Body Scanners

August 13 2010 by Chris McGinnis
Comments (5)

Remember last Christmas when the "underwear bomber" almost brought down a jumbo jet over Detroit?

That prompted the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to grab a big pile of federal stimulus money for about 150 more full body scanners -- you know, the ones that produce those controversial ghost-like images of travelers' bodies.

There are currently just over 100 of the so-called "advanced imaging units" in use at airports across the country, but TSA says that number will soar to around 500 by the end of this year-- with nearly 1,000 in place by the end of 2011. That means frequent travelers should expect to encounter more of them, and soon.

Here's what you need to know:

  • WHAT ARE THEY? There are two types of full body scanners: Newer "backscatter" scanners and older "millimeter wave" scanners which are in use at the international concourse at SFO.
  • WHAT DO THEY LOOK LIKE? The newer backscatter machines look like two big blue boxes with a small open alley down the middle. (Millimeter wave units are rounder looking with the passenger surrounded by Plexiglas for the scan.)
  • HOW DO I GET SCANNED? Walk into the scanners, turn sideways, place your feet in square boxes marked on the rubber floor, hold your hands up and wait for the TSA agent to tell you to exit. The whole process takes about five seconds.
  • WHAT IS DIFFERENT? As usual, you must remove shoes and belts and place them with carry-on luggage in bins. But when getting a full body scan, you must also remove your wallet or any other non-metallic objects from pockets. (Wallet removal is not necessary with the standard magnetometers.)
  • WHAT ABOUT RADIATION? The TSA says that the radiation emitted by these machines is equivalent to what you are exposed to during about two minutes aboard an aircraft at altitude, and far less than what the government permits for cell phones.
  • WHAT DO SCANNERS SCAN? Body scanners only expose what's between your skin and the clothes you are wearing. They are NOT like x-rays which penetrate your skin and show internal organs and bone. (This is a plus for travelers with artificial joints or other metallic implants who've been slowed down and forced to submit to pat downs at traditional magnetometers.)
  • WHO SEES MY IMAGE? The TSA agent directing you into the full body scanner never sees your image. This officer is wearing an earpiece and is in radio contact with another TSA officer viewing your image in a remote area. Once your image has been checked, this officer then tells the attending officer to allow you to pass, or to subject you to secondary screening if he/she sees any anomalies.
  • WHAT HAPPENS TO THE IMAGES? The TSA emphasizes that these images cannot be stored, saved or transmitted. In addition, they do not allow officers to bring cameras, cell phones or PDAs in rooms where images are viewed.

Email This Comments (5)

Categories : Road Warriors

0 TrackBacks

http://www.youmustbetrippin.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-t.cgi/613

Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry

    5 Comments

    By Wimpie on August 14, 2010 6:54 AM

    This is a strip-search, period. It makes no difference that the technology allows it to be done on an industrial scale, it's a violation of privacy that ultimately has, at best, no effect on safety. At worst, it exposes frequent fliers to elevated doses of x-ray radiation which may cause more deaths by cancer than the terrorists could ever kill with an airplane.

    Body-cavities are not revealed, thus making this simply an exercise in power-mongering voyeurism.

    You MUST opt-out of these intrusive searches, and maybe be wanded/patted by a same-sex guard. I did this a few months ago, which gave me the opportunity to officially express my displeasure - the guard wrote down the reason for my opting-out for their official records (it's a strip-search, I said). I suggest more people do this.

    Here's an actual image, not the dumbed down one that TSA shows:

    http://www.rupture.co.uk/Terminal%204.html

    As far as radiation, nobody knows for sure. Read this:

    www.diagnosticimaging.com/safety/content/article/113619/1639809

    By Baker on August 25, 2010 4:07 PM

    if a person has drugs of other items taped to the skin boes this machine show them or does it penitrate straight through to the skin. if so the machine is less than use than a strip search. I will certainly go for a pat down in future or until I understand its use better

    By Mike on September 18, 2010 3:01 PM

    I'm glad for the information provided above. There is a large need to MAKE THE CASE that all this TSA stuff is actually haviing a effect on safety and is something other than an exercise in power-mongering voyeurism!

    This is still an electronic strip search and instead of being expanded, should be cut back and reduced! There is a rumor of constatutuonal freedom, liberty, and privacy that was taught to children in school, and is the topic of Republican and TEA Party events. These scanners represent a TOO FAR erosion of constatutionally based privacy.

    There should be further efforts, by lawyers, to get rid of these machines, and to end the TSA pat down!

    By Ginny Crandall on January 10, 2011 3:05 PM

    Thanks for the information on the body scanners. I've heard about them and I've heard about all the people that hate them on principle. I completely understand. I don't think that I would want to be strip searched and I think that the people that invented them need to go in for some accountablity training. On the other hand, though, I have yet to see these things actually in use.

    By Fannie on June 23, 2011 2:44 PM

    Thanks guys, I just about lost it looknig for this.


    Leave a comment

     

    Your comment may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.