# TSA Introduces new privacy-protecting body scanners

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-introduces-new-privacy-protecting-body-scanners/593084>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [August 17, 2011, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-introduces-new-privacy-protecting-body-scanners/593084 "2011-08-17T21:43:57Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-introduces-new-privacy-protecting-body-scanners/593084/21 "2011-08-21T19:30:04Z")

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> [@matt\_mcl](#):
>
> Now that Canada has implemented them, a lot of my friends who are trans will just not fly. They don’t need the scrutiny and harassment that will obtain from being outed in front of a lot of security officers.

I can understand their reluctance. However, I would hope that the security officers would do their jobs dispassionately–in other words, by maintaining a poker face and refraining from needless comments while watching their monitors, and not responding to the image of a person with, “Holy cow! C’mere you guys, you gotta see this!”

It’s been a while since I’ve flown, but based on past performance, I think security officers have a long way to go before they approach the level of tact necessary to assure your trans friends that they can fly without fear of embarrassment or worse. And that’s rather sad.

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**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-introduces-new-privacy-protecting-body-scanners/593084/22 "2011-08-21T20:37:04Z")

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The only time a student ever assaulted me, the student was in a law and security program.

Who wants to be a low end security person? Often just the sort of person who should not be a low end security person.

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**Author:** ![Cerri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3bc359/32.png) [@Cerri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cerri)\
**Post date:** [August 21, 2011, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tsa-introduces-new-privacy-protecting-body-scanners/593084/23 "2011-08-21T23:37:53Z")

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Frankly, to what extent members of the TSA can see various parts of my body is far less worrying to me than things like the paper from John Hopkins questioning whether it is even safe to stand near an operating scanner, along with allegations they’re already finding cancer clusters in TSA workers, as well as the allegations the DHS lied about the NIST having tested the scanners when the NIST does not, and did not, do any testing.

[http://epic.org/privacy/airtravel/backscatter/epic\_v\_dhs\_radiation.html](http://epic.org/privacy/airtravel/backscatter/epic_v_dhs_radiation.html)

> **[Did Airport Scanners Give Boston TSA Agents Cancer? | TIME.com](https://healthland.time.com/2011/06/30/did-airport-scanners-give-boston-tsa-agents-cancer/)**
>
> (Updated) Could radiation from full-body scanners be responsible for a "cancer cluster" among airport security workers? That's what Transportation Security Administration union representatives in Boston have claimed.

[http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/radiation\_hopkins.pdf](http://timewellness.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/radiation_hopkins.pdf)

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