Apr 9th, 2009
Posted by Suzanne Ito, ACLU at 6:34pm	Technology and Liberty

"Show Us Your Body, or We'll Feel You Up."

You know how when the weather starts to warm, the gym is buzzing with people toning to achieve that perfect beach body? Starting this summer, abs of steel will be in season anytime you fly.

Yesterday, Slate's William Saletan wrote about the TSA's new policy towards body scanner —a.k.a. "naked"—machines. Saletan points out that two years ago, the naked machines were offered as an alternative to physical pat-down searches to passengers who set off the metal detectors or were flagged for a secondary screening. Naked machines were considered less invasive than the grope-and-grab.

Well, the alternative will soon become the norm this summer, when the strip-search machines will replace the metal detectors in several U.S. airports. That's right: this summer, you will no longer have a choice of whether to enter the naked machine or not. As Saletan puts it, the choice is "Show us your body, or we'll feel you up."

We've written about these machines before, but all you really need to do is look at this picture to see what a "millimeter wave" machine shows airport security. Mortified yet? USA Today found that most flyers had no idea how graphic the naked machines' images are, even before they stepped inside and subjected themselves to these virtual strip-searches.

One of the points that Saletan makes is that what was formerly voluntary is now mandatory. We hate to say “I told you so,” but this is the classic way that invasive technologies reach us: the authorities make them as palatable as possible to get the public to swallow them (they'll say it's "voluntary," or "applied only in certain cases," and tell you it's chock-full of privacy protections). Then once they’re accepted, they become more and more intrusive in all the ways the ACLU always warns against.

As for the TSA's tough talk about heightened security, let's be clear: strip-search machines have yet to prove that they actually thwart terrorist acts. An internal Department of Homeland Security report and secondary independent reports actually found that the TSA still cannot identify a large majority of explosives and weapons that testers have sought to bring through security.

We all have a certain expectation of privacy, even at the airport. But does airport security really need to see the stuff we keep under wraps with our clothes like the colostomy bag, the love handles and the beer belly?

We'll see you at the gym, America.

Permalink |	Technology and Liberty

1. gershon sharoni Says:
   Apr 9th, 2009 at 8:21pm

   grettings from belize,land of the fugitives.
   10 years ago ,on august of 1999,i fled israel,into belize.from big brother, shin beth,they terrorized me,because i claim a refugee status in canada,in 1988.
   my claim was dismissed by the immigration and refugee board,in vancover,on 1995,departure order issued to me,i kissed good by to $26000 job,went back to israel,to be confronted by shin beth.
   big brother became a reality,
   the goverment that marched me to the batlle field-purged me out.
   i was followed,by locals,to the sea shore,to the market place.
   became a traitor by israeli standart.
   it explain to you,what i am doing in belize,in 2009.
   on december of 1999,i started to work on a banana farm,300km,south of belize city.
   month later,another israeli arrived.
   telling me he knows me from israel.
   2 years later,on december 2002,i reported him to the belgian police,serious crime squad,in brussels.
   he became a chief suspect,in the slaying
   of a canadian arms dealer,gerald bull.
   who was gun down,in 1990,in brussels.
   that according to the belgian daily-la derniere huere,dated jan,2,2003.
   i do not read french,i read it later,on the internet,the mercury,south africa.
   middle east on line,uk.caledonian record
   vt,
   ministry of fear-mossad-rans amok after me,from belize city,to orange walk towm,to san jose village.paying the local police,to do ugly trix.
   stalking,is unknown in belize,crime is high,but people fight with machette,or pistoleta.
   local follow me to the corner store,bus station and at work.
   belize,becomes a jail,without bar.
   leaving belize-impossible.
   the israeli embassy in san salvadore,
   captured my passport,a year after la derniere hurere,said,the belgian police received info from belize,regard the unsolved murder,of gerald bull.
   is israel is a democracy,by american standart?
   adios.
   gershon sharoni.friday 8/04/2009
   san jose village.
   belize rd.
   belize. e mail;gershonsharoni@rocketmail.com

2. Julie Says:
   Apr 9th, 2009 at 10:35pm

   I don't think the image is very revealing. Certainly someone shouldn't be getting their jollies off this kind of picture.

   It would be better if TSA focused on not harrassing their employees and training on how to find real threats, instead of technology that may not prove to be very useful.

3. Allyn Says:
   Apr 10th, 2009 at 12:07am

   The sad thing is that people go along with this, it's the "price to fly" and it's better than making a scene and so on. It doesn't matter to them that their privacy is being invaded because they don't know the person doing it, behind closed doors. So those of us who do have an objection become suspect, troublemakers, people who need to be watched because we clearly have something to hide, and so on. How do you maintain your privacy in such an atmosphere? How do you stand up for yourself without being made to look confrontational and combative?

4. lokywoky Says:
   Apr 10th, 2009 at 8:20pm

   Allyn, your questions are spot on. If you object in any way to the strip searches or this 'naked' scan, you are threatened with arrest, or with revocation of your ticket or with even more intrusive searches of your person and your baggage.

   My personal thing is to avoid flying anymore. I am a Navy vet - and was used to being treated well by the airlines. Not any more. And all their technology doesn't work.

   My ex son-in-law came back to the States after a tour in Iraq where he was involved in bomb and weapons disposal. He decided to fly out of a small airport in his home state back to visit his mother in a very large state halfway across the country. He overslept the morning of his flight, and grabbed a knapsack and ran to the car thinking it was the one he had packed the night before for the trip (It was one of 3 identical ones he had).

   Arriving at the airport, he informed the TSA guys that he would probably show positive for explosives due to his recent posting. The TSA guy told him to shut up and just let them do their work. They swabbed his boots and put it in the machine, then reported that he was fine. The TSA guy put his boots up on a counter that was at pretty much eye-level. My SIL picked a small piece of debris off his boot laces and handed it to the TSA guy telling him that it was actually C-4 explosive and that he needed to get his machine recalibrated. The TSA guy threatened to call the sheriff and told him either get on the plane or there was going to be trouble.

   Think that's bad? It gets worse. When he arrived at his destination, he up-ended his knapsack (his method of unpacking) and out tumbled...yes, you guessed it...a loaded pistol. His knapsack was supposedly 'hand-searched' since that airport's x-ray things were 'broken/inoperative'.

   So. He got on the plane with a loaded gun and explosive residue all over his boots.

   Yup. The TSA has really made us safe.

5. strange Says:
   Apr 10th, 2009 at 10:41pm

   Ah yes, I remember 'voluntary' searches at the airport... Yeah some 'voluntary'.

6. tom s. Says:
   Apr 11th, 2009 at 8:14am

   America's bullyboy foreign policy, which started with the Spanish-American War (who remembers Somoza, and Marines in Central America?), has finally collided with our civil liberties. Our civil liberties are the loser.

7. Terry Says:
   Apr 11th, 2009 at 3:03pm

   I'd like to know if the ACLU plans to do anything about this besides blog about it. I'd give donation dollars to support a challenge to this b.s. Germany has outlawed this technology on the grounds that it is violative of human dignity. Why can't we do the same? To get from point A to point B many of us *must* fly, at which point we become subject to these nonsensical transgressions by our transportation gestapo. Isn't this where the ACLU steps in??

8. anon comment Says:
   Apr 12th, 2009 at 5:50pm

   Two quotes:

   "Any people who will give up an essential liberty for some temporary safety deserve neither, and will lose both." --Ben Franklin

   "When even one American -- who has done nothing wrong -- is forced by fear to shut his mind and close his mouth, then all Americans are in peril." -- Harry S. Truman

   May God help us...

9. Pixel8Ted Says:
   Apr 12th, 2009 at 9:20pm

   what Julie said. Why is this mortifying? It doesn't look human, it's about as graphic as an x-ray...

   If it doesn't work well, as in the last 'graph, well that's another issue

10. Terror War or GWOT is a fraud Says:
    Apr 12th, 2009 at 9:25pm

    Well, if any of you people out there actually believe that 19 arab hijackers were able to defeat the entire North American Air Defense System for almost 2 hours without being interception, I really feel sorry for you. Furthermore, if you think that any of this; "rub your tummy, hop on one leg and pat the top of your head" for me bullshit at the airport is making you safer there, you're going to be pleased to know that there never was a TERRORIST THREAT in these aircraft, and all the smoke blown up your asses about the necessity for this, is solely to ratchet the paranoia and fear up, so you'll be very afraid.

    None of these measures they impose at the airport, besides the walk thru and baggage scan, make any sense, and truly, per the F.B.I. and N.T.S.B. fiction about the flights hijacked those days, all of the cockpits were commandeer'd in THREE MINUTES, and the aircraft's autopilots, which 'disengage' when the yoke or rudders are touched, never disengaged as those pilots fought for their lives for those 3 minute battles that day.

    I hope you all do the research:
    http://www.pilotsfor911truth.org and
    http://www.patriotsquestion911.com

    see what most of us know. Sept. 11, 2001, was an INSIDE JOB!

11. Kitty Antonik Wakfer Says:
    Apr 14th, 2009 at 2:34am

    Airports are capable of supplying their own security and even motivated to do so to keep existing and obtain more customers - if they were permitted to do so by government. And the airlines can be responsible under existing laws for what takes place on their property, and the airport too when it is privately owned.

    The subject of airlines and private security vs. government controlled version has been the subject of numerous articles. Among the best are those at Mises.org. I especially found value in "Can the Free Market Secure Airlines?" The author made his point well, "The same desire for security that makes Disney World a safe place for the whole family motivates the airline industry to make America's flights as safe as possible." Actually individuals should be allowed to choose the level of security they are willing to pay for just as with the level of comfort. The more secure ("as safe as possible"), the more costly, and those who want it would be the ones paying for it - not those who choose something less. Those who want the highest level of security may also be those willing to subject themselves to the "naked" machines, if that was a security method on a particular airline.

    Some other good articles at Mises:
    "Airport Privatization" - http://www.mises.org/story/806
    "The Source of Air-Travel Insecurity" - https://www.mises.org/story/836
    "Will the TSA Be Always With Us?" - http://www.mises.org/story/2171
    "The Six Faces of the Terrorist; The One Face of Bureaucracy" - http://www.mises.org/story/2290
    "Why Don't People Get It?" - http://www.mises.org/story/2831

    If more people simply stopped flying - except for absolute emergencies - the economic message would very soon get across to the government, via the airlines as well as individuals. Simply complaining, even if in public, but continuing to use the airlines that are in essence approving (giving sanction to) the government doing the security is of little value towards getting the government out of the airline security business. In writing this I am reminded of nonviolent power theoretician Gene Sharp's reference to "the most vulnerable characteristic of all hierarchical institutions and governments: dependence on the governed."

    And BTW, I and husband Paul Wakfer drive back and forth between Arizona and Ontario each year. I can't imagine what would entice us to fly again. The last time was from Toronto to UK in 2003 and that was bad enough. Flying to or from the US is something I want absolutely no part of as long as Dept of Homeland Security exists . (What a name!! Makes me cringe everytime I hear or read it.)

12. Elite Health Says:
    May 14th, 2009 at 5:17am

    Isnt it natural for us to believe we are healthy and not suffering from any disease ? I had a similar thought process until my physician asked me to get a heart scan done after he found that my basic cardiograms were not perfect. I discovered that there were calcium deposits in my coronary arteries and I was at a serious risk of a heart attack. I was shocked and went ahead with the Cardiologist's suggestion of an advanced diagnostic scan. Though its always tough to undergo such experiences, I was not at any kind of discomfort at the Elitehealth.com advanced heart scan facility. I am not an expert in medical appliance and machines but could feel that the equipment was world-class and I was in safe hands. That feeling is really very important for me and thats how it actually went on. The facilities for Full Body Scan were as good as they can get.

    http://www.elitehealth.com/heart_scans.php

13. N74JW Says:
    May 17th, 2009 at 9:42pm

    I have been subject to such policies in Tampa Intl airport. When I refused the machine, the TSA clerk claimed that no such machine existed. I just smiled and declined...

    Why bother arguing with an idiot?

14. Yogi Says:
    May 18th, 2009 at 9:58pm

    Seriously, what's the big deal? I went through Tulsa, OK and I forgot to take out of my left pocket the small ziplock I had with 4 small tablets of Advil. The TSA officer was alerted by the X-Ray scanning officer over the radio. At no point did I feel embarrassed or uncomfortable - nor did I care. What I cared about was the fact that they could ID something as small as Advil. Yes, I support the new scanning machines!

15. Steve Orr Says:
    May 18th, 2009 at 10:12pm

    Because of artificial parts surgically placed within my body I am always searched. I could care less if some clerk looks at a scan of my penis so long as I don't have to take off my shoes, take off my belt, my socks, my watch, my cellphone, my keys... If I could walk through a scanner, get my whole body scanned in 30 seconds and march off to Starbucks to get my pre-flight latte I would be all the more happy to have my whole body posted on the internet. If someone wants to invade your privacy having the TSA use whole body scanners or not, your privacy is not all that secure. I know some pretty impressive military grade de-encryption people that can gain access to just about anybody's SSN, private medical records, passwords etc. If you wish to remain truly private than move to the third world and never come back. Controlled, managed, regulated and analyzed whole body scanners can save lives, improve securuity and improve airport efficiency.

16. FAIRTV Says:
    Dec 29th, 2009 at 4:49pm

    This is an absurd position to take. The ACLU has long promoted pornography in the United States.

17. HighSea Says:
    Feb 8th, 2010 at 9:06pm

    http://www.ehow.com/how_5947264_cut-through-bullshit_-body-scanners .html

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