Extremely powerful drug-scanners coming soon

[DatSik.]

Technology continues to advance rapidly. In a year or two you might need to scrub yourself and change all clothes before you visit an airport if you smoked a joint the night before, and even then you might get taken out of the line. In another couple of years these little suckers will probably be mounted on cop cars.

Hidden Government Scanners Will Instantly Know Everything About You From 164 Feet Away

Within the next year or two, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will instantly know everything about your body, clothes, and luggage with a new laser-based molecular scanner fired from 164 feet (50 meters) away. From traces of drugs or gun powder on your clothes to what you had for breakfast to the adrenaline level in your body—agents will be able to get any information they want without even touching you.

And without you knowing it.

The technology is so incredibly effective that, in November 2011, its inventors were subcontracted by In-Q-Tel to work with the US Department of Homeland Security. In-Q-Tel is a company founded "in February 1999 by a group of private citizens at the request of the Director of the CIA and with the support of the U.S. Congress." According to In-Q-Tel, they are the bridge between the Agency and new technology companies.

Their plan is to install this molecular-level scanning in airports and border crossings all across the United States. The official, stated goal of this arrangement is to be able to quickly identify explosives, dangerous chemicals, or bioweapons at a distance.

The machine is ten million times faster—and one million times more sensitive—than any currently available system. That means that it can be used systematically on everyone passing through airport security, not just suspect or randomly sampled people.

Analyzing everything in real time
But the machine can sniff out a lot more than just explosives, chemicals and bioweapons. The company that invented it, Genia Photonics, says that its laser scanner technology is able to "penetrate clothing and many other organic materials and offers spectroscopic information, especially for materials that impact safety such as explosives and pharmacological substances." [PDF]

Formed in Montreal in 2009 by PhDs with specialties in lasers and fiber optics, Genia Photonics has 30 patents on this technology, claiming incredible biomedical and industrial applications—from identifying individual cancer cells in a real-time scan of a patient, to detecting trace amounts of harmful chemicals in sensitive manufacturing processes.


Full sizeAbove: The Genia Photonics' Picosecond Programmable Laser scanner is capable of detecting every tiny trace of any substance on your body, from specks of gunpowder to your adrenaline levels to a sugar-sized grain of cannabis to what you had for breakfast.

Meanwhile, In-Q-Tel states that "an important benefit of Genia Photonics' implementation as compared to existing solutions is that the entire synchronized laser system is comprised in a single, robust and alignment-free unit that may be easily transported for use in many environments… This compact and robust laser has the ability to rapidly sweep wavelengths in any pattern and sequence." [PDF]

So not only can they scan everyone. They would be able to do it everywhere: the subway, a traffic light, sports events... everywhere.

How does it work?
The machine is a mobile, rack-mountable system. It fires a laser to provide molecular-level feedback at distances of up to 50 meters in just picoseconds. For all intents and purposes, that means instantly.

The small, inconspicuous machine is attached to a computer running a program that will show the information in real time, from trace amounts of cocaine on your dollar bills to gunpowder residue on your shoes. Forget trying to sneak a bottle of water past security—they will be able to tell what you had for breakfast in an instant while you're walking down the hallway.

The technology is not new, it's just millions times faster and more convenient than ever before. Back in 2008, a team at George Washington University developed a similar laser spectrometer using a different process. It could sense drug metabolites in urine in less than a second, trace amounts of explosive residue on a dollar bill, and even certain chemical changes happening in a plant leaf.

And the Russians also have a similar technology: announced last April, their "laser sensor can pick up on a single molecule in a million from up to 50 meters away."

So if Genia Photonics' claims pan out, this will be an incredible leap forward in terms of speed, portability, and convenience. One with staggering implications.

Observation without limits
There has so far been no discussion about the personal rights and privacy issues involved. Which "molecular tags" will they be scanning for? Who determines them? What are the threshold levels of this scanning? If you unknowingly stepped on the butt of someone's joint and are carrying a sugar-sized grain of cannabis like that unfortunate traveler currently in jail in Dubai, will you be arrested?

And, since it's extremely portable, will this technology extend beyone the airport or border crossings and into police cars, with officers looking for people on the street with increased levels of adrenaline in their system to detain in order to prevent potential violent outbursts? And will your car be scanned at stoplights for any trace amounts of suspicious substances? Would all this information be recorded anywhere?

Above: A page from a Genia Photonics paper describing its ability to even penetrate through clothing.

There are a lot of questions with no answer yet, but it's obvious that the potential level of personal invasion of this technology goes far beyond that of body scans, wiretaps, and GPS tracking.

The end of privacy coming soon
According to the undersecretary for science and technology of the Department of Homeland Security, this scanning technology will be ready within one to two years, which means you might start seeing them in airports as soon as 2013.

In other words, these portable, incredibly precise molecular-level scanning devices will be cascading lasers across your body as you walk from the bathroom to the soda machine at the airport and instantly reporting and storing a detailed breakdown of your person, in search of certain "molecular tags".

Going well beyond eavesdropping, it seems quite possible that U.S. government plans on recording molecular data on travelers without their consent, or even knowledge that it's possible—a scary thought. While the medical uses could revolutionize the way doctors diagnose illness, and any technology that could replace an aggressive pat-down is tempting, there's a potential dark side to this implementation, and we need to shine some light on it before it's implemented.

The author of this story is currently completing his PhD in renewable energy solutions, focusing on converting waste to energy in the urban environment. Even while most of this information is publicly available, he wanted to remain anonymous.

 

[kill dank]

Invasion of privacy? I don't believe in that, but I don't think they should be looking for anything other than weapons. Drugs don't hurt anybody.

 

[DatSik.]

Yep, I agree with you on that.

Yes im a user not an abuser

 

[Piramid]

Do you even have sources or any legitimate places to find this infomation? Sounds like a bullshit conspiracy theory

 

[DatSik.]

I think google would be your best bet piramid, I just copied the article and wrapped it in quote tags. i dont know the legitimacy of it, just found it interesting.

 

[Emperor Nero]

http://gizmodo.com/5923980/the-secret-government-laser-that-instantly-knows-everything-about-you

It's from Gizmodo, so I suppose that it is legit. Sounds interesting, and will help. Getting drugs and weapons away from dangerous individuals is a good thing.

 

[DatSik.]

thanks for the link nero

 

[Hostblapstat]

Im honestly glad that they are doing this, drugs are bad and they shouldn't be used.

 

[Lame]

Oh this world is going to shit so fast...Why are humans so fucking ignorant?

 

[DatSik.]

not all drugs are bad mmkay

 

[ClazzD]

this is a really badly written article...

but damn why would gizmodo post this lol

 

Guessing this is a good thing? Yay.

 

[paypalwiz]

God i love pot heads and their conspiracy's. oh and fyi you can't get in trouble for having weed smoke on your clothing, if you could anyone that attends a willy nelson or kid rock concert is screwed. =0

 

[Sebastian Vael]

This sucks, not only will it interfere people's privacy but also their freedom, why take away substance that he will use, Let him use it and it wont do any harm to us.

 

i used to work at the airport and i can why they want these machines. Its a double edge sword. with great power comes great responsibility

 

[FireZ]

i used to work at the airport and i can why they want these machines. Its a double edge sword. with great power comes great responsibility

This. Airports need this

 

[MarkOST]

This article is probably a gross exagerration but there are lots of other new devices that aren't much better.

Many police cars now have camera's mounted on the back, it automatically records and searches license plates, speeds, facial recognization, and background search.


Often times cops will just drive through a parking lot while the computer scans faces. Any warrants of arrest and red flag pops up. This technology is known as "Tripwire" and is also being implimented into the enormous network of CCTV's nation wide. Along with NSA's supercomputer the size of a small town who's task is to record the entirety of the internet - all data, cellphone, and sms communications - automatically.

Sound like a crazy conspiracy theory? Google it, covered by all major news organizations.



Time to get out of the US.

 

Do I agree? No. Do I support it? Yes.

Illegal is illegal no matter how absurd it is. Don't get pissed off for getting in trouble for something you damn well know you shouldn't be doing.

 

[ChaotiiiKid]

Oh this world is going to shit so fast...Why are humans so fucking ignorant?

first thing I thought when I read this.

 

[BootyLove]

hahaha i'm gonna hotbox 6 blunts before i hit the airport next time.