Have You Heard About the New Airport Porno Scanners?

It's not particularly concerning because I'm not having sex in the middle of the airport, so the scanners aren't finding anything pornographic.

There are things I'm going to get up in arms about, but this isn't one of them.

No problem with me because I have nothing to hide and if scanners help catch bad people I am all for it.

Because those are the same people who brought you The Patriot Act -wherein everything is A-OK as long as it's cloaked in the guise of being "anti-terrorism."

Personally, I couldn't care less if some scanner dude sees my or my kids butt naked. The "photos" from the new scanners are only going to excite someone who is into mannequin-esque, solid white, hairless life forms that actually look alien and quite creepy. These are not nude photos!

Here is an interesting link debunking what some sites like Drudge Report first posted about these -personally I don't care if they use these scanners or not:

http://blogs.forbes.com/kashmirhill/2010/03/09/dear-gizmo...

***Edited -I do agree with Jeanne W that we don't have the intelligence in most of our airport security to truly step it up to El AL standards, but they basically go after ANYONE who looks suspicious. They don't use "racial" profiling, particularly since, being in the Middle East -everyone YOU think looks like a terrorist is flying in and out of Israel constantly. You also seem to think all terrorists are of Muslim/Middle Eastern decent, but these links prove you wrong! And one of them is about a pregnant woman, whose terrorist husband gave a bomb to for an EL AL flight -she's a classic story in training classes about how ALL people need to be searched because the truly terroristic WILL blow their wives, children and grandmas into the stratosphere with everyone else. Don't blame the "liberals" here -this is just a direct result of The Patriot Act -brought to you by the ultra-right wing Republican establishment to protect us all from "TERRRRRR!"

http://hubpages.com/hub/Hindawi-Affair -pregnant, bomb, EL AL -and her name was Anne-Marie Murphy and she was WHITE.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Reid_%28shoe_bomber%29 -shoe bomb guy -British -half white/half African -no Middle Eastern ancestry and his name is RICHARD REID -hmmmm, doesn't sound very "Muslim"

http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/11/07/disguise-ra... -recent (as in this month) news of an Asian male disguised as an old white man -through airport security with a breeze!

http://www.northjersey.com/news/opinions/soliman/80879537... -great op-ed article as to why this thinking doesn't work. As I said -El AL uses "suspicious behavior" and highly monitored watch lists -not racial profiling. Even George W. Bush was angered by the "Muslim" profiling after one of his own Secret Service agents was kicked off a flight -basically for being Arab-American. Keep googling -you'll see there are more holes in the idea that we should profile all Muslims and Middle Eastern people than in an Osama Bin Laden target.

Because if you actually looked at the pictures provided by the scanners it is just a rough outline of your body parts. They cannot actually SEE through your clothing. Seriously, everybody has just about the same stuff, the pictures are NOT stored, and there is no fine distincion that shows details of the private areas, just whether they are normal shaped and therefore not hiding anything. If you think a terrorist would not put dangerous items in their underwear or between thier breasts think again.

Well, after all, we don't want to upset or offend the only group of people that have terrorized us and attacked us, now do we? See, that would be racial profiling and that is just so wrong. So let's just ignore that whole group of people and concentrate on all the others, you know, the real threat to America, grandparents, little children, women.

I am being sarcastic in case you weren't sure. As far as I'm concerned, our airport security should follow along the lines of Israel's. You don't hear about their security being breached very often, do you? That's mostly because they intensely question anyone who looks suspicious and to them, racial profiling is not an offensive term.

Just this week I read an article asking why we (U.S.) do not employ El Al's security measures and one of the reasons given was that the people doing the screening would have to be highly intelligent. Since going on with that line of thinking would most likely get me thrown of mamapedia, I'll have to stop here.

Suffice it to say that since El Al has not had one airplane attacked in over 30 decades, they must be doing something right. Their security measures WORK, but we would all have to put aside our worries that certain people will be offended and start working the profiling angle. But since that will never happen, get used to appearing almost naked in front of strangers or be ready to be groped. Thank you liberal America. To preserve the rights of the few (not to mention they are the actual guilty parties!), you take away the rights of the many.

Flying is a choice. You don't HAVE to do this stuff... I am personally for these measures. Honestly, I think if in 10 years only ONE person gets caught who would have potentially killed hundreds, then it's worth it. I bet the victims, and the families of the victims of 9/11 WISH we had had this technology in place then! And honestly, as far as the "naked" images go, the people running the scanners are PROFESSIONALS looking for dangerous items, not checking out your junk. They are going to be processing so many people that you are going to be forgotten by the time they start on the next person. Same with the pat down... they HAVE to check places that may make you uncomfortable, because if they didn't, where do you think terrorists would start hiding things? Our government is trying to stay one step ahead of terrorists, and I think it's sad that people are more worried about not being "seen" than safety.

I don't have a lot to add to the nude airport scanner and your concern about a lack of privacy.

However, I will say this...about that....

I travel a lot with my husband and I have been patted down a lot. I think it's old metal screws in my knee that keep setting off the alarm. I have never had an unprofessional pat down. They will always use a women to scan me and they scan with an electronic detection gizmo.

Also, the WORST airport security guards, meaning the meanest, most disrespectful are the Americans. They typically have this holier than thou and condescending attitude towards busy professionals. I find it very irritating to be subjected to their lack of respect far more than their equipment.

There's always the option to drive, take a train, or bus.

Maybe the NRA people, Tea Party people, anti-health care bill people are more concerned with people bringing bombs on planes and blowing up buildings and killing thousands of people... (that's sarcasm...regardless of political party, I think EVERYONE cares about the safety and well-being of our citizens and travelers).

Don't like it? Don't fly. Flying isn't a 'right' or an entitlement. Flying is a privilege for which you pay money and agree to follow their rules for using their services.

Alexis G says it best. If you dont like the new security measures then dont fly.
edited: I wanted to add the amount of radiation exposure is equal to 2 minutes of flying!

What does the NRA (National Rifle Association), Tea Party People or anti health care bill people have to do with airport scanners? Since I am associated with all these groups I will let you know that there are plenty of people concerned about the airport scanners, & terrorists too. Thank goodness it's a choice to fly, therefore I choose not to.

For your concerns please write to Janet Napolitano, head of our National Security.

Have you seen that they make these pasties and genital covers for the scanners that you can apply under your clothes for the TSA scan. They say "for my boyfriends eyes only" or "for my girlfriends eyes only"
I

After flying through several countries in Asia, South America and Europe I have to say the TSA is a flippin joke. Anyone. ANYONE who think's they're "safer" on a flight leaving the US due to the TSAs insane idea of security is deceiving themselves. Badly.

It's been proven that "suspicious behaviour" and real interview questions used by both the ticketing/check in people and the agents at the gate area are waaay more effective. It's intimidating to have someone ask a few random questions after observing your behaviour. However, it relies on people being actually trained to spot unusual behaviour rather than rely on a scanner/pat down and having a list of rules memorized.

So, yes, the patriot act needs to go. And we need to have gate agents that are smarter than the box of rocks they're trained to be.

The terrorists are winning arent they?
I heard all about it today on the news. They said the pictures that are being shown on youtube are not the real deal. The heads are not in the scanned area and if someone is gettin excited by looking at the xrays then they are already cuckoo to begin with. I'd rather be scanned than felt up I think. The whole thing with having our kids have to go through this is just horrible.
What other choices do we have tho? We are trying to be safe. Terrorists would strap a bomb to a kid, they have no conscience. Do you have a better idea? How can they check everyone thoroughly without it being intrusive. I hate it but I don't see any way around it except for DONT fly. The other option they were discussing is that a lot more "private" pilots will be flying people that dont want to be put through that ringer. So if you can afford to have someone fly you where you want to go you can have that option without the BS.

I posted a question about this and in the update posted a news report about the pat-downs. It shows how they cup women's breasts in order to "check them" I had a lot of people tell me to get over it and get the scan or to tell my kids that it's ok for the TSA to touch them there.

Apparently some people think it's ok to let people grope their kids as long as they're government officials...I just don't get it and won't be flying with my kids. (Not that we can afford it regularly, but we had hoped to fly this summer.)

Oh...it's not just a pat down. They have to actually grab you in every private area, to make sure nothing is tucked away. I didn't think that way true, until I saw a video segment of someone getting "patted down" on the news. If your child, is selected and you don't want them to be scanned, the kids are patted down, in the same way. I think it's stupid, ridiculous, and I'd rather travel by car. I don't know, if there are any groups, who can really change this, but I'd be on board.

It's surprising that someone from NYC feels this way. I lived in Manhattan on 9/11. I think that we need to do whatever we need to do to keep terrorists from harming the US.

I lived in Japan many years ago, in the mid-70's. I was in high school at the time. It was a standard procedure way back then to do random pat downs at Narita Airport. I had one of them done over the course of 3 years flying back and forth to the States. Although not the most pleasant experience, it was over quickly and the security personnel were professional and courteous. I understood that it was being done as a precautionary measure, and that was that. And this of course was long before 9/11 made security concerns a hot button issue here in the US. Better safe than sorry. In my opinion, it's a small price to pay for some peace of mind.

Your post had me look at what the photos would look like. The ghostly ones are not that bad. BUT what is the "colored" ones that i am seeing? They seem to be nude colored and look just like a naked picture. THAT i have a problem with. Thank god my family rarely flies.... i hope by the time we do again, these do not exsist! Yikes! Thank you for posting this and enlightening me a little.

A BIG THANK to all those who are trying to make us safer on air flight travels..(I don't fly never have,nor do I travel if so a car will be of choice)
I don't want another 9/11 to happen..
Do you really think that these people get off on doing their job pattin people down seeing an image on a screen to me its like a nurse taking care of their patients.As others have said don't fly if you don't like these secruity measures..

Just imagine if you were on a flight & all of a sudden there was a hold up your with your family your going to be the first one to ask why weren't they looked into why didn't we have these scanners at the airport to identify such objects why weren't they pated down their shoes taken off to be looked at the airport failed to this WHY because it was a Privacy Act that was violated but in return gave the BAD people a right to do what they please & act on their efforts to terrorize the US..

if these ridiculous measures actually did anything to keep us safe i might (MIGHT) be less angry about it. but they don't. there is an inherent risk in being a free human being, and the sad thing is that the risks remain for those who choose to be drones.
the scans use a lot of radiation, and the pat-downs are aggressive and intrusive. it's not okay. the naked images can be saved and reproduced. they're usually not, but they can be.
'if you're not doing anything you have nothing to worry about' is a specious argument. how far are you willing to take that? the presumption of innocence is one of the foundations of our country, one of the great freedoms that distinguish us from everyone else. i resent giving it up for ANY reason, whether it's the receipt checkers at sam's club (yeah, it's for my protection my eye) or this heavy-handed and ultimately fruitless grope into our formerly inviolate personal space.
i am crushingly disappointed in obama. this is right up there in d*** cheney territory.
khairete
S.

I believe you can refuse them and opt for a pat-down. Always an option. I plan to exercise this option for myself (pregnant) when I fly in December if the scanners are at O'Hare and they ask me to use it. I also plan to use the option for my kids. Will it slow us down -- Yes. Do I care -- No. I am doing this because of the potential radiation, etc. and not because of what they can see....just as FYI.