[LINK] Taking your passport to a demonstration?

Kim Holburn kim at holburn.net
Mon Sep 18 17:38:50 AEST 2006


I was reading an article in the latest New Scientist about a non- 
lethal / crowd control weapon the US is developing/using, namely a  
microwave beam that heats your skin enough to be uncomfortable.

I was thinking though.  If you had an RFID chip on you at the time  
you got "irradiated" would it wreck the RFID chip?  Just how much  
microwave radiation can they take?

BTW I don't think bits of metal in contact with your skin would be  
too comfortable in a microwave beam either.  That'd fix all those  
demonstrators with piercings I expect.

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/health/mg19125695.800-microwave- 
weapon-less-lethal-but-still-not-safe.html

> Microwave weapon 'less lethal', but still not safe
>     * 16 September 2006
>
> The Active Denial System, the Pentagon's "less-lethal" microwave- 
> based crowd-control weapon, produces potentially harmful hotspots  
> when used in built-up areas, and its effects can be intensified by  
> sweaty skin. The flaws call into question the weapon's usefulness  
> in hot conditions, like those in Iraq.
>
> The ADS fires a microwave beam intended to heat skin without  
> causing damage, while inflicting enough pain to force the victim to  
> move away. However, tests of the weapon showed that reflections off  
> buildings, water or even the ground can produce peak energy  
> densities twice as high as the main beam. Contact with sweat or  
> moist fabric such as a sweaty waistband further intensifies the effect


--
Kim Holburn
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