Dave Barry has a blurry groin

[marmar]

from the ACLU:



TSA Pulls Aside Humorist Dave Barry for "Blurred Groin"


We have been hearing (and repeating ourselves) that you have options when you go the airport. That is, if you're pulled aside for secondary screening, you have a choice between going through the strip-search machine or being given an "enhanced pat-down." (Incidentally, this isn't the first time "enhanced" has been used as a euphemism for something abusive.)

But NPR reports that humorist Dave Barry had the misfortune of getting both the full-body scan and a pat-down, because the full-body scan displayed to screeners a "blurred groin." The blurriness in his nether-regions required a secondary-secondary screening, in a separate room, wherein a screener gave Barry a pat-down.

Now, Barry took this all in stride and could tell a funny tale to NPR afterwards, but let's give this scenario serious consideration. First, we won't ever know why Barry's groin was "blurred," but we do know that intimate stuff, like penile implants, colostomy bags and adult diapers of passengers who opt for the naked machines are all visible to Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screeners.

Blurred groin aside, even if we can get past these embarrassing bits, we're not confident that these security measures are making us any safer. The likely effectiveness of naked machine technology in preventing attacks does not justify the level of intrusion involved. The example of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab has surfaced repeatedly: despite TSA administrator John Pistole's assertion at yesterday's hearing to the contrary, it's not clear the machines would have caught the explosives Abdulmutallab hid in his underwear. Government reports and many experts have found otherwise. ..........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.aclu.org/blog/technology-and-liberty/tsa-pulls-aside-humorist-dave-barry-blurred-groin