So I was just reading this thread about body scanners a few months ago. It didn’t seem like many were concerned then.
But then I read this article (from cnet.com) today, which, as it turns out, the scans have actually been saved all this time (when it was apparently said they wouldn’t be). WARNING: THE LINKED ARTICLE IS PROBABLY NOT SAFE FOR WORK DUE TO SOME PHOTOGRAPHS OF SCANS ON THE PAGE.
From the link above:
But then…
Seems to me like privacy is taking a back seat here and while I would probably prefer safety over privacy, the whole “Oh yeah, we need to save them for…uh…testing purposes” excuse seems hinky. :dubious:
I find it hard to get worked up about images like the ones in the linked article. A visible-light photograph of a person wearing normal summertime clothes looks a lot more like a naked person than those scans do.
Who cares anyway? They should just make every one on the plane get naked. Maybe let the stewards hand out little paper hospital gowns after the plane’s in the air. Imagine how much faster the lines would be. Ok, fine, they could have a ladies’ section and a mens’ section. But that’s so lame. Maybe they could have a kiddie section for all the clothed people. They’d still have to undress but they would get footie pajamies to wear instead.
Land of the free, home of the brave (and somewhat chilly.)
Wow. I’m not conservative, but I still can understand a person being reluctant to have other people looking at snapshots of their (formerly-)private parts.
On the other hand, my level of sympathy only extends to suggesting they take the train/boat instead. There is a price one pays for convenience, and if they don’t want to pay that price, there are ways not to.
Transsexuals trying to pass pre-op care very much indeed. Perhaps it would be different if the people viewing the scans could be relied on to act as professionals or even grown ups, but time and again it has been demonstrated that they cannot be trusted. I imagine some others who take modesty seriously care as well, as do many famous people who don’t choose to be naked in public or pose for nude pictures.
The snickering or lack of trust among TSA agents is far outweighed by the need for national security and American’s short attention-span theater desire to zip through security.
I have to admit, that angle hadn’t occurred to me. I can imagine the temptation to capture and distribute celeb “nudes” (I wonder if one of Jennifer Garner would be similar to the rain scene from Daredevil) would be palpable and given numerous examples of TSA unprofessionalism, inevitable.
I don’t see a remedy, aside from giving passengers the option for a slower, more conventional check (which I figure will last until someone manages to sneak a weapon through). Meanwhile, I personally will be okay with the scan as long if it allows me to skip the hassle.
Er, WHAT? There’s a black-and-white image that looks like a four year old took a bunch of clay and formed it into the general shape of a human. So what if someone sees your dick’s outline? They don’t know you. WHY DO YOU CARE?!
Can you explain how allowing airport security to see exactly what people are carrying is useless? Also, even if the scanners did nothing at all, they are a deterent.
so what? So sone random guy who has never seen you in person and will never see you again saw the rough outline of your boobs. Who cares?!
And if he’s Getting off on the pictures linked earlier, he’d be getting off on seeing you fully clothed. Should we seperate all men and women in all public spaces so no one ever looks at anyone elses boobs?
None of your links prove your first assertion, that body scanners don’t make airports more secure. Indeed, the first one is from an obviously highly biased site (they refer to TSA as “The Thugs”), and the last one is a blog entry complaining about his girlfriend being scanned.
Do you actually have any evidence that the body scanners do not make the airports any safer? Not that they don’t make them 100% safe… but that they do not move the needle even in the slightest bit in the direction of more safety?
In general, the thought of someone looking at images of my body scan isn’t going to keep me awake, but given my personal beliefs that most of the TSA rules are more about making people FEEL safe rather than BE safe, I’m not inclined to cut them any slack here. Either find a way to guarantee that the images won’t be stored, or provide travelers with an alternative.
What has me more concerned than today’s scans is the precedense being set. Just because a scan now looks like a kindergardener drew it, and isn’t connected to my name, doesn’t mean that the same will be true in 20 years. It’s a pretty safe bet that the images will become more detailed.
Hmm, I wonder what would happen if the cod piece made a comeback?