Airports have installed Full Body Scanners (FBSs) to keep exploding underwear from interfering with flight schedules. Number of air crash fatalities caused by exploding underwear: 0. Number of air crash fatalities caused by alligators and crocodiles: 23 (20 in the Congo and three in Florida). Sounds like TSA needs to hire Crocodile Dundee.
So why does TSA use scanners? Perhaps because Michael Chertoff, former head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, is a paid shill for a scanner company. TSA, the Transportation Security Administration, is a branch of the Department of Homeland Security.
Many people and organizations are protesting the use of scanners as an invasion of privacy. They claim that fuzzy monochrome scan images depict them naked and produce pornographic pictures. Before tying up congested court schedules protesting scanner use, we suggest a simple test:
1. Go home.
2. Close the door and window shades.
3. Disrobe.
4. Look in the mirror, and don’t suck in your gut.
5. Would you buy naked photos of that person?
Case closed.
Image (“Leonardo’s Scanner”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com
Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.
Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine
Tags: air travel, airport security, body scanners, Chertoff, DHS, full body scanners, seurity theater, terrorism, TSA
NotionsCapital 
November 20, 2010 at 1:37 pm
[…] travelers worldwide are protesting the use of full body scanners in airports, and they like TSA’s full-body pat-downs even less. Eternal vigilance is the […]