Controversial nude body scanners used at U.S. airports have come under fire again – after a blogger claimed he could easily smuggle explosives through them onto a plane.
Engineer Jonathan Corbett has published a video where he shows how he took a small metal case through two of the TSA’s $1billion fleet in a special side pocket stitched into his shirt.
This is because, he suggests, the scanners blend metallic areas into the dark background – so if an object is not directly placed on the body, it will not show up on the scan.
The metallic box, he claims, would have set off an alarm had he passed through the old detecting system.
His revelation comes just weeks after Europe banned the ‘airport strip-searches’ over fears the X-ray technology could cause cancer.
via Daily Mail (UK).
A fascinating article about how the TSA is basically only creating the illusion of security.
[Corbett] added: ‘Now, I’m sure the TSA will accuse me of aiding the terrorists by releasing this video, but it’s beyond belief that the terrorists haven’t already figured this out and are already plotting to use this against us.
‘It’s also beyond belief that the TSA did not already know everything I just told you, and arrogantly decided to disregard our safety. The nude body scanner program is nothing but a giant fraud.’
There are only two options:
- Either the TSA was already aware of this serious flaw in these machines; in which case they have been snapping naked images of U.S. travelers needlessly and possibly giving them cancer without providing any increase in security, or
- the TSA was un-aware of this serious security flaw in these machines; in which case they are all bumbling idiots and this is just another example of government intrusion into our private lives run amuck.
This calls for a congressional investigation.