TSA’s New Body Scanners Can Save, Send Nude Photos
The old regime: Stripping in front of a mirror, taking a picture and sending it to your lover’s cellular.
The new regime: Walking through a full body scanner while a TSA agent sends the high-tech, virtually clothes-free image to all of his friends under the subject line “No underwear bombs, but check out those sweater missiles!”
Though the TSA has been claiming that the second scenario is an impossibility ever since privacy concerns were first raised, a report from the Washington D.C.-based Electronic Privacy Information Center claims that the full body scan machines are capable of saving and transmitting any image it generates.
“The machines have zero storage capability,” claims the TSA before adding, “the system has no way to save, transmit or print the image.”
EPIC head Marc Rotenberg sees things a bit differently however; “[The TSA has] done a bunch of very slick promotions where they show people — including journalists — going through the devices. And then they reassure people, based on the images that have been produced, that there’s not any privacy concerns.” Rotenberg told CNN.
“But if you look at the actual technical specifications and you read the vendor contracts, you come to understand that these machines are capable of doing far more than the TSA has let on,” he added grimly.
(Image: Boston Globe)
