and is regarded as a target for terrorists. The Dubai Mercantile Exchange has a similar installation.

The system can be linked to a computer so that it can automatically scan anyone passing and alert its human operator to anything suspicious.

Clive Beattie, ThruVision's chief executive, said: "Acts of terrorism have shaken the world in recent years and security precautions have been tightened globally. The T5000 dramatically extends the range over which we can scan people."

Bill Foster, the president of Thermal Matrix, an American defense contractor specializing in imaging systems for the U.S. military, is one customer. He said: "This could be deployed at major sporting events, concerts and rail stations as well as for military use."

The technology works by detecting and measuring terahertz waves, or T-waves for short. These are a form of electromagnetic radiation, emitted by all people and objects that lie between the infrared and microwave parts of the spectrum.

The waves from any given material also carry a distinctive signature, offering the potential to distinguish Semtex plastic explosive from modeling clay and cocaine from sugar.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

[asphaltgambler]

That is sooooooooooooooo d@mn funny.......LMAO because as I was driving in to work this morning that ad for the X-ray specs was the first thing that came to mind during the news break about it!!!

[MRM]

I'm going to have to start working out.

[JeremyD]

probably not what you had in mind

[JeremyD]

Here's a better one

[WI wide body]

Gosh, this could be the biggest thing in Mule's life since doctored pictures and YouTube videos!

Stay tuned!!!!

[Kirk911SC]

[Rick V]

Originally Posted by JeremyD

probably not what you had in mind

WTF is in her armpit? Pierced pit?ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww

[cool_chick]

How do the CCW carriers feel about this?

[RANDY P]

Originally Posted by cool_chick

How do the CCW carriers feel about this?

Ha HA. Trick question. In Britan an armed man is like a Jackolope here.

Doesn't exist.

rjp

[island911]

Originally Posted by Rick V

WTF is in her armpit? Pierced pit?ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww

The last flight out of Seattle, a young woman, in the TSA 'step aside' started "oh, right . . I have piercings I forgot to take out" --I didn't see any on her face.

[legion]

Originally Posted by MRM

I'm going to have to start working out.

I don't want other people to know what I'm packing.

[RANDY P]

Originally Posted by island911

The last flight out of Seattle, a young woman, in the TSA 'step aside' started "oh, right . . I have piercings I forgot to take out" --I didn't see any on her face.

Can you imagine a few cameras up late around Capitol Hill would show?

I'd pay money to see that...


rjp

[cool_chick]

Originally Posted by RANDY P

Ha HA. Trick question. In Britan an armed man is like a Jackolope here.

Doesn't exist.

rjp

I was thinking more on the line of this technology coming here. Look at Chicago and what they adopted from London....

[island911]

Originally Posted by RANDY P

Can you imagine a few cameras up late around Capitol Hill would show?

I'd pay money to see that...


rjp

[RANDY P]

Originally Posted by cool_chick

I was thinking more on the line of this technology coming here. Look at Chicago and what they adopted from London....

It's all over. Stay away from Chicago.


Carry home a pack of Kielbasa and a 12 pack of buns under your coat. and see you get harassed...

Let us know plez...

rjp

[RANDY P]

Originally Posted by island911

I have a good friend of mine I do biz with who's ghey. was up there in one the bars just having a beer -

It's funny that up there there is a subculture that looks down on the Tranny's.

He said "eww, there's another tranny. I don't get why they do that!!"

Kind of funny, actually.

rjp

[M.D. Holloway]

I attended a seminar put on by Flir IR cameras. During the break, I talked the instructor into taking a $50,000 unit out to the lobby of the hotel and checking out the pantie lines of the womens - so powerful it could tell if they wore thongs, granny panties or went comando!

[Bowling]

Cool_Chick, I have CCW and wouldn't mind at all. I am legal and law abiding. I would mind if I where continually harassed by Law Enforcement or the Government however. I also support armed flight crews on commercial airlines.