Simple solution to TSA scans offered 4 years ago

[Jeffersons Ghost]

Scientists say they have solution to TSA scanner objections
By Ashley Halsey III
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 22, 2010; 12:57 AM

A cheap and simple fix in the computer software of new airport scanners could silence the uproar from travelers who object to the so-called virtual strip search, according to a scientist who helped develop the program at one of the federal government's most prestigious institutes.

The researcher, associated with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, said he was rebuffed when he offered the concept to Department of Homeland Security officials four years ago.

The fix would distort the images captured on full-body scanners so they look like reflections in a fun-house mirror, but any potentially dangerous objects would be clearly revealed, said Willard "Bill" Wattenburg, a former nuclear weapons designer at the Livermore lab. The scanners normally produce real-time outlines of the naked human body, and the Transportation Security Administration has been embroiled in controversy since installation of the new scanners began last month.

"Why not just distort the image into something grotesque so that there isn't anything titillating or exciting about it?" Wattenburg said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/21/AR2010112104456.html?hpid=topnews

First, they took away our freedom with the USA PATRIOT Act.

Now, they're taking away our wealth with a variety of measures.

Is it any surprise that they also want to take away our dignity with virtual strip-searches?

[de novo]

1. That would do nothing, however, for the potential dangerous radiation

on the skin.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

2. It's making us safe...

:sarcasm:

[SheilaT]

3. The other issue people are now

complaining about is that images have been saved, despite explicit promises that they would be deleted immediately. Why can't they be programmed so that all images are automatically deleted as soon as the next one comes up?

Plus the issue about potential radiation hazard is no doubt a real one. My local newspaper (which means it was probably a national story) did several articles a few months ago about how various mri machines in hospitals were incorrectly calibrated and people were getting much higher doses of radiation than they were supposed to. In hospitals. Where the machines are being operated by people whose specialty is to operate such machines.

I have absolutely no confidence that the TSA agents have any real clue what they are doing.

Plus, why should intimate contact that would be considered criminal be allowed at airports? Why should every single traveller be treated as a criminal?

But the real questions are these: How many passengers with explosives in their underwear been caught by these machines? Would these scans have prevented the shoe bomber or the underwear bomber from boarding? Right. Now explain to me once again why this kind of intrusive shit is supposed to keep air travel safe?

[Lance_Boyle]

4. Not a fix - if you can distort an image in software you can undistort an image in software. n/t

[avaistheone1]

6. True.

The images can be reversed so that you are then actually looking at a true picture of a naked person - rather than a negative or xray image. Terrifying.

[DrDan]

7. exactly - wasn't a child molester caught using exactly what you are suggesting?

[katandmoon]

5. The whole point is to be able to store recognizable images of people.

[rustydog]

8. Everyone is concerned about the virtual image of the scanner not the RADIATION

your body absorbs. It is a cumulative effect. if you are a frequent flyer. If you are a child, your body is more susceptible to radiation. if you have had a series of x-rays at a physicians office, hospital clinic. CT's are notorious for even more potentially cancerous x-rays. Now go through an airport scanner and get another dose of radiation....

A doctor has to order an x-ray. Where are the radiation tags operators must wear to measure the radiation dose they receive being around the operating x-ray machine? Shouldn't TSA provide these radiation dose badges to every single passenger?