Recent Stories with tag air travel

Backscatter scan, courtesy TSA, leaves little about how it's hanging to the imagination.

Goldy at HorsesAss is having none of the full-body security scans starting up at SeaTac this September, claiming the invasion of privacy and safety concerns are just too much. (In March 2010, the TSA purchased 450 advanced imaging technology units with ARRA funds--at $130,000 to $170,000 each, says the Seattle Times.)

Regular surveillance cameras were enough to catch the TSA supervisor who stole $20,000 worth of valuables from checked luggage, but SeaTac, which has one of the more complex and inane security/performance art installations in the nation, has no problem with an invasive upgrade. (In fairness, they arbitrarily downgrade, too: "TSA Relaxes Restrictions for Cigarette Lighters and Breast Milk in Carry-On Luggage.")

Of the two types of imaging technology, millimeter wave and backscatter, it's the latter that has health professionals worried. Backscatter relies on low-dose x-rays just strong enough to "see through" clothes, but be reflected back by skin and soft tissue.

Health professionals are concerned that this kind of exposure directed at the skin could still have effects: "[T]here really is no threshold of low dose being OK. Any dose of X-rays produces some potential risk," David Agard, a biochemist and biophysicist at UCSF told NPR.

In an Orwellian touch of "sensitivity," the x-ray units employ a blurring algorithm while passengers are observed nude, and the TSA has instituted a complicated privacy procedure so that you will never actually see the officer checking you out nude:... (more)