3 ms·

> I'm not aware of any postal service that uses a method other then optical imaging for address reading. Further, in some countries such as the US, it is not le

> I'm not aware of any postal service that uses a method other then optical imaging for address reading. Further, in some countries such as the US, it is not legal for the postal service to "look inside" mail pieces without a warrant. It could be hackers exploiting my lack of knowledge to social engineer me for their own criminal gain then. They even mentioned some of the old postal machines were for sale on ebay.co.uk, so when I looked there were 2nd hand postal xray machines for sale.

Symbiote 4y ago
There's a difference between spotting a bomb in a parcel and reading the instruction manual.
- moremetadata 4y ago
  The conversations I saw claimed they could read the ink on upto 4 sheets of A4 folded in an envelope. It may have been a form of social engineering, because I'm aware state hackers ignore laws and invade peoples privacy and enter their homes through the resident's internet connections.
jcrawfordor 4y ago
X-ray is not that unusual to check for contraband at customs, although it depends on the country whether or not it is a routine practice or requires suspicion. Perhaps the UK does so on domestic mail as well but that would be surprising to me, it's pretty high cost to do at large volume. These X-ray machines are the same type used at airports and usually produce either a synthetic isometric 3D-type image or two 2D images at 90 degree offset. The resolution and sensitivity are both nowhere near high enough to read text on documents, they're primarily oriented at recognizing firearms and very dense objects typical of drug smuggling. Much of the data modern X-ray parcel scanners produce is synthetic as well, based on machine vision and multi-exposure methods, so the display tends to suggest that the data they collect is of higher resolution than it actually is. You would struggle to determine whether a page is folded A4 or A8 with one of these machines, reading text is far beyond their capabilities.

Symbiote 4y ago

There's a difference between spotting a bomb in a parcel and reading the instruction manual.

moremetadata 4y ago
The conversations I saw claimed they could read the ink on upto 4 sheets of A4 folded in an envelope. It may have been a form of social engineering, because I'm aware state hackers ignore laws and invade peoples privacy and enter their homes through the resident's internet connections.

jcrawfordor 4y ago

X-ray is not that unusual to check for contraband at customs, although it depends on the country whether or not it is a routine practice or requires suspicion. Perhaps the UK does so on domestic mail as well but that would be surprising to me, it's pretty high cost to do at large volume. These X-ray machines are the same type used at airports and usually produce either a synthetic isometric 3D-type image or two 2D images at 90 degree offset. The resolution and sensitivity are both nowhere near high enough to read text on documents, they're primarily oriented at recognizing firearms and very dense objects typical of drug smuggling. Much of the data modern X-ray parcel scanners produce is synthetic as well, based on machine vision and multi-exposure methods, so the display tends to suggest that the data they collect is of higher resolution than it actually is. You would struggle to determine whether a page is folded A4 or A8 with one of these machines, reading text is far beyond their capabilities.