Naked-Image Scanners to Be Removed From U.S. Airports
bloomberg.com
bloomberg.com
TSA already monitors Amtrack:
http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/06/opinion/don-phillips-tsa-vipr-...
Due to the broad description of the organization's purpose, it gives them overreaching powers allowing them to secure any mode of transportation. This has led to the TSA expanding its presence and showing up at NFL games:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christopher-elliott/the-tsa-wa...
Edit: For those commenting about NFL game presence without reading the linked article...
> Few people know that $105 million of their taxpayer dollars are going to fund
> 37 VIPR teams in 2012, whose purpose is to "augment" the security of any mode
> of transportation. They don't realize that these VIPR teams can show up
> virtually anytime, anywhere and without warning, subjecting you to a search
> of your vehicle or person.The problem is that the American people want to do anything about terrorists, crime or "for the children" at the expense of our civil liberties. It's entirely irrational. TSA at NFL games will not even remotely begin to change that.
There was a bit of an uproar about the increased security measures at NFL stadiums some years ago but it died down and things went on as usual.
Here's an overview:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/national-affairs/...
So an NFL game is now considered a mode of transportation?
You didn't use to have to produce ID to travel inside your own country, shame it's come to this.
Uh, huh. Just wait. TSA stands for Transportation Security Administration. Transportation...
Well the S stands for security and we are still waiting for that...
I realize that's bordering on tin-foil hat land, but it's why I opt out every time, and will continue to do so...
They told us they wouldn't store the images on the previous scanners, but it turns out they were.
1. Did the U.S. Marshals Service claim that they weren't storing the images prior to this discovery?
2. Do you know of any examples of the TSA storing the images (in opposition to what they have claimed they do)?
Why do you feel the need to base your entire argument on a slippery slope fallacy? Either they are, and proof is required, or they're not.
The fact that we're talking about the government does not reverse the burden of proof!
>Those scans can be used to reliably identify tents of millions of people.
Have you seen the image output from a backscatter machine? While invasive (ostensibly because they include the genitals), they don't show very good detail. Somehow I efficacy of backscatter machines being used for mass identification purposes and the existence of such a program.
They told us they wouldn't store the images on the
previous scanners, but it turns out they were.
was disingenuous. Saying that 'they lied about storing the images' has no basis in truth here (at least without presenting other evidence that I'm unaware of).I don't know about you, but I don't think that there's any reason to make misleading statements in order to present the case that these images shouldn't be stored.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Backscatter_X-ray
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millimeter_wave_scanner
I wonder if the privacy issue is a cover story.
It also says, near the end, that of the new contracts, two are with companies that use millimeter-wave, and one is with a company that uses backscatter.
So the privacy thing probably isn't just a cover story, or at least not for the X-ray issue.
Efficiency is the number one reason they are being removed, as stated by the TSA. The backscatter machines produce an R-rated image of the person being scanned. This requires secondary personnel to view the image in a separate area and then communicate back to the primary personnel at the checkpoint. TSA asked Rapidscan to write software which could render a non-R-rated image which could be displayed and interpreted at the checkpoint, but Rapidscan could not or would not.
If you have studied HCI, the simplicity and efficiency of the interface is highly correlated with the ability of the user to complete a designated task. Making the checkpoint more efficient increases TSA personnel's ability to accomplish their objectives.
The UI of the ProVision is specifically designed for 'non-experts' -- it shows a simple stick figure and a bright colored box for any area of the body that triggers an alert. What could be easier to interpret? You can even look at your own results as you walk through.
Whether or not you're a fan of TSA, whether you believe the increased efficiency is simply a face-saving excuse to get the "naked body scanners" out of there, the TSA's rightfully concluded the ProVision (RF, non-ionizing) scanners are a superior product, and everyone should be happier to get to walk through them rather than the X-ray based machines.
Personally I'd be happier not having to queue and walk through any fixed scanner... and they are working on airport designs which will make that a reality.
Maybe, but it's a very plausible one. The mock-ups they had released for how the new scanner displays would work were pure science fiction from a technical standpoint.
I wish, them taking health concerns into consideration would be a great step forward. This is probably not a concern of theirs, sadly.
"It will now get rid of the remaining 174 Rapiscan machines, with the company absorbing the cost"
CEO Deepak Chopra?!
The quantum potential of infinite possibilities...
"OSI Systems is “pleased to reach a mutually satisfactory agreement with the TSA” that will involve moving the machines to other government agencies, Chief Executive Officer Deepak Chopra said in a statement. "
> Note that Deepak Chopra, the CEO of OSI Systems (the scanner manufacturer in the article), is not the same person as Deepak Chopra, the alternative medicine doctor.
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepak_Chopra_(disambiguation)
The real OSI CEO: http://www.osi-systems.com/about
ONE kind of naked scanner is being replaced with ANOTHER.
And then the existing naked scanner is being kept in service just at different locations like courthouses.
Absolutely nothing has changed, extraordinary amounts of taxpayer money still changing hands.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deepak_Chopra_(disambiguation)
Another example of real alternative medicine becoming mainstream.
You're trying to give quackery a respect it has not earned.
So our forefathers obviously intended "reasonable searches" to include strip-searching the entire population of travelers to ensure they are not bearing arms. Riiight. According to Wikipedia ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Amendment_to_the_United_... ), in colonial America the government regularly searched houses and seized property without warrants (general searches) to enforce taxes. There was a legal battle over this, AND --->>> John Adams viewed it as the spark in which originated the American Revolution.
Seriously, how in the world can we be so ignorant as to ignore our history and try to enforce constitutional amendments without sensible historical context.
In other words, because a restaurant has submitted to the licensing scheme of a county, it impliedly gives the county the right to search it without a warrant. Consider how a county health department could do its inspections if it had to get a warrant to do so each time it needed to.
So, in essence, in the case above, the Supreme Court is saying that since you're submitting to the government's regulations by choosing to fly, they don't need a warrant to search you.
I will mention that IAD airport in TSA's backyard still have a complete array of Rapiscan scanners, with no sign of being replaced. Each scanner is slightly rotated away from the next. One might postulate that the xray leakage off to the sides of the scanners would have a compounding effect on TSA workers if the scanners were arranged perfectly in line.
The real answers to hijacking are (1) locking the cabin door from the inside and (2) passengers understanding that they are not just going to be flown to Cuba. The security checkpoints are almost entirely useless.
The L-3 Communications scanners are millimeter wave. They do not share the possible dangers of the backscatter machines.
I personally don't mind the patdown at all, and the TSA personnel have all been professional each time I've requested to opt out. I do wonder what would happen if a significant minority started opting out, since that would most likely clog the system pretty badly.
Of course, it's also easily defeated[1][2] by anyone that knows what they're doing, so it's not like it's keeping us particularly safe.
[1] http://tsaoutofourpants.wordpress.com/2012/03/06/1b-of-nude-...
[2] http://americablog.com/2010/01/german-tv-highlights-failings...
[1] http://www.fda.gov/Radiation-EmittingProducts/RadiationEmitt...
Skin cancer, as well as various other cancers run in my family, I don't want to risk it.
Although, coming back from Europe to the US nothing says "Welcome to flying back to the US" than a grope from some security guy at Amsterdam airport that is paid to be there because the US initiated new rules requiring all flights to the US to have RapiScan machines for full-body imaging, or the grope at the first arriving airport with my connecting flight back to the city I live in.
http://users.csc.calpoly.edu/~jdalbey/SWE/Papers/THERAC25.ht...
Could you band together this year and get rid of it?
Edit: I will admit trying to avoid them. Not for privacy reasons but because they are sloooow. The line going through the regular x-ray always moves much faster.
( referenced from: http://rupture.co.uk/Terminal%204.html )
* They are unnecessary * They are a forced indignity * They are security theater * They should be unconstitutional * They are a huge waste of money
Why is it even necessary to ask your question? Do you realize that they feel up your junk if you (doublespeak) "opt-out"? As kids, these are things we thought Soviet Russia did to their people.
The guy in the TSA booth sees thousands of naked people a day. He's not laughing at you, he's just trying to get through his day. It's similar to how going to the doctor with something embarrassing seems like a huge deal for most people, but to the doctor you're just the nth person that week pulling down their trousers.
TSA agent: 'We laugh at your nude images, dear passengers'
“Things like this are what happens (at the very least) when you put people who are fresh out of high school or a GED program … with minimal training and even less professionalism, into the position of being in charge of analyzing nude images of people in a hermetically sealed room.”
Earlier this year, a woman filed a complaint against the TSA, claiming she was forced to pass through the nude body scanner three times so the agents could repeatedly see her naked. Passenger Ellen Terrell told CBS 11 News that she was told by an agent that she has “such a cute figure”, then singled out for a ‘random’ body scan. She was asked to pass through the nude scanner three times and heard the agent talk to the back room employees over a microphone.
“Guys, it is not blurry, I’m letting her go,” she heard the agents tell the back room employees.
Except the doctor serves a purpose and the TSA is just a jobs program and waste of money. Remind me how many of these caught terrorists per million dollars spent.
Airport screening effectively ended the very rapidly increasing number of aircraft hijackings which occurred in the early '70s. There were of course other factors in play, but the sharp drop (1972 saw 6 major hijackings) after the introduction of airport screening is certainly a good indicator of the effectiveness of airport screening.
Airport screening isn't completely effective, but it's fairly demonstrable that having a layer of security when boarding an aircraft does act as a deterrent to aircraft hijackings. It doesn't completely stop them, but it does make a difference.
I'm not going to defend the TSA as an organisation, but to say that airport screening as a whole serves no purpose is not really based in fact. It's almost certainly possible to bring banned items onto aircraft, and it's fairly reasonable to assume that if someone is dedicated enough they will find a way to cause death, but what airport screening does do is act as enough of a deterrent that aircraft hijacking isn't seen as an easy crime. The rapid drop in numbers post-screening shows that.
I didn't mind skinnydipping with friends, but I don't want to walk around my office or around people I don't know looking at me naked and storing images, as these are programmed to do.
My google fu has failed me...