Privacy Has Ended — Some concerned with the erosion of privacy direct their ire at Google Maps’ “street view “. Others say full-body scanners at airports are the best herald of an Orwellian future.
Well, American Science & Engineering of Billerica, Mass. has combined the best of both fears into a nondescript vehicle called the Z Backscatter Van or ZBV.
A ZBV travels streets and parking lots in anonymity using a narrow stream of x-rays to reveal and record the interiors of cars, containers and buildings.
And yes, they will reveal what’s beneath a person’s clothing.
You won’t find these mobile X-ray Specs in the back of a comic book, though. Their cost is $850,000. Five hundred of them having been sold since 2003, most to the Department of Defense which has used them to foil roadside bomb attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Foreign governments have also bought them, however, as have domestic law enforcement agencies, which has used them for border control and security matters.
The New York City Police Department is among the agencies confirmed to have adopted this technology.
American Science & Engineering Marketing Vice President Joseph Reiss told Forbes magazine that their product is the “largest selling cargo and vehicle inspection system ever.”