Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Maybe? I've been felt up more than 20 times.

I think perspective has a lot to do with it. I try to make a point of getting eye contact with people mindlessly going through the cancer scanner [0]. So I'm thinking more "bring it on", and if they do anything I reflexively react to, all the better for illustrating the modern state of USG.

And as I said, having to completely unpack my backpack and separate myself into 4 or 5 bins is violating enough. Their net function is basically to destroy security.

[0] Standard operating theory of the machines likely doesn't add to cancer risk, but I don't see why I should take on liability for unknowable malfunctions that may. And boy those goons sure do get hyper defensive when you ask why they're not wearing dosimeters.




Regarding cancer: All the US scanners use millimeter-wave (radio) now. All of the older backscatter x-ray machines have been sold off.

A dosimeter would show zero, because there's no longer any ionizing radiation involved.


I do not know what process is emitting the millimeter waves, their intensity/harmonics, or ways it can fail. I have the background to investigate these things, but do not see the point of spending time justifying totalitarianism, even if it is scientific totalitarianism. Furthermore, any technical conclusion of mine would only be half the story, given the lack of long term studies on biological effects of those frequencies.

If the situation were completely different and a friend had one and offered cool pictures of myself, I would do some diligence and make a conscious choice about stepping into one. But as it stands, there is just no upside.

It does feel slightly dirty pushing non-scientific FUD [0], but it seems like an appropriate way to possibly convey the concept that USG actually doesn't have your interests at heart. If your average punter was concerned with objective truth, they wouldn't have been goaded by fairy tales about terrorists in the first place.

Re: dosimeter, does the same apply to the baggage scanner? I doubt it, since then it couldn't see through most things. And my point there is mostly about the extreme cognitive dissonance of the individual thugs.

[0] non-scientific. Not anti-scientific.


The baggage scanners do use x-rays. Much stronger than the body scanners, in fact, since (as you pointed out) the goal is to see through things. So yes, a dosimeter would react to them.

I was about to say "hopefully nobody's sticking their hand inside one", but then I found this:

http://io9.gizmodo.com/5973513/what-a-human-being-looks-like...




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: