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Freshman Representative Opposes "TSA Porn"

An anonymous reader writes "Not content to simply follow the 'anything to protect American lives' mantra, freshman Representative Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) has introduced a bill to prohibit mandatory full body scans at airports. Chaffetz states, 'The images offer a disturbingly accurate view of a person's body underneath clothing ... Americans should not be required to expose their bodies in this manner in order to fly.' He goes on to note that the ACLU has expressed support for the bill. Maybe we don't need tin-foil sports coats to go with our tin-foil hats. For reference, the Daily Herald has a story featuring images from the millimeter wavelength imager, and we've talked about the scanners before."

14 of 620 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Arrest TSA officials for Child Porn.... by blueg3 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Contrary to what the people on Slashdot tell you, every image of a nude person under the age of 18 is not necessarily child porn -- and a millimeter-wave scanner isn't exactly taking a nude photograph.

  2. Re:Where's your savior now, leftists? by Mister+Whirly · · Score: 2, Informative

    Ubiquitous monitoring fits Obama's Socialist agenda perfectly.

    Citation needed.

    Obama's Socialist agenda

    Dictionary needed.

    --
    "But this one goes to 11!"
  3. Re:Cancer risk? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    Not really. 1mm is lower frequency (less energy per photon) than visible light. Pretty safe unless they use so much energy it actually heats up your body mass and cooks some organs. Cook literally - think hardboiled eyeballs. If your eyeballs (most sensitive to this sort of heating) aren't cooking, the rest of you is fine.

    It's not being investigated because no one has proposed even a plausible mechanism by which low frequency radio waves like any of these could cause mutation. Propose that mechanism first and then there's something to test for other than coincidence.

  4. Re:I was scanned in LAX by x_IamSpartacus_x · · Score: 5, Informative

    The heraldextra link is slashdotted but Google has plenty of examples of what the "TSA Porn" pictures are. I could see why people would take offense to these shots. It wouldn't bother me a whole lot if it was a picture of myself but I can identify with the Representative that I wouldn't want anyone to look at these kinds of images of my wife or children.

  5. Re:Being a policeman is only easy in a police stat by Yo+Grark · · Score: 5, Informative

    Every time I've seen them scanning osmeone its a hot chick with big boobs.... And all the guys are over looking at the screen... It's never Nanna or Billy Ray with his beer gut....

    Apparently you don't know how this works. The people out front have no way of seeing the scans, that's the job of specially trained people who watch in back and who can't see the line coming so no "tehee watch this one" since it's done in real time.

    IF there's a reasons to suspect anything, the backroomers radio the floor to search.

    --
    Canadian Bred with American Buttering
  6. Re:I was scanned in LAX--- Relaxed? Or not? by davidsyes · · Score: 2, Informative

    Well, if someone enters the scanner socked, locked and ready to rock, hopefully the millimetre scanner detects something appearing or weighing in at 1,397 mm...

    Butt, on the other hand, the mm scan could be useful for detecting collapsed, polymer truncheons/batons and daggers that otherwise would be/might be found in a luggage scan. And, the mm scan can detect mules (drugs carriers) who've been surgically invaded to carry cocaine under their skin. Sure, drug-sniffer dogs can do this, too, but the mm scan might find people who have the scars from previous runs, and help DEA get a bead on their asses and their handlers, too. I imagine this database producing TONS of information to be added to the government/s' arsenal...

    http://www.visualanalytics.com/
    http://www.visualanalytics.com/products/visuaLinks/vlFeatures/placements/Starburst.cfm
    http://www.visualanalytics.com/products/visuaLinks/vlFeatures/index.cfm

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_Analytics

    http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2009/nsf09525/nsf09525.htm

    --
    Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
  7. Re:Cancer risk? by coolsnowmen · · Score: 4, Informative

    You don't know what you are talking about. You only run into increased chance of cancer if the frequency is above that of visible light.

    Anything visible light and lower (in frequency) is non-ionizing.

    E=hf means the energy per photon is only a function of frequency. So the only way sub-ultraviolet light can hurt you, is if there is so much of it that it cooks you. And as the AC says, if you can still see, you probably aren't being cooked.

  8. Re:Homophobes by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Actually, we had no female Marines attached to our unit. Most security details do not. We would have to find a female Marine (or soldier) before we could search any female personnel. This often meant long waits (hours) for those women requesting entrance to the base. Because of the long waits (and the culture), it was rare to have local women request access to the base. Sometimes they would notify us ahead of time which gave us enough time to be prepared. Of course, if it were an emergency or we felt in danger, we were authorized to search them ourselves.

    The policy was implemented out of cultural respect and to keep harassment claims at bay.

  9. Re:Being a policeman is only easy in a police stat by jez9999 · · Score: 1, Informative

    Yeah; wait for its light to stop flashing, then pull it out. It's never failed for me with Windows XP. No, really; not once.

    And if you're worried about data loss because of that you can still umount before removal, anyway. It just stops people from losing data because they reasonably assume that once a copy dialog has disappeared, the copy has completed (etc.)

  10. Re:This is a first by deraj123 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Except it wasn't a comparison. It was explicitly stated, "the esteemed young republican from the deep south".

  11. Re:Arrest TSA officials for Child Porn.... by Hatta · · Score: 2, Informative

    Contrary to what the people on Slashdot tell you, every image of a nude person under the age of 18 is not necessarily child porn

    If the prosecutor has a "gut feeling" it is, it is.

    --
    Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
  12. Re:Being a policeman is only easy in a police stat by VeNoM0619 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Yes, it does matter, cause bringing forth the attention to one place will hopefully spark news and other places will be watched more closely. Saying it's a lost cause because "all of them" must (your opinion) be doing it, and then giving up only adds to the problem.

    You are just as guilty by watching it and letting it happen without reporting it. Seriously, how fscking old are you?

    --
    Disclaimer: I am not god.
    We may not be created equal
    But we can be treated equal.
  13. CNN Image: by 2obvious4u · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/05/18/airport.security.body.scans/index.html

    The second image in this article clearly shows the mans genitals.

    This gives me a great idea for scientific discovery. Create an application that measures the penis size and gets an accurate average size of all males passing through this airport.

    Just be sure to hire a fluffer before leaving Vegas.

  14. Re:Being a policeman is only easy in a police stat by supernova_hq · · Score: 3, Informative

    You are just as guilty by watching it and letting it happen without reporting it.

    What part of "I made a detailed complaint" did you neglect to read???