The Naked and the Dread

At first glance you might think the Transportation Security Administration has decided there's something infinitely creepy about having a guy look through your clothes, at your short hairs, bumps, and dangles. Suspend that visionary idea.  It may be that the new full body scanner software is just cheaper.

Ostensibly stung by criticism of naked scans of your daughter as you and the family fly to Grandma's for Thanksgiving, TSA is touting a new experiment in body-scanner software. The gizmo substitutes a clothed generic avatar. It highlights a general body area where there  might be contraband. Then comes the frisk.

But a TSA spokesman makes much of the cost savings. The government will not have to go to the expense of having an employee in an isolated  room look at your nakedness. That's the TSA  sop to citizens bitterly clinging to the notion that it's wrong to have their privates on public display at the check-in line.

But:


The upgrades don’t resolve privacy questions, said Rotenberg, whose Washington-based group objects to the use of the devices as a primary screening tool. The agency may someday decide it wanted to record passenger images or link scan results to traveler names, he said.


Coffee break at 612 South 12th Street in Arlington: "Hey, Art, ya wanna look at some naked people? How 'bout some of them wise-ass blog people always giving us crap? We can use the HD  upgrade and  make a list of the shorties and flatties and ...".