Backscatter imaging X-ray

[Jacks Complete]

http://www.as-e.com/products_solutions/zbv.asp (Google cache http://216.239.59.104/search?q=cache:http%3A%2F%2Fwww.as-e.com%2Fproducts_solutions%2Fzbv.asp)
shows rather a lot of nice photos of the new X-ray backscatter systems, with comparisions with the traditional systems.

They are very high quality images, and I suspect these might be a great way to ensure that the jackboot stays in place for ever. Homes, cars and people can all be searched for anything, from a great distance, in real time or faster! (You can drive the van past, record and review it later!!)

OF course, now we have seen it, we can come up with basic ways to avoid this detection system.

Firstly, the strong contrast is between organic and non-organic matter - use a car with leather seats as the first step. Secondly, when putting explosives into the panels of a car, take the door apart and mould it to shape, rather than having obvious squares. Thirdly, hide like with like - hiding a gun on top of a computer monitor is really dumb. Go for hiding the outlines, take it to bits, and ensure it is hidden with bits that look the same. hide barrels with random pipes, bags of drugs with other plant material, etc.

Anyone else got any ideas?

[ProdigyChild]

The photos show quite easy cases: organic material behind a thin layer of absorbing metal.

This nifty technique should allow to build shielding walls, that pretend some object to be inside, that isn't:
on a absorbing carrier wall, we 'paint' our 2-D projection of a fictive content of the trailer. The color of the artwork would be velcro/magnetic/adhesive organic plates. Such a modular system can simulate different contents very easily.
Behind the shield, we can put whatever we want :D

Only if they combine traditional X-ray (absorb) with the new technique, such pretention isn't possible.

[Jacks Complete]

Well, if you read the website, apparently they do use both techniques. And some of the photos are not through thin metal sheets, but through entire cars and trucks!

However, being able to see through an inch or 12 of steel means that picking which safe to open, and opening it, might suddenly be very much easier!

[nbk2000]

The system's unique "drive-by" capability allows one or two operators to conduct X-ray imaging of suspect vehicles and objects while the ZBV drives past.

:(

[matjaz]

... And some of the photos are not through thin metal sheets, but through entire cars and trucks! However, being able to see through an inch or 12 of steel means that picking which safe to open, ...

Thats overhope. :) I'd say you don't actually see _through_ it, since it cannot be done with X-rays and massive objects. Could in principle work with higher-energy light but would probably result in radiation overdose to living things (and complicate the detection system a lot).

So one can only see _around_ thicker objects, which is possible with a multi-point X-ray source and/or many detectors spaced apart and almost around the object studied. And this obviously provides enough geometrical data to produce a computed "see-through" image. But it's not really see-through except maybe for thin objects.

A closed safe won't let one do the "see around" backscatter thing and is too thick for see through.

[Jacks Complete]

NBK, yes. Very worrying, and something to be aware of when cacheing or hiding. The police state of the future will be unstoppable.

matjaz - you can indeed see right through these things. Picking a lock would be quite simple with a high resolution system. Interestingly, they give some great pictures if you bang in a false email address.

The attached picture shows what you can see, and if you zoom in a bit in PSP, you can see great detail, espcially on the electronics in the radio in the transmission picture (the RHS) and the trigger mechanism of the Glock, along with the bullets in the magazine, and the trigger safety is there too (though fuzzy) in the LHS backscatter picture. I suspect that with a little future refinement, this could be an essential tool for locksmiths, as well as the police, firebrigade, etc. The main thing holding this technology back is the sheer size of the equipment (a truck), and the radiation hazard. Using it remotely only would reduce these problems, and a lower power source would probably be fine for detailed work.

[ProdigyChild]

OK. So we have to put up with the fact of beeing watched?

Beeing watched without knowing is worse than knowing we've been x-rayed. So the first step will be to build a detector for X-rays.
It's much better to be sure about what the friendly policeman already knows, when asking for your driver's licence....

If we have a sensor, then we can produce a magnetic bomb that explodes, when exposed to X-rays. Or can we find a chemical, that explodes from X-rays? A H2-Cl2 mixture explodes from UV light, so it is not too far fetched, is it?
Now stick a few of these X-bombs at random to some trailers - preferably ones that carry flamable liquids/gases.

Even better, spill out cancerogen chemicals at the X-ray check points. Soon, someone will find a 'coincidence' between the new X-ray technology and cancer casualties and the technology will fall into bad reputation :p

[john_smith]

Yes, the carcinogenics thing would be fun ;) For transporting sensitive stuff, it's probably best to do what proffesional car thieves and drug couriers in "checkpoint countries" have done for ages: have a clean scout vehicle (with an x-ray detector in this case) driving some distance in front of the stolen (or whatever) vehicle and reporting checkpoints via CB/cellphone.