Naked at the Airport

There are some major changes happening at some of America’s busiest airports as the Transportation Security Administration has purchased 30 Millimeter Wave Machines. First used in Arizona, The Millimeter Wave Machines can reveal a person’s body under their clothes to security screeners. Known as the “whole body imaging” machines, will be put in use at JFK international airport in New York City as was as Los Angeles International Airport in Los Angeles, California this week. More U.S. airports will be getting these machines as the year goes by. Travelers going through secondary screening will be the ones with the option to go through the imaging machine or to receive a pat-down.
There has been a backlash against the machines by privacy advocacy groups but the TSA stands by the machines and their work to maintain passenger’s privacy. The person screening the images will be in a booth and unable to see the actual passenger, just the picture on the screen. The person’s face will be pixilated and the TSA says the images the machine produces will not be saved. Many other countries use the Millimeter wave machines and some states use them at courts and prisons.
Is it creepy and a bit of an invasion of privacy for someone to see an abstract version of you naked at the airport but is it more a violation of privacy if someone is actively patting you down? Would people rather some nameless, faceless security officer see a picture on the screen with the face pixilated out then actually being touched? In Arizona, ninety percent of those asked preferred the machine to a pat-down.

With these machines, the TSA can see if you are carrying any metallic or non-metallic items on your body. They also get a full body view of you which is more than a pat-down shows. The TSA should be able to detect more with these machines than they ever could before. Also the TSA is getting more than 500 more x-ray machine to scan carry-ons. These multi-view x-ray machines can be updated to detect liquid explosives. Get ready America to fly the safer skies!