Privacy advocates call for end to airport virtual strip searches

The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) kicked off a campaign Tuesday which calls on the Transportation and Security Administration (TSA) to halt the use of “whole body imaging” scanners at airports.

They are calling application of the technology “virtual strip searches” of travelers.

“Nobody needs to see my wife and kids naked to secure an airplane,” said Congressman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) in a media advisory from April. Chaffetz has proposed legislation he says will address Americans’ privacy concerns about the machines, which produce highly detailed images.

“Airports in 20 U.S. cities, such as JFK in New York City and LAX in Los Angeles, have used or plan to use MMW tech this year,” noted Live Science. “Other countries have also begun using or evaluating MMW for airport screening, including the UK, Netherlands, Japan and Thailand.

“The MMW and backscatter scans intentionally blur facial features, and the security officer viewing images sits in a remote location where he or she cannot identify the passengers, said Lara Uselding, a TSA spokesperson.”

“‘It’s the wave of the future,’ said James Schear, the TSA security director at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, where two body scanners are in use at one checkpoint,” reported USA Today.