# Body Scanners and Privacy **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 6, 2010, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-scanners-and-privacy/531486 "2010-03-06T01:17:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-scanners-and-privacy/531486/81 "2010-03-07T00:57:04Z")
These scanners are rare now. What if they become standard? I don’t particularly object to an extra somebody seeing me naked. I object to the principle of yet another search. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-scanners-and-privacy/531486/82 "2010-03-07T04:52:12Z")
> [@nilum](#): > > Also similarly you like to make things up about the person you’re debating against in an attempt to smear them and make them look foolish. > > […] > > No… if you read everything was fine until you started lying about me saying that I knew of some website with REAL body scan voyeur, which I then spent several posts trying to get you to re-read what I said… but instead you blatantly ignored everything and continued to put words in my mouth… and yeah that pisses me off. > > I’m lucky no one else was paying attention? I’m sure everyone who read this at least knew you were talking out your ass accusing me of things. > > Anyway, you need to grow up. > [@nilum](#): > > You’re putting words in my mouth yet again. > > […] > > I’m sorry for calling you stupid, but you should learn not to lie about people. **nilum** , on this site you’re not allowed to insult people unless you’re in the BBQ Pit. And in Great Debates, you’re not allowed to call another poster a liar. If this discussion is going to continue, you’re going to have to stop making personal comments about other people. > [@Rumor\_Watkins](#): > > I for one don’t think the “oops, sorry, it’s a hoax! i didn’t know” self-revelation is all that convincing. Any further comments along this line should be made in the Pit. ---
**Author:** ![Stealth\_Potato](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Stealth\_Potato](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stealth_Potato)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-scanners-and-privacy/531486/83 "2010-03-07T07:43:41Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > If it doesn’t have anything to do with skin, then what privacy is being invaded? Even if it’s not a _big deal_, I am still entitled to my privacy. I may not care if somebody else sees me naked, but what I’m trying to say is _that’s not the point_. Arguing in this line is the same old “if you have nothing to hide, why are you worried?” bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![nilum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ed8c4c/32.png) [@nilum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nilum)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-scanners-and-privacy/531486/84 "2010-03-07T13:37:53Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > **nilum** , on this site you’re not allowed to insult people unless you’re in the BBQ Pit. And in Great Debates, you’re not allowed to call another poster a liar. If this discussion is going to continue, you’re going to have to stop making personal comments about other people. > Any further comments along this line should be made in the Pit. So it’s perfectly okay for him to put words in my mouth? Okay, I’ll remember that for future debates. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-scanners-and-privacy/531486/85 "2010-03-07T18:35:25Z")
> [@nilum](#): > > So it’s perfectly okay for him to put words in my mouth? > > Okay, I’ll remember that for future debates. It is not okay for posters to put words in your mouth. On the other hand, I do not see that happening. In any discussion, particularly where the matter under discussion is not absolutely clear to everyone, there is always a bit of interaction required where the responding poster attempts to echo back the original poster’s comments in paraphrase to be sure that they both agree on the point they are discussing. That is what I have seen in this thread. If you can point to an explicit exchange in which another poster has made a claim that is clearly nothing resembling anything you have posted, (or a point that can be logically deduced from what you have posted), we will consider the matter agian. (I will warn you that such actions are rarely clear enough to allow an actual judgment.) Until that time, however, I would suggest that you are better off simply stating your own point clearly enough that there can be no confusion rather than hurling accusations of lying or grumbling threats that you are going to employ dishonest tactics with some poster in future exchanges. [/Moderating] ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2010, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-scanners-and-privacy/531486/86 "2010-03-07T18:37:34Z")
> [@nilum](#): > > So it’s perfectly okay for him to put words in my mouth? > > Okay, I’ll remember that for future debates. Of course not. The rule in Great Debates is, “Attack the argument, not the person making it.” ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-scanners-and-privacy/531486/87 "2010-03-08T13:09:17Z")
Stealth Potato pretty much hit the nail on the head. It’s not an argument about whether safety or modesty is more important. I think ol’ Ben sums it up the best. “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” That being said, if individual airlines want to require scans of passengers, fine, people can choose to fly with other airlines. Capitalism at work. It’s when the _government_ decides that we all have to be scanned that I’ll have a problem. It looks as if that’s what’s eventually going to happen, unfortunately. As someone in this thread already mentioned, terrorism, while horrible (and my heart goes out to the victims and their families), is over-hyped. The underwear bomber, the guy who snuck stuff in his shoes- it wasn’t the security that stopped these guys, it was fellow passengers. I haven’t even heard of anyone being caught at the gate with dangerous materials. If they want stuff on the plane, they’ll get stuff on the plane. Really, the best thing to do is to have super secure pilot cabins that potential hijackers can’t get inside of. At that point what are they doing? Killing a few hundred people on a plane? They could easily kill just as many at a baseball game, at a concert or at the mall- and it’d be way, way easier to get into those places. ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-scanners-and-privacy/531486/88 "2010-03-08T13:57:42Z")
> [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > Stealth Potato pretty much hit the nail on the head. It’s not an argument about whether safety or modesty is more important. > > I think ol’ Ben sums it up the best. > > “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” > > That being said, if individual airlines want to require scans of passengers, fine, people can choose to fly with other airlines. Capitalism at work. > > It’s when the _government_ decides that we all have to be scanned that I’ll have a problem. It looks as if that’s what’s eventually going to happen, unfortunately. As someone in this thread already mentioned, terrorism, while horrible (and my heart goes out to the victims and their families), is over-hyped. The underwear bomber, the guy who snuck stuff in his shoes- it wasn’t the security that stopped these guys, it was fellow passengers. I haven’t even heard of anyone being caught at the gate with dangerous materials. If they want stuff on the plane, they’ll get stuff on the plane. > > Really, the best thing to do is to have super secure pilot cabins that potential hijackers can’t get inside of. At that point what are they doing? Killing a few hundred people on a plane? They could easily kill just as many at a baseball game, at a concert or at the mall- and it’d be way, way easier to get into those places. I think ol’ Ben sums it up the best. “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” I work with the elderly and many fly to warmer climates in winter. This new law has made many of them afraid. One woman in her 90’s was strip searched because she was wearing a lot of clothing. The elderly are cold because of a lack of circulation. Most keep their homes at 80 degrees year round! My own mother was searched twice going to Nassau and on the way back. She told the woman to please go easy on her because of her Bursitis. I find it ridiculous and ineffective. I am afraid to fly now because I have an implant. I have metal in my head and a large metal battery from the space shuttle in my back… Well it will last 200 years according to the manufacturer it is designed from the space shuttle. I can’t ever have another MRI or it would kill me. I am afraid even though I carry a card saying what it is they may try and use an MRI on me. I can go through a metal detector but that is it. My fear is that they will hold me until they can verify it and because the technology is so new it could be hours or days. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/body-scanners-and-privacy/531486.md?page=4)