Nude Border Control
The right to privacy is an important issue, no doubt, but for me it does not rank at the top of the list. Right now, for example, I'm much more concerned about the economy, the environment, and ending the war in Iraq. But here's an item sent to me by a friend over the weekend that gives people such as myself great pause and serves to place privacy rights closer to the top. The image above is from a millimeter-wave scan machine used at airport security venues across the country. Columnist Robyn Blumner of the St. Petersburg Times describes that when "selected" by airport security personnel for one such scan, she agreed because she thought she was being "sniffed" for explosives by a machine. Instead:
The millimeter-wave scan machine took an image of my body under all my clothes and then gave it a tin-like patina. The picture makes one look avatar-like, with every hill and valley in full view. The image was then viewed by a security officer 'in a remote location and a windowless booth,' so the agent couldn't match a face to a body, according to Sari Koshetz, a spokeswoman for the [Transportation Security Administration].
You can see the image here.
I've been "selected" for similar screenings in the past, and I had no idea I was agreeing to a strip search. Not only is the idea of appearing naked in front of a government bureaucrat repulsive, but I also worry about the amount of X-rays these machines emit and how carcinogenic they may be, attacking unknowing travelers.
Not that anybody in possession of his or her faculties expects honesty or disclosure from the Bush administration.
But clearly, if people are going to be scanned "naked" and permeated with high levels of X-rays, they should be told so in advance. This is truly outrageous.
Tools: 
Share
|
| Comments (5) | Print
Reader Comments
I agree
that the surveillance of U.S. Citizens by the Bush administration goes beyond his job description, but what are the people's representatives doing about it other than ineffective lip service?
But I would like a list of all those points I missed about the article. It was Bonnie Erbe that published the pictures, not me.
But this all did come about because a handfull of mostly Saudis did board 4 U.S. airplanes and kill everybody in all 4 of them in addition to many more people in the buildings they destroyed.
If there is a better solution to trying to prevent another shoe bomber from boarding yet another airplane, the NSA should certainly be apprised of it.
Heaven forbid that a child of yours or mine should board a plane with someone concealing an explosive device.
odd thoughts
The photo of the scan shown is not the woman who wrote the story. Its a sample scan of a security agent.
Personally, I couldn't care less if they see all my stuff, if it gets me thru their security "circus" faster. Remember, its mostly theatre...not security. It's designed to make everyone feel safer...not be safer.
If selected for additional screening...Ask 'Why?"..demand an answer. If told to get in a machine, be bright enough to ask what it does, and how...before you get in. If the agent doesn't know, ask for a supervisor.
Buy some special traveling underpants that say "kiss my a**" and wear them for every trip....just in case.
My only concern is the radiation level...but then I use a microwave every day too.
Get over it. Its only skin...you only live once, smile and enjoy it
Several counter-culture thoughts:
Somebody will probably make a fortune selling some kind of special underwear that supposedly blocks the "view" of this technology.
Several very well-endowed men are going to just "love" the idea of being screened.
Read 'em and weep, boys and girls.
Put all these on the internet and let the middle-schoolers google away and ponder the world they are growing up in.
advertisement
