Airport X-ray Goggles

[2TransAms]

Or darn close anyway..airport_x_ray_screening

PHOENIX - The Phoenix airport on Friday became the first in the United States to test new X-ray technology that can see through people's clothes and show the body's contours with blush-inducing clarity.

Critics have said the high-resolution images created by the "backscatter" technology are too invasive. But the Transportation Security Administration adjusted the equipment so the pictures can be blurred in certain areas while still detecting concealed weapons.

During the testing, the machine will be used only as a back-up screening measure. Passengers who fail the standard screening with a metal detector will be able to choose between the new device or a pat-down search.

"It's 100 percent voluntary, so if the passenger doesn't feel comfortable with it, the passenger doesn't have to go through it," TSA spokesman Nico Melendez said.

Passengers selected for screening by the device are asked to stand in front of the closet-size X-ray unit with the palms of their hands facing out. Then they must turn around for a second screening from behind. The procedure takes about a minute.

Passenger Kristen Rodgers, 22, of Little Rock, Ark., who did not go through the screening, likened it to going to the doctor.

"If you tell yourself they have to look at that all day long, it makes yourself feel better," Rodgers said. "If it's just for security, just for 45 seconds, I think it would be worth catching somebody with something harmful."

The machine will be tested for up to 90 days at a single checkpoint at Sky Harbor's largest terminal, which hosts US Airways and Southwest Airlines, the two busiest airlines in Phoenix.

The technology could be left in place after the trial period, and the TSA hopes to roll out similar machines at the Los Angeles airport and New York's Kennedy Airport by the end of the year.

The security officer who works with the passenger going through the screening will never see the images the machine produces. The pictures will be viewed by another officer about 50 feet away who will not see the passenger, the TSA said.

The machine cannot store the images or transmit them.

"Once we're done screening the passenger, the image is gone forever," Melendez said.

The device at Sky Harbor costs about $100,000 but is on loan from the manufacturer, AS&E of Boston, Melendez said.

How far are we going to take these ridiculous security measures? This is an affront to me as an American citizen. This is why I don't fly. The Bill Of Rights is in full effect in my truck.

"If you tell yourself they have to look at that all day long, it makes yourself feel better," Rodgers said. "If it's just for security, just for 45 seconds, I think it would be worth catching somebody with something harmful."

Something about liberty and safety comes to mind here...

 

[nobody_special]

Disgusting... I've been trying to avoid flying since the "liquid binary explosive" scare, but sometimes I don't have much choice.

 

[GTSteve03]

I haven't flown in a couple of years. If things keep going like this, I have a feeling my next flight will be a one-way trip...

 

[Outlaws]

Well I am done flying.

 

[Brett Bellmore]

Backscatter x-ray is nothing on the terahertz systems which will be appearing shortly; Sharpe pictures, allegedly no biological effects, AND it can distingush between different compounds so well, they'll know what you had for breakfast.

Technology Review: T-rays advance towards airport screening

Researchers around the world are trying to tap a barely used portion of the electromagnetic spectrum--terahertz radiation--to scan airline passengers for explosives and illegal drugs. The rays are particularly attractive: they can see through clothing, paper, leather, plastic, wood, and ceramics. They don't penetrate as well as x-rays, but they also don't damage living tissue. And they can read spectroscopic signatures, detecting the difference between, say, hair gel and an explosive.

While some commercial systems are already available for limited applications--one Japanese device scans mail for contraband drugs--a machine to scan airline passengers has been slow to evolve, mainly due to the difficulty of creating the terahertz radiation. The ideal scanner would send out a beam of t-rays at passing objects or at people a few meters away, then measure the rays reflected off the subjects and check them against a database of spectroscopic signatures. But most existing sources of t-rays only provide weak beams, which make detection slower and harder.

 

[ConstitutionCowboy]

I'll drive, thank you!

Woody

"The Right of the People to move about freely in a secure manner shall not be infringed. Any manner of self defense shall not be restricted, regardless of the mode of travel or where you stop along the way, as it is the right so enumerated at both the beginning and end of any journey." B.E.Wood

 

[imprezagm4]

I don't have a problem with it... it just shows a cartoon outline of the body and any items hidden under clothes. You can't even tell a male from a female really...

 

[Lucky]

But for the privilege of getting on a freaking airplane, in your own freaking country?

 

[nwilliams]

I think as long as they keep it voluntary and use it only as a secondary screening device, then most people won't cause a fuss over it. It sounds like they are being very careful to keep people's privacy upheld. I also think that many people will prefer it over a pat-down.

I fly in and out of that airport all the time, I won't oppose it, just as long as it doesn't get out of control and they don't start screening everyone that way.

I think people hear the word x-ray machine and automatically assume they are taking naked pictures of people. Its really far from that if you read more about this system. One source I read recently said that woman screened will be viewed by woman, men screened by men. Only people that don't pass the metal detector test several times will be asked to be x-rayed and people will always be given the choice of pat-down as an alternative. Most people can pass the metal detector test, even if they have to step back through a couple times. The x-ray device is just another method to search people who can't seem to pass the metal detector test.

When i first heard about this I thought "oh god" its come down to this! The more I looked into it however the more I realized its not as threatening as it sounds.

What really gets me is the no liquid rule now, but at least you can still buy bottled drinks once you pass through the security gate, so even thats not too big a hassel.

 

[Car Knocker]

If you think this is bad, wait until *they* verify that a terrorist smuggled something onboard a plane in a body cavity.

 

[BigBlock]

"It's 100 percent voluntary, so if the passenger doesn't feel comfortable with it, the passenger doesn't have to go through it," TSA spokesman Nico Melendez said.

Did everybody miss that part?

 

[Car Knocker]

Wonder what the alternative is if you refuse?

 

[oae]

Car Knocker, here is what I emailed to friends and family today concerning the X-Ray security now instituted at the Phoenix airport to give you my answer your question.

oae :banghead:

The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution as contained in the Bill of Rights:

"The right of the people to be secure in their PERSONS, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

Reading the above, how does this new TSA program(A Totalitarian Enactment?)at the Phoenix airport and soon to be in all others, jive with the 4th Amendment? Not to worry as the below news story mentions that this very revealing full body X-ray scan is completely voluntary. So, if a person refuses, that's OK but then that person is required to submit to security screeners as they receive a total body pat down or in lay terms, a comprehensive feel up of you, your wife, daughter, son, husband or anyone else they damn well please.

 

[thexrayboy]

I think as long as they keep it voluntary and use it only as a secondary screening device, then most people won't cause a fuss over it. It sounds like they are being very careful to keep people's privacy upheld. I also think that many people will prefer it over a pat-down.

Sure it's voluntary right now. Thats because it's still in the roll out phase, in a few years when they have these everywhere and people have gotten used to seeing them at airports it will magically become a required screening. Tis the nature of big government to intrude. This won't be any different.

 

[PirateJoe]

Am I missing something? Aren't most airlines private corporations, and hence have the ability to do stuff like this?

 

[ReadyontheRight]

Didn't they used to sell these in the back of comic books?

I agree that these are private corporations, but has all this nonsense ever actually STOPPED any terrorists? They all seem to get caught ON THE AIRPLANE!

 

[Lucky]

Joe, you really think it's the airlines doing this to you?

When they put this stuff up on street corners downtown and tell people that walking is just another form of transport, then maybe people will start to care.

 

[RevolvingCylinder]

Am I missing something? Aren't most airlines private corporations, and hence have the ability to do stuff like this?

Some people are ordered to use airlines by the US Government. These are the only times I fly(because I'm ordered to). No matter the uniform I wear I'm treated as a suspected terrorist like everyone else. To make a broad generalization that we're all consumers is asinine. Secondly it's a government organization that is doing these searches and seizures, not a private corporation.

 

[razorburn]

If you think this is bad, wait until *they* verify that a terrorist smuggled something onboard a plane in a body cavity.

I almost wish they would. Trying to get 100% security is not possible, there's still about 10,000 ways for them to sneak something onboard. If their target is just to blow up a plane to kill people, they could just as well do it on a train, cruise ship, stadium, an infinite number of things. It's completely ineffective and just inconveniences the rest of us.

 

[RCR29]

Sure it is voluntary now, but what happens when it becomes mandatory, which it will.

 

[Pilgrim]

Critics have said the high-resolution images created by the "backscatter" technology are too invasive. But the Transportation Security Administration adjusted the equipment so the pictures can be blurred in certain areas while still detecting concealed weapons.

It sounds interesting. How does the equipment know what to blur?

Pilgrim

 

[Ragnar Danneskjold]

Well I hate flying anyways, so no loss there.


Why does the TSA even exist? As far as I know, all airlines are private companies. They should operate their own terminals, and have their own security. That way, if they want to use this kind of tech, it's their choice, not an infringement on our rights, and customers are free to choose another airline.

 

[pacodelahoya]

Hey, if you don't have anything to hide, why should you care?


I think it would be better if they just enacted legislation to force people to board airplanes naked with no carry on.

Then again, I would probably get seated next to the Michael Moore look alike as opposed to the Victoria's Secret model.

 

[hunttheevil]

The airlines are private enterprises, however, they rent space from the airport
authority. The airport terminal is generally owned and operated by the local transportation authority. Hence, the Government.

 

[evan price]

I dunno, if you were seated next to the VS model your weapon might tend to become unconcealed...

So no more than 4 oz of liquid... people are 98% water... so no people on planes?

Don't even suggest body cavity bombs. Drug mules have been swallowing and lately, surgically implanting narcotics in their bodies for years and they keep getting through.

All it will take is an X-ray of a passenger with a belly full of condoms stuffed with heroin and the public outcry of making the xray closet mandatory will begin.