Well I see that PHX now has their new backscatter scanners up and running. These scanners are able to see through clothes and display high detail images of a body. Due to privacy concerns, it seems software degradations that supposedly will keep the most intimate details from being apparent are included.
One must wonder about the effectiveness of the privacy filters. I suspect that probably they are as effective as the parental filters installed on computers to keep family members from browsing porn sites. I routinely notice that these filters are bypassed by tech savvy kids that know more about the software than the parents who install it on the pc’s in the house.
If the privacy concerns of the public are not warranted, why does the TSA put the monitors in a separate room not viewable by the public? Perhaps they were worried about their employees being caught snickering about the size of the passengers package being scanned.
On the other hand, it may be possible that the private viewing rooms are akin to the quarter booths found in many porn shops. I wonder if an unending supply of tissue paper is included as fringe benefit to TSA employees taking advantage of their own private peep shows!
MAYBE I can sneak in a plane trip before this comes to the airport near me. Once they’re doing this locally, I will stop flying. Someone told my husband (someone involved in the design of the system) that the amount of radiation is about equal to eating a banana. My comment? Nobody FORCES me to eat a banana!