The backlash over the safety and privacy issues surrounding
full-body scanners continues to grow after 100 low-resolution body scans were
released by the tech site Gizmodo on Tuesday. 

The images dispel the belief that scanners are incapable of storing and/or
transmitting the images of those scanned.

Though the images did not originate from an airport security scanner, the
improperly collected images from a U.S. courthouse in Orlando, Florida,
highlight the serious concerns associated with the technology.

According to Gizmodo, the site obtained the scans through a Freedom of
Information Act request after learning that the U.S. Marshals Service had saved
thousands of images of employees and citizens who passed through the Florida
courthouse’s machines.

The scans posted on the site have been cleared of identifying features and were
made using millimeter-wave technology, a technology that is used in 152
full-body scan units around the country.

The tech site says they leaked the photographs online to
demonstrate the security limitations of full-body scanners. “That we can see
these images today almost guarantees that others will be seeing similar images
in the future,” Gizmodo said in a statement on its Web site. 

Federal officials have stated in the past that scans done by millimeter-wave
systems and higher-resolution X-ray backscatter technologies do not record
images. The TSA repeated that claim on Tuesday, saying that body-imaging systems
in airports did not have the ability to “save, transmit or print the images.”

According to the TSA, the images are examined in a remote location by a security
officer and deleted after examination. TSA officers are also prohibited from
taking cell phones or cameras into the screening room.

Even when suspicious items are discovered, the TSA says it will not keep the
scans as evidence for a trial, unlike other police agencies like the U.S.
Marshals.

What to expect at American airports: Holiday Season Airport Security Preview: Full Body Scan or
Invasive Pat Down?

The backlash over the Gizmodo images has been furthered by an emergency
injunction filed against the TSA by a consumer rights group, the Electronic
Privacy Information Center (EPIC), earlier this month.

EPIC claims that they have evidence that full body scanners
are designed to store and record images. According to the TSA, only imaging
machines used in the TSA testing lab in Atlantic City are designed to store
images and only for training purposes.

The lawsuit is still under review.

In related news, the controversial new pat down that the TSA is offering in lieu
of the full-body scanner has also been gaining notoriety. The TSA is currently
investigating the case of a San Diego man, who has made headlines for refusing
to undergo the new pat down, telling agents not the “touch his junk.”

The man may face an $11,000 fine for secretly recording his interactions with
TSA agents after refusing to go through a body scanner or getting the more
invasive pat down. It is against federal law to record an airport security
checkpoint.  

The protest against these two new security measures is gaining traction online,
as an online campaign is calling for a National Opt-Out Day the day before
Thanksgiving. On one of the busiest travel days of the year, National Opt-Out
day asks passengers to refuse the full-body scanner on November 24 and agree to
a public pat down, sending a clear message to the TSA and Homeland Security.

Meanwhile, the TSA has gone on the defensive, reminding all passengers that the
threat of terrorism is real. Though people may disagree with their methods, the
TSA say that “everyone wants to be safe and secure on a flight.”

By Adriana Padilla for PeterGreenberg.com.

Related Links: Gizmodo, USA Today, CBS News, National Opt-Out Day

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