Maybe we’re all traveling naked, after all

One of my clients makes these devices and I have gone through them. While the image definitely shows a lot of, ahem, detail, I guarantee you that no one would be able to identify me from the image once I cleared security (the one exception I see to that is people with a lot of piercings). As long as the person reviewing the images does not have a view of the person being scanned, its not really a privacy issue.

And, its definitely a lot more thorough than a metal detector, when I did the demo they showed me the image and it clearly picked out a roll of tums in my pocket, as well as the thin icepack (non-metallic and gelatinous) that we taped to my leg.

There are several disturbing issues with these virtual strip searches that the TSA seems intent on ignoring as its juggernaut rolls them out. The obvious one is that it represents a new level of intrusiveness and invasion of privacy imposed on everyone who chooses to fly. This is a significant alteration of the balance between privacy and security, which really needs to be authorized by Congress after public debate leads to a public law. Instead, unaccountable bureaucrats have given themselves the authority to make this decision unilaterally behind their closed doors, and then to implement it through additions to their secret regulations and procedures. And, as always, the scan is an ADDITIONAL hassle on top of the “divesting,” the shoes, and the Freedom Baggies.

Regardless of the claimed “security benefit” the strip searches provide, should the TSA really be allowed to impose them through an unaccountable, secretive process? Can we rely on their sweetly-worded assurances that behind the scenes they’re consistently following procedures that protect our privacy? Do we have any reason to believe that we’re actually getting “security” for the high cost of the scanners (in terms of both dollars and hassle)?

But the concerns about privacy and intrusiveness obscure a more important problem that the TSA seems to be addressing by ignoring it whenever it’s mentioned. The full-body scans require passengers to remove everything from their pockets so that the officers hidden away in their remote viewing rooms can have an unimpeded view of our anonymous bodies. Currently, we can carry a wallet (with our identity papers and credit cards) through a metal detector as long as any metal has been removed. With the virtual strip search, the wallet has to go into a bin or a carry-on bag, with no assurance of being able to see it or control it while being scanned. That creates an unacceptable risk, since a stolen wallet risks not only the difficulty of lost identification documents, money, and credit cards, but the risk of identity theft. The scanners thus make carry-on bags irresistible for thieves, since bags are likely to contain wallets that will be out of sight and control of their owners.

This issue has been raised on the TSA’s blog. The TSA representatives have essentially dismissed the problem as irrelevant. One of them suggested that you might politely and respectfully ask the screener to keep your carry-on in view during the scan. If the screener likes you and feels like it, and the checkpoint isn’t too busy, he or she might accommodate that request. But that’s entirely at the whim of the screener, who has absolutely no obligation to respond to the request. That’s not anything like an acceptable response or solution. The only conclusion from these (non-)responses is that the officials who are pushing for virtual strip searches of everyone never considered that it incidentally creates a serious risk of identity theft, and thus it’s of no consequence.

To me, the need to “divest” wallets and leave them vulnerable to theft is a fatal flaw with the full-body scanners. This is much more significant than (valid) concerns about privacy, intrusiveness, and TSA authority. The scanners should not be rolled out until the TSA satisfactorily addresses this serious problem.

Having been through it and having talked with one of those people who sit in the little room watching, I’m not worried about the technology. I do worry about my baggage being left unattended and I worry that the TSA still has not secured cargo and catering being delivered not only to the planes but to the businesses inside security.

As for the right to privacy, that’s a bit of murky area because there really isn’t a “right” to get on an airplane or to enter a secured area at a public airport. As travelers, we are free to choose if we want to do what is being required to fly or not.

I do have a number of issues with the blank check that the TSA seems to have about a number of issues and practices but this one is not the most troubling to me.

Picking up on a thread raised by others; what happens if I get through the whole scanning process, retrieve my belongings, and “discover” that the $500 I had in my wallet is now gone?

can anyone really say they feel safer….people are on lists they do not know about, old and stiff artheritic people look like hell after they have prepared to and gone thru screening…obvious fat people are patted down…I guess check for concealed stretch marks….people with pace makers ….I’d rather have bomb sniffing dogs check you out. and then shoudl we even have to mention customs and immigration where a lot of people are treated as criminals because “there is something that comes up” similar to you….I was asked the other day coming back from South america that if I am from NJ why am I flying through chicago….I answered “mileage”…and then it all began. It has been going on for over 15 years and I get not response as to what, or why…they only ask me if I ever lived in some city I have never been too…and then I think I am in Francs: guilty till proven innocent….(I have grown accustomed to american freedoms and hate when they are infringed upon in America

090909 had full kneecap replacement surgery to left leg. 25 october will fly to Thailand via Asiana air thru Seoul, Korea. Full body xray is fine with me, but will i still need DOCUMENTATION from Kaiser Hospital of the operation??