TSA Exposes Travelers to New Scanner Technology
Holy x-ray vision, Batman! (or should I say Superman?) It seems the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) can see right through us as it tests a new type of body scan called millimeter-wave imaging for use at the nation’s airports. Designed to expose concealed weapons and explosives, the body scan does its job a little too well and also produces an image that is anatomically explicit. While the images will be out of public view, it's little consolation when your only other option according to the TSA is a pat down. (Decisions, decisions.) Test locations include Phoenix Sky Harbor (PHX), Los Angeles (LAX), New York (JFK), Baltimore-Washington (BWI) and Albuquerque (ABQ).
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Clearly, this will be a topic of discussion for travelers, everywhere. Your thoughts?
Comments
Who cares? Better this than having some terrorist slip through. Let's face it, a lot of people wear clothes that leave nothing to the imagination anyway!
Posted by: jackie | June 2, 2008 12:53 PM
I believe it is excellent! It makes me feel a little safer while traveling. We never should have been so liberal in our boarding policies in the first place.I HOPE IT GETS EVEN MORE DIFFICULT FOR PEOPLE AND MATERIALS TO GET INTO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. I believe we should also be advised if anyone is on our flight who feared or objected to being thouroughly checked out before boarding. And we should be allowed to get off the plane and get our money back immediately!
Posted by: JOHN BOCKES | June 2, 2008 1:06 PM
I'd like a copy!
Posted by: Dana Wicks | June 2, 2008 1:08 PM
Who cares if a perfect stranger, you will likely never see again for the rest of your life sees you naked (sort of) for 4 seconds or more? Furthermore you are one in thousands they will see in a day. You would have to be a bit of an ego-maniac if you think you will be singled out for anything other than a gun/knife hiding, bomb caring mass murderer! I say bring it on, here is one technology that seems to cut to the chase with simplicity and may actually work!
Posted by: Anonymous Female | June 2, 2008 1:08 PM
Seriously, what's up with the posts thus far? Are we that scared as a nation that we feel this invasion of privacy is a necessity in order to fly? Even before 9/11 with the 'liberal boarding policies' air travel was still the safest means. Has anyone ever heard of ceramic knives or plastic guns? Neither are picked up by a metal detector and both are in use TODAY. That means anyone with access to either (ceramic knives can be purchased at Wal-Mart) can walk onto a plane with them. Our safety is merely perception, ready to be exploited (once again) by those with enough determination. The question becomes this: are we going to allow fear to dominate common sense, as it has with the aerosol cans and gels, or are we going to wake up and realize that we aren't any safer today pre-9/11, but it now takes twice as long to get through the airport, and that the actions of fundamental extremists can not be allowed to dictate our style of life. Once they do, we have lost, with consequences far worse than those of any troop withdrawal prior to victory in Iraq.
Posted by: Mark | June 2, 2008 1:28 PM
I would have less of a problem with this if the person who is doing the looking is in another room and not allowed to view the faces or clothed bodies of the same people. The room is a closed room where no cameras of any kind are ever allowed. Then we are all just a bunch of anonymous naked body images with no permanent record. No harm done (to us).
Posted by: Craig | June 2, 2008 2:28 PM
This is going too far. But this should not be a surprise. Government power is a slippery slope. They say this is for our protection, but when someone is looking at my daughter, wife, or son, it just does not seem worth it. I will specifically avoid any airport that uses this technology. My privacy is not worth this "safety tool".
Posted by: Bryan | June 3, 2008 3:49 AM