# Do you care if an airport screener sees you buck naked? X-Ray specs are here and now! **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 26, 2003, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-care-if-an-airport-screener-sees-you-buck-naked-x-ray-specs-are-here-and-now/184651 "2003-06-26T23:33:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Blalron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/35a633/32.png) [@Blalron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blalron)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2003, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-care-if-an-airport-screener-sees-you-buck-naked-x-ray-specs-are-here-and-now/184651/41 "2003-06-29T19:29:37Z")
I’d rather be killed by a terrorist. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-care-if-an-airport-screener-sees-you-buck-naked-x-ray-specs-are-here-and-now/184651/42 "2003-06-30T19:30:51Z")
I don’t care if they don’t get a thrill out of looking at me. What about privacy? What if someone has a colostomy bag, or something like that? ---
**Author:** ![Incubus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c68b51/32.png) [@Incubus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Incubus)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-care-if-an-airport-screener-sees-you-buck-naked-x-ray-specs-are-here-and-now/184651/43 "2003-06-30T22:53:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Blalron \* > \*\*I’d rather be killed by a terrorist. \*\* Oh come on, I’m sure you don’t look THAT bad! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2003, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-care-if-an-airport-screener-sees-you-buck-naked-x-ray-specs-are-here-and-now/184651/44 "2003-06-30T23:09:30Z")
I’m reminded of Total Recall. Do you think if I wrapped a bomb in some raw hamburger and put a realistic latex mask over it, this device would think it was my real head? ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2003, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-care-if-an-airport-screener-sees-you-buck-naked-x-ray-specs-are-here-and-now/184651/45 "2003-07-01T02:04:43Z")
I’m not bothered by it. But if I were famous, I might be. How long will it take before backscatter images of Cameron Diaz and Mark Wahlberg make it around the net? And I believe in another article I read about this they said that that photo of Susan Hallowell’s backscatter image was slightly altered to make it “suitable for publication”. My guess is that the nipples show up pretty clearly, and they photoshopped 'em out. And maybe the same with some of the more visible gynecological bits. ---
**Author:** ![lokij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/5e9695/32.png) [@lokij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lokij)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2003, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-care-if-an-airport-screener-sees-you-buck-naked-x-ray-specs-are-here-and-now/184651/46 "2003-07-01T06:16:38Z")
I’m not concerned about it. One possible solution I read somewhere about this is so simple either something is drastically wrong with it or it’s already going to be used and the pictures you see online are for demonstration purposes only. The X-rays only penetrate your skin about a tenth of an inch… in every picture I’ve see your skin shows up white against a black background and metal or reflective objects also show dark or grey against your skin. The solution? Feed the image through a computer that inverts it so your skin is black to match the background and foreign objects show up white against a more or less solid black background. This HAS to be doable with today’s graphics technology and solves the modesty problem. ---
**Author:** ![flonks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3ab097/32.png) [@flonks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flonks)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2003, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-care-if-an-airport-screener-sees-you-buck-naked-x-ray-specs-are-here-and-now/184651/47 "2003-07-01T18:06:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lokij \* > \*\*Feed the image through a computer that inverts it so your skin is black to match the background and foreign objects show up white against a more or less solid black background. This HAS to be doable with today’s graphics technology and solves the modesty problem. \*\* Done! [inverted grayscale image](http://mady.n.free.fr/tmp/a2.jpg) [inverted 2 of the 3 color bands](http://mady.n.free.fr/tmp/a3.jpg) Doesn’t change the situation very much… ---
**Author:** ![CrazyMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ee59a6/32.png) [@CrazyMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyMonkey)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2003, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-care-if-an-airport-screener-sees-you-buck-naked-x-ray-specs-are-here-and-now/184651/48 "2003-07-01T19:18:06Z")
Is there still time to register [www.IsMyXRayHot.com](http://www.IsMyXRayHot.com)? I have a creepy image in my head of a woman going through security and the screener saying “Congratulations, it’s a boy!” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-care-if-an-airport-screener-sees-you-buck-naked-x-ray-specs-are-here-and-now/184651.md?page=2)