These Vans Can See You Naked With Their Full-Body Scanners

It’s not just airport security that can see you naked with their full-body scanner, AS&E’s Z Backscatter Vans do the same thing. Only difference is that, well, vans are mobile vehicles that can hit the streets and target anyone.

How do these vans work? Forbes says:

The Z Backscatter Vans, or ZBVs, as the company calls them, bounce a narrow stream of x-rays off and through nearby objects, and read which ones come back. Absorbed rays indicate dense material such as steel. Scattered rays indicate less-dense objects that can include explosives, drugs, or human bodies. That capability makes them powerful tools for security, law enforcement, and border control.

The “primary purpose” of the ZBV’s is “to image vehicles and their contents”. They promise that “the system cannot be used to identify an individual, or the race, sex or age of the person.” Which sounds safe BUT AS&E admit that the scanners in ZBV’s will penetrate clothing aka the scanners go deep enough to see your ittie bitties.

Perhaps the scariest thing is that we don’t know who AS&E sell these Z Backscatter Vans to, they only cryptically say that they have customers on “all continents except Antarctica”. Call me prude but if someone is looking at me naked, I want to at least know their name. [Forbes]