X-ray cameras may be installed in UK lamp posts.

It just gets better and better over here!

A leaked government document shows that thier are plans to fit x-ray cameras to street lamp posts here in the UK, as a tool for spotting weapos on criminals and terrorists.

X-ray cameras could be installed on lampposts on British streets to spot armed terrorists and other criminals, it has been claimed.

According to a leaked memo seen by The Sun, "detection of weapons and explosives will become easier" if the scheme drawn up by Home Office officials is adopted.

However, officials acknowledged it would be highly controversial as the cameras can "see" through clothing.


"The social acceptability of routine intrusive detection measures and the operational response required in the event of an alarm are likely to be limiting factors," the memo warned.

"Privacy is an issue because the machines see through clothing."

The Sun said the memo, dated January 17, was drawn up by the Home Office for the Prime Minister's working group on security crime and justice.

Source: Lamp posts may have X-ray cameras fitted

Shocking as this may be for some, it's not the first time cameras have been used in lamp posts, they were doing that stuff years ago. However when it comes to x-ray images, you can't blame people for getting funny about it.

Then again, we all moan about it but does anyone do anything about it? Where do you draw the line?

CX.

I don't see why people are having huge issues with this. X-rays don't just see through clothing, they will also ignore any soft tissues. Unless I was smuggling weapons in my anus, I wouldn't worry about it..

I personally think this is a step in the right direction.

Originally posted by bluesquareapple
I don't see why people are having huge issues with this. X-rays don't just see through clothing, they will also ignore any soft tissues. Unless I was smuggling weapons in my anus, I wouldn't worry about it..

I personally think this is a step in the right direction.

Yeah, a step in the right direction The old, "If you're not doing anything wrong then you should have nothing to worry about argument" Spoken like a true agent of the state or one of it's brainwashed sheep! This is bad in so many ways that I cannot even see anything that resembles a silver lining on this idea.

First of all, x-rays are RADIATION - something that we know is bad for human soft tissue and some electronic devices say like PACEMAKERS! Secondly, usurping privacy in the name of security is NEVER a good idea. It is the slippery slope that leads to despotism and enslavement. Think Hitler if you need an example.

I'm not certain what happened to you folks across the pond but you should be a.) scared, b.) pissed, c.) curious enough to understand why or d.) all of the above. You cannot arm yourselves to defend yourselves. There are cameras EVERYWHERE watching EVERYTHING and your personal liberties and privacy are nearly non-existent. At the rate that things have been escalating, you will all be essentially living in what resembles a prison; however, this one lacks walls as they are unnecessary and might alert people to what us really going on. I find it impossible to believe that anyone thinks any of these measures are good!

It doesn't seem like that bad of an idea to me...I mean they also have cameras near stoplights so it's quite similar, isn't it?

Originally posted by kozmo

Originally posted by bluesquareapple
I don't see why people are having huge issues with this. X-rays don't just see through clothing, they will also ignore any soft tissues. Unless I was smuggling weapons in my anus, I wouldn't worry about it..

I personally think this is a step in the right direction.

Yeah, a step in the right direction

The old, "If you're not doing anything wrong then you should have nothing to worry about argument"

Spoken like a true agent of the state or one of it's brainwashed sheep! This is bad in so many ways that I cannot even see anything that resembles a silver lining on this idea.

First of all, x-rays are RADIATION - something that we know is bad for human soft tissue and some electronic devices say like PACEMAKERS! Secondly, usurping privacy in the name of security is NEVER a good idea. It is the slippery slope that leads to despotism and enslavement. Think Hitler if you need an example.

I'm not certain what happened to you folks across the pond but you should be a.) scared, b.) pissed, c.) curious enough to understand why or d.) all of the above. You cannot arm yourselves to defend yourselves. There are cameras EVERYWHERE watching EVERYTHING and your personal liberties and privacy are nearly non-existent. At the rate that things have been escalating, you will all be essentially living in what resembles a prison; however, this one lacks walls as they are unnecessary and might alert people to what us really going on. I find it impossible to believe that anyone thinks any of these measures are good!

I don't get the whole privacy thing in this situation? Do you own the street the x-ray camera is pointed to? Do you own that lamp post?

By the way, do you have any hard evidence to show that current x-ray technology is detrimental to health of people with electronically assisted health related devices? Technology has come a long way. There are some x-ray machines that will cause problems in these devices, but if you actually do the research..

www.americanheart.org...

Originally posted by bluesquareapple
I don't get the whole privacy thing in this situation? Do you own the street the x-ray camera is pointed to? Do you own that lamp post?

If this member is a citizen of the UK that pays taxes, then to a degree, yes he does, and he also reserves the right to be against this. Since when can't a citizen be against something done by the government?

By the way, do you have any hard evidence to show that current x-ray technology is detrimental to health of people with electronically assisted health related devices? Technology has come a long way. There are some x-ray machines that will cause problems in these devices, but if you actually do the research..

You have evidence to prove without a shadow of a doubt, that an x-ray device will not conflict with a pacemaker that is, say, 10 years old? Do you have the hard evidence to prove that x rays are 100% safe? I have never heard a single scientist ever say "oh boy, let's go run around in a bunch of x-rays naked for fun!" (not inclusive of fraternity hazing, of course).

If x-rays are safe, then why do people wear protective lead covers when at the dentist? And why is it that when I go to get an x-ray, the person taking the x-ray is in their own little enclosed room?

*Edit to add:

Originally posted by Mythatsabigprobe Oh, and the day I see radiologists stand in the same room with an x-ray machine and no lead apron is the day I'll believe it's safe.

It is like we were sharing the same mind....

[edit on 1/29/07 by niteboy82]

Originally posted by bluesquareapple

I don't get the whole privacy thing in this situation? Do you own the street the x-ray camera is pointed to? Do you own that lamp post?

By the way, do you have any hard evidence to show that current x-ray technology is detrimental to health of people with electronically assisted health related devices? Technology has come a long way. There are some x-ray machines that will cause problems in these devices, but if you actually do the research..

www.americanheart.org...

What on earth does ownership of the street and lamp post have to do with the police using an x-ray to look through your clothing???


Not a pretty sight huh?

Oh, and the day I see radiologists stand in the same room with an x-ray machine and no lead apron is the day I'll believe it's safe.

total recall, remember the movie. what willl the device look like, and will it be on top of the lamp post.

How much will this cost the UK tax payer. More money being wasted on things that add little to safety.

While the UK Government is happy to let criminals out of prison early or not to prison at all.

Originally posted by andy1033
total recall, remember the movie. what willl the device look like, and will it be on top of the lamp post.

There's more than one way it can look. Here's a link to the one they're going to use at airports.

It's a Compton backscatter x-ray imager, not a conventional x-ray like the one at your doctor's office. It uses a lot less power. It's very computationally intensive, I can't imagine how they can afford to put them all over London.

www.epic.org...

This is about desensitization - getting you used to the fact that the government can get ANY information about you that it wants and that you should placidly comply without question. Our personal liberties are being eroded and some people actually want to question the safety of x-rays? 5th grade science has already taught us enough about x-rays to know that they are dangerous after prolonged or repeated exposure. Hence the protective equipment donned by x-ray techs at the hospital.

Yes, I do have a right to personal privacy even while in public - in the U.S. the Bill of Rights provides for this. I'm not certain what document (If any) addresses this in the UK, but in a FREE society, all persons should be protected from unwarranted, over-zealous probes into our privacy. What business is it to the police what I have in my pocket if I've broken no laws?

People need to understand that giving up freedom in exchange for security has never worked. Those poeple end up being enslaved in a society that is worse than what they were promised to be protected from in the first place.

I'm not down with this. This reeks of "Big Brother" and the coming police state. Once you surrender your personal freedom, liberties and privacy, you will not see them again. You can take that to the bank.

In the US, they'd have issues with this out on the street, because the cops can't use equipment for invasive search. There is, for example, a radar gun looking thing that will tell me if you're packing from a distance. Cops can't use it because it's a 4th amendment violation.

At the airport is a different issue.

However, I don't believe the Brits are covered against this sort of thing. Perhaps it's time for a new Magna Carta.

i remember once seeing a video of someone saying that they use xray technology to read all letters, and post.

do people think this may be possible, i can see how they would do it, might need fast computer or two.

Originally posted by Tom Bedlam

Originally posted by andy1033
total recall, remember the movie. what willl the device look like, and will it be on top of the lamp post.

There's more than one way it can look. Here's a link to the one they're going to use at airports.

It's a Compton backscatter x-ray imager, not a conventional x-ray like the one at your doctor's office. It uses a lot less power. It's very computationally intensive, I can't imagine how they can afford to put them all over London.

www.epic.org...

As well as the cost of putting them all over England who picks up the bill for the people employed to monitor these cameras??!

Originally posted by Blacksheep
As well as the cost of putting them all over England who picks up the bill for the people employed to monitor these cameras??!

Don't they already have cameras everywhere in the major cities?

It would be my guess that I could set up a machine vision system to look for dense objects in a certain size range being carried about by large non-dense people.

You could outline such objects and bring them to the attention of monitoring personnel.

It does beg the question of what happens if the populace starts carrying around cardboard cutouts of firearms impregnated with some sort of metal salts. If the TSA folk had a bit more of a sense of humor I'd implement my crafty "firearm paper" plan. On an x-ray it looks like a revolver, but it's nothing more than some barium ink on paper slipped into a friend's luggage.

On the other hand, my first gag product, Eau de Hashish sprayed on someone's cuffs didn't go over really well.

what about this, looking into peoples homes, from lamp posts, possible?

p2pnet.net...

Now, i've been listening to this on the radio all day in manchester and i have to have my say too.

This is a joke. Not a funny joke, a wierd joke. If i choose to be seen naked in full view, i'll choose the time and the place. What a mess we're in people...... What a mess.

Consider this. The gov state that it's to stop "terrorists". If we don't like the idea of this, as i suspect most of the uk population already does, what will it take for them to do to the uk to implement this?

Answers on the back of a postcard to ATS.....

Maybe the july bombings weren't enough to sh1t this country up. Maybe there's more "attacks" to come in the uk to help pass this????

Remirah.

Remirah, they probably want them on lamp posts so they can look though your walls and build an image of inside your home, and you and everyone in there.

see the link i posted above about see through walls tech, that probably can be put onto lamp posts and all that outside peoples homes.

Originally posted by andy1033
Remirah, they probably want them on lamp posts so they can look though your walls and build an image of inside your home, and you and everyone in there.

see the link i posted above about see through walls tech, that probably can be put onto lamp posts and all that outside peoples homes.

That's a UWB imager. We've had them for a while over on the classified side, at least crude versions. It's not the same as the backscatter x-ray machine, which WON'T work through walls, at least not and still show you people images.

There are versions that can look through the wall and tell me how many people are there, for example, by counting the different heart rates. Or, I can tell if someone's hiding in a room, or a truck or what have you.

The 21st century upgrade of this is the visibuilding project. Lots o' bucks going to that one.

Disclosure after the event I reckon, TB and his Labour Gov (mind you I wouldn't trust any Gov).

As in anything regarding your personal privacy, you can bet the means to invade have been in use for a while, and now it is perfected for use against you in a court of (Gov) law, now is the time to disclose its presence.

Wolfie