Naked Pictures At The Airport
Southwest just started flying out of Boston, and as a result, they’re the only airline flying domestic flights out of the nominally International E terminal. I suspect that is why this section of the airport had those full body scanner naked picture machines installed, instead of the normal metal detectors. So despite the airport being pretty non-crowded (is there an opposite word for crowded?), the line to go through security was painfully slow. It’s probably accurate to say they take 3-5 times as long to get through as the normal machines. You have to stand with your legs apart and your hands on your head while the machine renders a 3-D image of your naked body. Oh sure, the signs tell you your privacy is assured, but I don’t believe it. Its only a matter of time before a cache of these images winds up online. I watched as a father and his 13 yr old son went through the machines in front of me. I couldn’t help but think that these machines make being an airline screener a pedophile’s dream job. I cringed as I watched the 13 yr old spread his legs and pose for the naked picture. I’m reminded of the posture photos that were taken of college kids back in the 1960′s. I never understood how people were convinced to pose for those things. And yet they did, in the thousands. History repeats itself I guess.
These machines are seriously stupid and need to be removed. While I was the only person requesting the pat-down, I was not the only person annoyed. The father of the 13 year old told the TSA agent that they either needed to figure out how to be more efficient with these machines or they needed to go. And it generally seemed that everyone in line was annoyed with the process. I’m going to take a wild guess and say these machines get dumped in a landfill in a year or so, but what do I know. I would have thought that Sarbanes Oxley would have been repealed by now after it single-handedly killed the IPO market, but it lives on. Maybe congress will double down and force everybody through the machines and eliminate the pat-down option, as they’ve done in London. Tags: Full Body Scanners, Naked Pictures, TSA |
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So I went to Chicago this weekend. I flew Southwest into Midway, a great flying experience overall. I’d never flown into Midway before, and its a great little airport that’s right close to downtown. Highly recommend it.
In any event, I requested the pat-down. I believe I told the TSA woman I didn’t want nude photos taken, and would like the pat-down. They had me walk through the machine to the other side, where I received a lengthy pat down from a man. I was annoyed that they wouldn’t walk me around the machine, but I didn’t put up a fuss about it. Maybe I should have. I assume that it wasn’t scanning anything as I walked through. During the pat-down, they asked me if I had anything in my pockets, and I told them my wallet was in my pocket. I didn’t put it through the scanner because it was full of money. A different TSA agent took my wallet and thumbed through it in front of me and handed it back to me, telling me to hold it out while I got the pat-down. The TSA agent who did teh pat-down must have been 25 or so, and he seemed nervous and maybe a little embarrassed doing it. He wore rubber gloves, and literally patted ever inch of me other than my junk, because terrorists would never hide a bomb there. In any event, it eventually ended and I gathered my things and proceeded to my gate. Oddly enough, they never put me through the metal detector.
15 Responses to “Naked Pictures At The Airport”
July 14th, 2010 at 11:08 am
(Crossposted from UHub at Eighthman’s suggestion…) Rob– Do you know those images are not real? They were created by German magazine Bild to illustrate an article on the scanners http://www.bild.de/BILD/news/bild-english/world-news/2009/12/31/pregnancy-body-piercings-genitals/what-can-naked-scanners-really-see.html). They started with a stock photo of a nude woman: http://www.f1online.de/f1online/moduleCustomer/inc/showPicture.cfm?imgNo=518430
July 14th, 2010 at 11:24 am
These scanners are ridiculous. I have never seen one and hope I never do.
July 14th, 2010 at 3:14 pm
Oddjob,
I did not know that, nor do I think it matters. My understanding is that these scanners use algorithms to attempt to obscure faces and genitals. Which means that more or less, the images above are representative of the raw images obtained by the scanners. And they are incredibly inappropriate.
July 15th, 2010 at 1:38 am
Rob,
I agree with you. I just can’t understand why people aren’t outraged at such intrusions. Moreover, it’s a huge waste of money. Much of the “security” measures that have been instituted in the wake of 9/11 are just to create the illusion of security to make people think they are safe. For this people are apparently willing to hand over their rights.
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” – Benjamin Franklin
July 15th, 2010 at 8:37 am
Gah. I hope I don’t have to travel anywhere anytime soon, unless it’s by boat!
July 15th, 2010 at 10:39 pm
From the article linked by Oddjob,
“But there is still some uncertainty as to how dangerous the machines are, because a scan with microwaves corresponds to 10,000 mobile phone conversations.”
I think I’ll pass and get a free massage.
July 28th, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Please note the example they used is not the typical American physique…not that I am complianing with the example Herr Sama has provided of us.
November 5th, 2010 at 3:19 pm
first, The images above are clearly not from a back splatter machine… someone has made them in an attempt to make it look worse than it is. If you do your own search for other images from these machine and see what is published this about the only one that you find that you can invert the colors and get an actual image. The others do not work like this and you can not get a clear nude image from them.. it actually turns darker and harder to see.
Second, it is not a God given right to fly on a plane so no one is giving up their rights just to fly on a plane. You also do not have the right to drive your car.. it is a privilege and the state can take away that privilege when they want to and you can do nothing about it. They at the same time can and will give you a wonderfull very intrusive patdown and then a nice stay in the grey bar motel if you make a fuss about it.
just a note: if you make a fuss at the airport you can face federal charges instead of state charges and the US Attorney can explain to you more about how it is not the thing to do in an airport now days.. lol
Third, no matter what kind of money the tsa folks make .. do you really think it is enough to see what you have haha most folks dont look good in their clothes let alone without… but if you think you do and dont want anyone to know take the greyhound.
Also, if you all think nothing goes on and tsa is not doing anything then watch the news and you will hear about 1/1000th of what goes on.. what you dont know will allow you to keep going on with your every day lives and not worry about who, what, when, where, why
have fun on the greyhound.. and when something happens there .. guess who will be scanned at the bus station.. lol YOU!!! lol
November 5th, 2010 at 4:57 pm
If you had read the first and third comments above, you would see that we’d already established that these images are not from a backscatter machine, and that it does not matter toward the argument.
You do have a right to travel, barring being on probation. You have a right to travel by whatever means you can afford. This notion that you have a right to travel, but not by airplane is absurd. You also have a right to be free of unreasonable search and seizure, and taking nude photographs of everyone who seeks to travel by air is about as unreasonable as it comes.
I find it interesting that I have attracted an apologist for the TSA here. Wonder if he is a TSA employee…
November 19th, 2010 at 7:52 pm
In March I will be traveling with my wife and son(age6).I dont know what I would rather have. My family groped by some strange person or bombarded with Micro waves and pictures taken destination unknown. All I know is if my wife chooses a pat down it better not be a man and they had better be couscous. I have no problems making the news if I think my family is getting violated. This is totally ridicules, the terrorist won cause we let them take our rights away. If the nambie pambies would stop with this PC crap and profile the right people we all would be much happier. Were did the common sense go!!!!!!!
November 23rd, 2010 at 5:28 pm
Why is everyone putting up such a fuss about the body scanners? As previously noted, nobody is getting a perfect image of your body. I am sure there are far worse things than getting a body scan. I am sure anyone who was a passenger on one of the flights from 9/11 would not have minded. I am sure that anyone who lost their lives that day, or anyone who has lost their lives fighting for our country, really could care less about a imperfect body scan. They are easy, and for your safety.. either stop flying, or stop whining. Everyone is sick of hearing it. Do you really think the government poured thousands of dollars just to get a look at your tits or dick? I think there is probably a much cheaper and faster way to do so if they were that desperate. I am so annoyed that I wasted my time reading your post.
Rob, your an idiot. Traveling is a privilege, ever heard of the no fly list? Oh, yeah weird, its this thing that if your on it, it won’t let you fly anywhere. Hmm?
And Cavitation, it is TSA regulations that girls search girls, and guys search guys.
November 23rd, 2010 at 6:43 pm
i can’t wait for some other major disaster to happen… with a bomb, knife, gun, or any other foreign material so that everyone will stop crying over this issue. because god knows, the next time a plane goes down due to a passengers wrong doing, i’ll have to sit thru hours of news footage questioning airport security. either way you can’t please people. it was good for a while, but now that 9/11 is wearing off people are going back to normal… well they have been for some time.
November 24th, 2010 at 12:54 am
if you want to drive you get a license (otherwise walk, run, ride a bike or whatever alternate means of transportation you choose. You have a choice. That’s what this whole thing is about.)… if you want to fly get the pat down and or scan.(otherwise drive,walk, run, ride a bike or whatever alternate means of transportation you choose. You have a choice. That’s what this whole thing is about.)they are called rules, follow them.
November 24th, 2010 at 2:55 pm
Enoughalready says that there should be no limits. Intelligent people say, just because it is “a Law” doesn’t make it right or even legal. Enoughalready obviously thinks slavery was perfectly OK since the court said it was legal. Enoughalready would sexually harass women at work in the 1980s because at the time it was legal. Today Enoughalready thinks Rape Scanners and Pedophile Pat Downs are great because he’s told by the law that they are. Bottom line, stupid – You have a choice. Freedom or psuedo-law. As for people with your current belief system. They are called Nazis, you are one.
November 24th, 2010 at 7:53 pm
I think they should have 2 flights to every destination. You don’t want a pat-down or scanned, you take that flight. You want a pat-down or scan, you take this flight. I know which one I’m on, and I know which one a terrorist will choose. And yes flying is a privelage not a right. Yes you have the freedom to travel, but you get the choose the means in which you travel. If someone wants to see me nude, have at it. I see it every day, its not much to talk about.
DecentGuy, your right, stupid – you do have a choice… don’t fly.
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