Uhmm... well allegedly 0.01 mrem anyway and there are many different varieties of machines... and so far as the face being blurred there's been some evidence to the contrary notably the "leaked" scans of people in some federal court house, although that model apparently isn't the one that makes the crystal clear naked images as seen in other machines, but it does have a camera that clearly sees who is standing in the machine... and as I've said any system that blurs any part would defeat the purpose as people would just hide whatever they don't want seen in that area. I'm betting its just a matter of time before websites popup showing famous person's naked scans when they get sold by airport workers, assuming celebs don't get the free pass which may very well happen... My thinking now is it's not just about the modesty issue, or even the potential heath risks, but more about how far government is going, and how easily we've let them... at this rate we'll all have government monitored cameras in our bedrooms "in the name of security" before you know it... and if that sounds far fetched, just think what you would have said to the idea of scanners that see through clothes being used on you, grandma, and your children if someone had suggested it 15 years ago... not to mention getting thoroughly felt up by a stranger. I'm betting "over my dead body" would have been what most people would have said... but we've all just been more than happy to bend over and throw away some of the last rights we have whenever the government says it makes us safe... do any of us really think that another 9/11 could happen? Would passengers on any plane sit idly by now that we know the planes can be used as missiles... no.. the threat today is bombs and sabatoge.. sabotage is probably about impossible to catch... but bombs are the area of dogs and the chemical test kits... save the naked scanners for people that the dogs point out as opposed to strip searching them. I've heard lots of "experts" say the new scanners wouldn't have seen the recent attempts anyway, plus the human factor of someone sitting at a screen all day is bound to miss things just like they do when x-raying luggage... and to be even more cynical, how do we even know that the companies making billions from this technology aren't the ones behind all of these "failed" attempts? you know the bombs that never seem to explode when some nut job tried to set them off.... /rant
ok.. so you're not going to believe any stats that say it's safe????? According to the article there are actually only 2 types of scanners. And it would be easy to legislate that ALL scanners must blur out the face and that all operators must be in a seperate room from the scanner so as not to identify the person being scanned. Even if you blurred the private parts you would still be able to see a foreign object. If you look the pics you'll see that there is a definite difference between the body and something hidden.
I went on to rewrite some of that while you were posting, but the just is the same... anyone who thinks a plane full of people is going to be hijacked with boxcutters or even a pistol after what happened on 9/11 is crazy... bombs are the real threat, and bombs can easily be shaped to look and feel like someones "package" or made into breast implants for that matter... the really dedicated nutjob will have no problem having something surgically implanted in his body and the only screening that will catch that is profiling and maybe a really good bomb dog... sure the scanners can catch the shampoo carrying grandma's and the junkie with a baggie of pot in their pocket but what does that have to do with keeping planes safe? I'm just having a difficult time seeing the benefits justify the use of these machines on the general public... anyone can get a weapon onto a plane... arms and feet are deadly if properly trained, and credit cards can hold a razors edge, not to mention 007 things like "pen guns" and the like but again.. no passenger would sit by while someone tried to take over a plane now that we know what can happen.... Edit: Also the example pic on that story is not what the scanners see when operating normally, it's the G rated make people feel better about it demo... do a google search to find the non-demo mode examples... it's more like this and this... great for spotting metal objects like guns.. not so much for other stuff and I'm betting they're a lot clearer than these publicly released shots show... and of' course high resolution.. so any interesting parts can be zoomed in on... I'm sure we;ll hear from former TSA agents in a short while about just how revealing the shots are and about the inappropriate things that went on...
So you want to throw out the baby with the bathwater because it's not 100%? There will never be a 100% solution. Does that mean we should not try to improve security?
Smarter security is what we should try for. More bomb dogs, behavior profilers, and common sense.... not nonsense that only reminds us that the terrorists have won reducing us to a cowering, dominated, rights relinquishing populous... 'Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.' -Benjamin Franklin
The terrorists only win when you are cowering in your homes afraid to go out. In WWII, in England they would go through bomb raids at night and get up the next day and go about their business walking through the rubble of destroyed buildings. If a church was bombed out they would simply hold the service somewhere else. Body scanners and pat downs are the destroyed buildings.... we all need to go about business as per normal. I'll be flying to Florida in Feb to visit my parents with my wife and daughter. We're doing our research now to make sure that we're prepared for what could happen at the airports. Plan for the worst, hope for the best.
good grief I sure wish they could just have everybody, one person at a time go through a bomb proof scanner. if the person in the scanner had a bomb, then it would auto. go off, bingo!! no more terrorist!!!:huepfen021:
I guess this doesn't help you peeps who don't agree with it...lol Probably Bad News: TSA FAIL - Epic Fail Funny Videos and Funny Pictures
I went searching for that news piece and couldn't find any credible agency that carried it. You would think if that really happened that it would be all over CNN, ABC, etc. The Daily Squib, who wrote the original article, is akin to the Enquirer.
