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Lawsuit Filed Against NYPD Street Body Scanners

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Re: Lawsuit Filed Against NYPD Street Body Scanners

#11

Post by danso »

darkarmani wrote: post #9
danso wrote: post #7

Playing Devil's Advocate here: how is this comparable to "nude" body scanners? From the demo images, it seems to produce an abstract outline except for the shapes that, I'm assuming, are too dense to be organic. In concept, how is this different than being forced to walk through a metal detector? Both this visual body scanner and the metal detector only provide vague indications of what you have hidden under your clo…

> In concept, how is this different than being forced to walk through a metal detector? Well, you generally have a choice (kinda) to walk through a metal detector. People should be protect from random searches while walking around the streets. At one time there were very specific cases where you had to submit to a search -- one being hot pursuit.

I guess that's true. I forgot that the NYPD can search through all of your stuff when you enter a subway, but you have the right to refuse and just not take the subway (at least at that station)

Re: Lawsuit Filed Against NYPD Street Body Scanners

#12

Post by evoxed »

knowaveragejoe wrote: post #8
bcoates wrote: post #6

Are there practical materials to make hoodies and/or jeans out of that are opaque to these devices?

If these are terahertz-band scanners, I believe most metals will block the waves.

So, tin foil hoodies? Or maybe chain mail will come back in style?

I haven't encountered one of these yet, but I'd actually be willing to go through if I had some sort of metallic pre-wash all over my clothes.

Re: Lawsuit Filed Against NYPD Street Body Scanners

#13

Post by darkarmani »

tsaoutourpants wrote: post #2

Original author here... thanks for posting! :) I filed the first lawsuit against the TSA's nude body scanners when they became primary screening in 2010, and you may also remember me from my "How to Get Anything Through TSA Nude Body Scanners" video. Today I filed suit against New York City for attempting to introduce street body scanners that can look under your clothes from afar. It is unfortunate that it seems tha…

This seems to relate to using devices to detect things inside your car (dogs) or devices to detect growing lamps in your house (unconstitutional search).

It looks like they are working to erode searches again, using dogs to detect drugs inside a home. http://www.scotusblog.com/2012/10/argument-preview-drug-snif...

Everything I learned in high school civics class seems to be obsolete when it comes to our Constitutional rights: "bong hits for jesus", "administrative" searches (body scanners), and now street searches.

Why is it the argument from ignorance/lack of imagination via fear is so compelling? "We need to do X to stop Y." Where Y is something very remote but really scary.

Re: Lawsuit Filed Against NYPD Street Body Scanners

#14

Post by potatolicious »

danso wrote: post #11
darkarmani wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In concept, how is this different than being forced to walk through a metal detector? Well, you generally have a choice (kinda) to walk through a metal detector. People should be protect from random searches while walking around the streets. At one time there were very specific cases where you had to submit to a search -- one being hot pursuit.

I guess that's true. I forgot that the NYPD can search through all of your stuff when you enter a subway, but you have the right to refuse and just not take the subway (at least at that station)

In NYC the subway is critical infrastructure, as important as electricity or water, denial of its use should not be taken lightly.

Denial of this service to people who would not submit to a search, IMO, makes this highly coercive and the search can no longer be considered strictly voluntary.

One has to remember that having seen the flip side of the urban coin, New York City has taken the stance that quality of life ought to be enforced via any means necessary: legal or extralegal. Both stop and frisk as well as the bag searches on the subway do not pass even a cursory constitutionality examination, but that doesn't seem to bother anyone.

Re: Lawsuit Filed Against NYPD Street Body Scanners

#15

Post by knowaveragejoe »

evoxed wrote: post #12
knowaveragejoe wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If these are terahertz-band scanners, I believe most metals will block the waves.

So, tin foil hoodies? Or maybe chain mail will come back in style? I haven't encountered one of these yet, but I'd actually be willing to go through if I had some sort of metallic pre-wash all over my clothes.

Apparently there are a number of problems with terahertz technology, meaning potential methods of fooling them.

http://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/military/the-truth-about-...

Re: Lawsuit Filed Against NYPD Street Body Scanners

#16

Post by Zimahl »

darkarmani wrote: post #13
tsaoutourpants wrote: post #2

Original author here... thanks for posting! :) I filed the first lawsuit against the TSA's nude body scanners when they became primary screening in 2010, and you may also remember me from my "How to Get Anything Through TSA Nude Body Scanners" video. Today I filed suit against New York City for attempting to introduce street body scanners that can look under your clothes from afar. It is unfortunate that it seems tha…

This seems to relate to using devices to detect things inside your car (dogs) or devices to detect growing lamps in your house (unconstitutional search). It looks like they are working to erode searches again, using dogs to detect drugs inside a home. http://www.scotusblog.com/2012/10/argument-preview-drug-snif... Everything I learned in high school civics class seems to be obsolete when it comes to our Constitutiona…

Ugh, "Bong Hits for Jesus". That SCOTUS decision sincerely and utterly gnaws at my core. One of the worst decisions in the last 30 years.

Re: Lawsuit Filed Against NYPD Street Body Scanners

#17

Post by [deleted] »

tsaoutourpants wrote: post #4
hnwh wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

not to mention the health concerns of going around randomly Xray-ing people... "A cancer for you.. and a cancer for you.. "

These devices, as best I can tell, actually don't come with a radiation risk. They're passive scanners, meaning they don't emit their own radiation. TSA scanners on the other hand... ;)

[deleted]

Re: Lawsuit Filed Against NYPD Street Body Scanners

#18

Post by Spooky23 »

potatolicious wrote: post #14
danso wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess that's true. I forgot that the NYPD can search through all of your stuff when you enter a subway, but you have the right to refuse and just not take the subway (at least at that station)

In NYC the subway is critical infrastructure, as important as electricity or water, denial of its use should not be taken lightly. Denial of this service to people who would not submit to a search, IMO, makes this highly coercive and the search can no longer be considered strictly voluntary. One has to remember that having seen the flip side of the urban coin, New York City has taken the stance that quality of life o…

> Both stop and frisk as well as the bag searches on the subway do not pass even a cursory constitutionality examination, but that doesn't seem to bother anyone.

Correction: "s/anyone./white people, and we don't pay much attention to whining from those other people./"

The point of this was that the cops were supposed to stop and talk to people (685,724 in 2011) and frisk those if the officer is reasonably suspicious that the person has a weapon that could harm the officer (381,948 in 2011). Of those, 7,257 have a weapon. Have you ever been interrogated by a policeman? Should you be put in that position every day?

See: http://www.nyclu.org/news/new-nyclu-report-finds-nypd-stop-a...

Re: Lawsuit Filed Against NYPD Street Body Scanners

#19

Post by gnosis »

tsaoutourpants wrote: post #4
hnwh wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

not to mention the health concerns of going around randomly Xray-ing people... "A cancer for you.. and a cancer for you.. "

These devices, as best I can tell, actually don't come with a radiation risk. They're passive scanners, meaning they don't emit their own radiation. TSA scanners on the other hand... ;)

What makes you think they're passive scanners?

Re: Lawsuit Filed Against NYPD Street Body Scanners

#20

Post by josh_fyi »

tsaoutourpants wrote: post #2

Original author here... thanks for posting! :) I filed the first lawsuit against the TSA's nude body scanners when they became primary screening in 2010, and you may also remember me from my "How to Get Anything Through TSA Nude Body Scanners" video. Today I filed suit against New York City for attempting to introduce street body scanners that can look under your clothes from afar. It is unfortunate that it seems tha…

Thanks for fighting the good fight!

Just curious ... when you fly, do you get hassled or barred from the plane?

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