Gather ’round for the time-honored American tradition of pretending to be outraged by something. (If we’re to believe that outlet of faux populist outrage, the Drudge Report.) It’s one of those airport security body scanning devices, this time going on trial at the Salt Lake City airport. The left two images show a woman, while the right two are a man.
My question is, are any of you out there actually offended by this? It’s not a new device, but it was deployed for the first time at the luxurious Salt Lake City airport for the first time this month, as this local news report explains. Its whole purpose, if you haven’t already guessed, is to look for contraband underneath your clothes. Of course, there’s always the “oh my God my privacy” concerns, but the TSA has gone out of its way to ensure that you have nothing to fear. For one, your face is blurred out; no one will know who you are. Second, the TSA guy with you at the booth isn’t the guy who will see the 3D scan; nope, someone in a room, behind closed doors, gets to see the scan. And, lastly, you have to volunteer to be scanned. The TSA is using the machine as part of a pilot program, and it’s not guaranteed that it will make its way to your local airport.
And yes, if using this machine would make going through that airport security line any faster I’d use it, in a heartbeat.