The story started innocently enough: the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was unveiling state-of-the-art technology to beef up security at airport checkpoints. Often ridiculed for its inefficiency and incompetence, TSA finally had good news to report.
Then earlier this year, a "privacy vs. security" furor erupted and newspaper headlines screamed: "X-Rated X-Ray," "Naked Came the Passenger" and "Government: Don't Dare Scan My Body." The target of the alarm: a new high-tech body scanner, aka "the Peeper." When passengers walk through it, it uses radio waves to peep underneath their clothing - a digital strip search that reveals if someone is concealing anything suspicious, like a gun or a bomb.
Before rolling out the machines, TSA put in a lot of privacy safeguards. The images would not be visible anywhere at the checkpoint - not to passengers, or the TSA. The pictures would be examined by a lone TSA worker via computer in a separate location, and then immediately destroyed.
Nevertheless, the thought of "Big Brother" taking pictures of us naked was too irresistible for headline writers, and angered civil liberties groups as well. The ACLU claimed the images would reveal highly personal details, like a mastectomy or colostomy, as well as the size of breasts and penises.
No comments:
Post a Comment