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Pick Your Poison: Naked Scanner or Full-Body Pat-Down

So you’re at the airport going through the security checkpoint. You have two options: you can either go through the new high-tech body scanner which allows those people who check the screen to see your body - your ENTIRE body - all the way down to your private parts - or you can opt for a pat-down in which a security official touches pretty much every part of your body.

The Transportation Security Administration and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano are standing behind the new body scanners and the pat-downs, saying they’re the best way to protect passengers.

But there definitely are some concerns.

First, let’s start with the body scanners. About 35,000 images taken of people have already been leaked online by a site called Gizmodo. Thankfully Gizmodo had enough decency to blur out, well let’s just say, the sensitive areas of the images before posting the images online.

When TSA officials announced the plan for the new scanners, they said none of the images would be saved. But somehow these 35,000 images were. Who knows how many more are out there. 

In terms of the pat downs, some people are already starting to allege sexual harassment against TSA security personnel. Some bloggers are talking about the possibility of the personnel getting turned on by the pat downs.

I, myself, have been through one of the pat downs and, let me tell you, I was a little shocked about how hands-on it was - no pun intended. The female TSA employee told me she would have to touch my chest in order to make sure I wasn’t hiding anything in my bra. With her gloves on, she literally grabbed my chest, working her fingers around my breasts. It was definitely more hands on then I was expecting.

I understand that these days we need to have enhanced security. I’m never one to complain about long security lines (although I have to admit the whole taking off the shoe thing really annoys me, but I just grind my teeth and get through it).

I agree with the TSA that the body scanners and the pat downs are necessary procedures. However I do think that the TSA has to do a better job of regulating who’s looking at the images and what’s happening with the images. For example, those 35,000 images should NEVER have been saved and leaked online.

The pat-downs are a more difficult thing to address. I understand if people don’t want to go through the full body scanner, then the only other option is the pat- down. People are already threatening to sue some TSA employees for sexual harassment.

The TSA has said it will investigate any complaint brought against a security employee.

There’s a growing movement online calling for people to protest the new body scanners next Wednesday - the day before Thanksgiving and the height of the holiday travel season. Proponents of the scanners dread that this protest may create long lines at the airports.

I’m not flying next week, but let me tell you if I was, I would opt for the scanner. There’s much less of a chance of my naked image making it out over the Internet than the good chance, well the absolute certainty, of a female TSA employee groping me.