Privacy, Health Issues Top Critics' List Of Concerns

When the US Transportation Security Administration announced the debut of full-body scanners at American airports, all the concern seemed to be over whether passengers would revolt at the idea of strangers looking at their bodies with X-ray vision. TSA assured us the screeners seeing the images wouldn't know who we were, that the images would not be retained, and that only volunteers who preferred X-rays to being frisked would be scanned.

What a difference a few weeks makes. Robin Kane, the agency’s acting chief technology officer, tells the New York Times initial results from tests at 19 airports have been so positive that the agency is now considering replacing the old metal detectors with scanners for everyone.

"It's very, very quick; the scan is about two seconds," added TSA spokesman Sterling Payne. "They'll tell you the position to stand in, there's the quick scan, and then you step out of the machine and wait for the resolution, which happens in a separate room in another part of the checkpoint."

Not everyone is sold on full-body scanning. Bruce Schneier, a security technology consultant, equates the process to "a physically invasive strip-search... How do we know they're not going to be storing those images? We're taking their word for it."

Others worry about the exposure to X-rays... though if that's your issue, you probably shouldn't be flying anyway. TSA says a scan is equivalent to the ambient radiation received in two minutes aboard an airliner, where much of Earth's protective atmosphere is below you.

Developers say advanced X-ray technology may soon be able to detect explosive chemicals in carry-ons, bringing an end to the ban on shampoo and other gels.

Experts warn that could make thousands of TSA jokes obsolete almost overnight...

FMI: www.tsa.gov