RFID, GPS Technology and Electronic Surveillance

Airport Strip-Search Machines “Tear Apart DNA”

October 31, 2009

Yahoo Tech - The latest airport security trend is the backscatter x-ray machine, touted as a powerful way to virtually frisk a traveler for contraband without the embarassment of a strip search.

Though touted as completely safe because the level of radiation is so low, travelers have been nervous about the devices — and not just because it shows off a nice outline of their privates to the people manning the machines — but because they remain scared of the health problems they might propose.

Looks like a little healthy paranoia might have been a good thing. While the conventional wisdom has held that so-called “terahertz radiation,” upon which backscatter x-ray machines are based, is harmless because it doesn’t carry enough energy to do cellular or genetic damage, new research suggests that may be completely wrong.

Specifically, researchers have found that terahertz radiation may interfere directly with DNA. Although the force generated is small, the waves have been found to “unzip double-stranded DNA, creating bubbles in the double strand that could significantly interfere with processes such as gene expression and DNA replication.”

I’m not a doctor, but that just doesn’t sound good.

The question now is whether this is or isn’t safe. Terahertz waves occur naturally in the environment, and we’re hit with them all the time. But should we bombard ourselves with them willingly every time we pass through an airport? No one knows how much terahertz radiation is OK for the body to absorb: Just like sunlight, a little may be fine, while a lot may be deadly. Where does the line get drawn?

Who knows? I, for one, am given a little pause by the news, and hope research continues on before these machines become commonplace.

‘Strip search’ scanners given OK by privacy watchdog
‘Strip search’ scans given green light

Health Link Markets Verichip Implant in Television Commercial, for Your Safety

October 23, 2009

The Health Link “Because” Campaign commercial

Health Link is the connection between you and your personal health record. Health Link utilizes a tiny, passive microchip (the nation’s first and only microchip cleared for use by the Food & Drug Administration) and a secure, private online database that links you to your personal health record. Your Health Link is always with you and cannot be lost or stolen.

Shape-Shifting Robot Blog Has Emerged From Your Nightmares

October 19, 2009

Escapist Magazine - iRobot’s flesh-like ChemBot will freak you out, but it also could save your life someday.



The ChemBot might look like something out of a bad dream, but it’s actually a multimillion dollar military project. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the U.S. Army Research Office contracted iRobot, creator of vacuum-robot Roomba, to design the soft, flexible, mechanical ooze last year. This video might be a little technical at first, but if you skip to the 2 minute mark you can see the results of iRobot’s work thus far.

iRobot is not a company that just makes house cleaning robots. It has been providing military and civil defense forces with helpful robots for a while now, including the iRobot Warrior, a “large and rugged robot designed to carry 150-pound payloads”, and the iRobot PackBot which has performed “thousands of dangerous search, reconnaissance and bomb-disposal missions” according to iRobot’s website.

DARPA’s main purpose for funding the ChemBot is to create something that can “traverse soft terrain and navigate through small openings, such as tiny wall cracks, during reconnaissance and search-and-rescue missions.” The ChemBot should be able to do just that through a mechanism called “Jamming,” which allows for the transition between solid-like and liquid-like states with only a small change in volume. The first half of this video explains how “Jamming” works.

The ChemBot feels like the first step towards the creation of actual human-like robots similar to Battlestar Galactica’s new Cylons. The creepy part about the ChemBot is how it looks as if it’s alive and breathing. Wars could probably be won just by rolling out a few dozen of these things in front of opposing forces to scare the bejeezus out of them. I definitely wouldn’t want to touch a one, they look all gross and sticky.

New York to Fight Terrorism with More Street-Corner Cameras, License Plate Readers, and “Weapons Sensors”

October 6, 2009

Christian Science Monitor - On the heels of breaking up an alleged bomb terror plot, New York is planning to place high-tech security cameras, license plate readers, and “weapons sensors” in midtown Manhattan.

Office workers and tourists – and possible terrorists – will have cameras watching their every move as they visit Macy’s, shop for diamonds at Tiffany & Co., or gawk in Times Square. The apparatus, paid for by some $24 million in Department of Homeland Security funding, will expand a similar effort already underway in lower Manhattan where cameras focus on the Federal Reserve, the New York Stock Exchange, and the Brooklyn Bridge.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg, announcing the program Sunday, said the goal is to detect terrorism threats and deter pre-operational surveillance. Sensors will try to detect chemical, biological, and radiological threats.

But some terrorism experts have questioned whether a camera network will deter terrorists. They also say that sensors are known to give off “false positives.”

Meanwhile, civil rights organizations are concerned that the project will be another encroachment on civil liberties.

“The fear is [that] the NYPD without any oversight or public scrutiny is creating a massive surveillance system, when we don’t know if this is the best use of $125 million designed to keep us safe,” says Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU). The NYCLU has filed two lawsuits to try to get more public information about the program.

In March, New York Police Department (NYPD) commissioner Raymond Kelly indicated in testimony before the City Council that 1,000 police officers are involved in anti-terrorism work daily, and that he hoped to add 500 more cameras to the 500 already installed.

But there did not appear to be any discussion at the hearing about whether the effort is worthwhile or what kind of civil rights safeguards might be needed.

“There are legitimate arguments on all sides here,” says Frank Cilluffo, head of George Washington University’s Homeland Security Policy Institute in Washington. “What I would like to see is a broader discussion that brings in the average citizen.”

Probably the largest use of security cameras is in London, which has put what it terms a “Ring of Steel” of thousands of security cameras all around the city. But some security experts question their effectiveness.

“They won’t stop any terrorist,” says Bruce Schneier, chief security technology officer at BT (formerly British Telecom) and a widely-published author on security. “None of them is going to look at a camera and say ‘I better go get a real job.’”

The only time cameras reduce crime is in parking lots and laundromats, Mr. Schneier says.

“It only makes sense if the tactics and targets are few, but there are billions of targets ranging from shopping malls to restaurants and dozens of tactics,” he adds.

However, Brian Jackson, associate director of the Homeland Security Research Program at the Rand Institute in Washington, says the cameras create “the possibility for prevention” of an attack. He says cameras add a level of concern for the terrorists.

“Surveillance is one ingredient that gives the terrorists more opportunities to make a mistake and be discovered,” says Mr. Jackson.

As for using sensors that detect biological and radiological weapons, Mr. Cilluffo says they often give off false positives or false negatives.

“They tend to be only successful in events that can easily be contained like the State of the Union address or conventions,” he says. “Once they are in a more dynamic environment, I’m not sure where the science is on that.”

But the science of cameras is progressing fast, raising the possibility of even more “Big Brother”-like scenarios.

“Cameras are everywhere and you can see them,” says Schneier, “In ten years, you won’t even be able to see them.”

Glenn Beck Assures on Swine Flu Vaccine and Touts “Fantastic” Verichip Tracking Implants for Grandpa

October 12, 2009
Aftermath News



Andy Rooney promotes microchip implants for our convenience and safey