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Full Body Scanners Installed In 10 US Airports

Posted by Soulskill on from the too-cheap-to-hire-superman dept.

Lapzilla brings word that airports around the US are beginning to use a new type of body-scanning machine which records pictures of travelers underneath their clothing. The process takes roughly 30 seconds, and the person viewing the pictures is located in a separate room. We've discussed similar scanners in the past. From USAToday: "[Barry Steinhardt, head of the ACLU technology project] said passengers would be alarmed if they saw the image of their body. 'It all seems very clinical and non-threatening -- you go through this portal and don't have any idea what's at the other end,' he said. Passengers scanned in Baltimore said they did not know what the scanner did and were not told why they were directed into the booth. Magazine-sized signs are posted around the checkpoint explaining the scanners, but passengers said they did not notice them."

8 of 454 comments (clear)

  1. Auntie Mandy's No-Scan Panties by gbulmash · · Score: 5, Funny
    Okay, first thing... the woman in the scanner looks like she's trying to keep a hula hoop in motion.

    Second thing:

    The scanners do a good job seeing under clothing but cannot see through plastic or rubber materials that resemble skin, said Peter Siegel, a senior scientist at the California Institute of Technology. "You probably could find very common materials that you could wrap around you that would effectively obscure things," Siegel said.


    Wonder if it would be legal to sell a line of rubberized scan-proof lingerie?

    "Auntie Mandy's No-Scan Panties: The TSA won't see your va-jay-jay today"
    "Bodacious Ta's Rubber Bras: If the TSA wants to see your nipples, make 'em buy you dinner first."
    "Mr. Happy's Super Sleeves: Take a 'tripod' through the TSA scanner."

    - Greg
    --
    Start a happiness pandemic
    1. Re:Auntie Mandy's No-Scan Panties by Mista2 · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'd rather just write Fuck You in zinc cream or something I know will be reflective to the scanner all over my body 8)

  2. That's why I'm working on my . . . by rev_sanchez · · Score: 4, Funny

    Silence of the Lambs style human skin suit. A man needs his privacy.

    --
    If you didn't come to party don't bother knocking on my door. Prince '1999'
  3. Re:Ewwww... by Verteiron · · Score: 4, Funny

    Since I'm pretty sure you can't board the plane without showing ID at some point, what will probably happen is you won't fly anywhere that day.

    Unless you look foreign. Then you'll fly down south for a nice vacation somewhere sunny. Like Cuba.

    --
    End of lesson. You may press the button.
  4. Re:Geez, by mrbluze · · Score: 5, Funny
    From FTA:

    "Most passengers don't think it's any big deal," Schear said. "They think it's a piece of security they're willing to do." Yeah, most people just wish deep down they could walk around the airport naked in the first place.
    --
    Do it yourself, because no one else will do it yourself. [beta blockade 10-17 Feb]
  5. Re:Geez, by squidinkcalligraphy · · Score: 5, Funny

    Actually, it's fat people that can compromise security. You could quite easily hide something such as a knife in a fold of fat (OK, obese people). That won't get picked up by the scanner.

    --
    "I think it would be a good idea" Gandhi, on Western Civilisation
  6. Re:Cavity search? by Admiral+Ag · · Score: 5, Funny

    If someone puts a ceramic knife in his rectum, then my bet is that he's so hardcore he can't be stopped.

    --
    "by that I mean people who don't sit on slashdot all day wondering why everyone else isn't building robots" DECS
  7. Re:And this is one of the reasons why... by Admiral+Ag · · Score: 4, Funny

    I take it you haven't been a patron of the British rail system then.

    --
    "by that I mean people who don't sit on slashdot all day wondering why everyone else isn't building robots" DECS