Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Actual detail of airport body scanners

So far, this is all we've been able to see of the airport body scanners;




Whoops.



When you watch this video, keep two things in mind.

First, pay attention to the 3D image scanning, and the detail that is visible (franks and beans). The only image of this kind of scan that I've been able to find is the one above, which is significantly less detailed, and implies that this is all they can see. The video shows the 3D imaging is much more revealing.

Secondly, we're used to seeing that ghostly white image of the vague outline of the body shape, but in the video, it's very clear that there is a way to zoom in on the image, and increase the contrast. It seems very likely that presenting the zoomed, low contrast image would have been too shocking to people. Instead, they show the white blob, and let the TSA operator zoom in with a tiny viewing square. I'm sure you noticed that the TSA agent avoided zooming in on the full breast of the woman scanned. I wonder if this was because he knew he had a camera over his shoulder, and didn't want to show just how much detail there is in the zoomed image.

Once again, imagine your wife, son, or daughter being leered at by some minimum wage high school dropout with no criminal background check done prior to employment.

Wonder how many pedophiles are applying to TSA right now...

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