Why TSA Body Scans Concern Me

I’m intentionally blogging this part on Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT or body scans) separate today as it addresses an opinion on TSA practices, whereas the first portion offered a potential solution to the problem.

• I believe it’s a fair tradeoff for added security. I respect that you may not.
• Even if your face isn’t blurred, the level of detail isn’t that great.
• You can see more of somone’s body on Facebook these days.
• I don’t believe TSA agents that review pictures have all that much fun doing it.
• I’m probably exposed to more radiation sitting at this desk with 100 gadgets.

• I believe that Blogger Bob (@TSABlogTeam) and others truly believe images aren’t stored.
• However, I’ve developed some security technology and myself always put in a way to access a record “just in case.” Storage is cheap and there’s no way to know 100% that it’s not being kept somewhere just in case the FBI wants to review a future act terrorism. As a vendor, you’d be at a minimum tempted to serve that up.
• Imaging quality will get better over time. AIT manufacturers must be working on this to stay competitive. As it gets better, the temptation to save and distribute images will result in a leak. You can’t convince me that a TSA agent will never sneak in a camera phone. It’s impossible to stop.
• If you Google “fake full body scan” you will find a TSA scan hoax (a pornographic image) that circulated the web earlier this year. The real story is- OK that was fake, but give us a year or two and we’ll get there.