WARNING - shipping cameras and camera media in the US Mail
While looking for some information on data recovery I came across this. There are some previous questions about travelling through airports with camera gear and the effects, if any, of soft - low energy - x-ray screening...but what follows is something which appears far more risky in shipping both cameras (generally), film, and digital camera media through the US mails. Even conventional cameras may contain some microelectronic components susceptible to damage from the described process. This could also apply to ANY electronic devices shipped by way of the US MAIL.
The technical paper, noted below, seems to suggest that the electron beam (e-beam) technology used and at the power levels applied by the USPS - WILL - damage to some degree, or outright destroy, transistors, micro-circuit chips, memory components, and other devices at the atomic level - EVEN WITH A SINGLE EXPOSURE.
It is particularly notable that this "risk" information comes from the computer / electronic industry and has never been addressed (as far as I can determine) by the photographic industry - whether respecting conventional goods (cameras and film) or digital (cameras and solid state storage media).
I can NOT say, from any information I am looking at, how this might affect conventional photographic film - or even lenses - but I have my suspicions. These high energy electron beam (e-beam) processes are etchants quite capable of, literally, evaporating, etching or punching atomic level holes in metals and semi-metals (such as lens coatings) and almost certainly would affect conventional silver based B&W films to an unknown degree.
This instruction is provided by:
AcoDisc Data Recovery
San Diego, CA
"...Warning do not ship flash Media through the U.S. postal service! Please use Fedex, UPS, or other shipping companies because they don't use e-beam systems to to sanitize the mail. Flash media may be damaged by the e-beam systems used by the USPS. Flash media include the folowing Compact Flash ?(CF), Smart Media ? (SSFDC), Sony® memory sticks and PCMCIA ATA Cards or other solid state storage chips...."
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also, there is a technical paper here on the subject (browser viewable - you do NOT need MSPowerPoint to view this):
JADEC is an electronics industry standards association
http://www.jedec.org/highlights/Integrated_Circuit_Vulnerability_to_E-Beam_Decontamination.ppt
TITLE: Integrated Circuit Vulnerability to E-Beam Decontamination Process (with specific reference to the US Postal Service - USPS)
by: Fred W. Sexton, Paul E. Dodd. Marty R. Shaneyfelt, and Jim R. Schwank.
The last slide in this PowerPoint presentation is the telling one:
CONCLUSIONS
1) USPS anthrax sanitization process WILL kill most microelectronic devices.
2) (shipping) Alternatives to irradiation are essential
3) Shipping using certified originators and (my note: NON-USPS) carriers is the preferred approach
4) USPS is coordinating its mail sanitization process with affected industrial groups throughout the US (my note: This does not necessarily include warnings to the general public or commercial businesses for shipments by mail from / to the general public that may pass through a USPS center using this sterilization / sanitization process)
Hunter
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