4 ms·
> Promotional material issued by ATSC claimed that the ADE 651 could detect such item as guns, ammunition, drugs, truffles, human bodies, contraband ivory and b
by gs17 2y ago
> Promotional material issued by ATSC claimed that the ADE 651 could detect such item as guns, ammunition, drugs, truffles, human bodies, contraband ivory and bank notes at distances of up to 1 kilometre (0.62 mi), underground, through walls, underwater or even from aircraft at an altitude of up to 5 kilometres (3.1 mi).
Could they have at least tried to make their lies believable?
- pavel_lishin 2y agoI assume it's like Nigerian Prince emails - if they were believable, they might have appealed to buyers who would have done something like purchasing one and testing it, instead of spending millions of dollars on garbage.
- jandrese 2y agoThis is it exactly. All of the serious people left before they finished the sales pitch. If they had sold one to someone competent that would be grounds for a lawsuit or fraud charges. They had to filter out the customer base to just two kinds of buyers: 1. The people who fail to realize that it's a big scam and will be fat dumb and happy forever. 2. The people who don't want something functional, they want a "probable cause" generator they can pull out when there isn't any evidence to go on.
- mrandish 2y agoSounds like they're basically making minimally plausible props for customers more focused on security theater performances than any actual security. It's scummy and dumb but legally the only real problem I see is lying and collecting money under false pretenses making it fraud. Alternatively, they could have chosen to market these products confidentially as essentially security placebos. There's a market for things like fake security cameras, which arguably have some value for deterrence and reassurance. I suspect many of their current customers would probably have been just as happy buying these products knowing they didn't work.
- jandrese 2y agoI don't think it's quite as innocent as security theater. I think these are more for generating probable cause when they need to shake down someone who isn't doing anything illegal.