4 ms·

TSA eliminates all invasive X-ray machines

7 points by jamesbritt 13y ago

chrisbennet 13y ago
"..all US airports scanners equipped with the ability to produce the penetrating images will now only show a generic outline of a passenger to the operator. " The headline is incorrect. The TSA did not eliminate the machines. The machines have been modified to show less detail, that's all.
- blcknight 13y ago
  Correct! The machines still take dirty pictures of you -- they just provide an abstraction layer and a human ostensibly doesn't view the raw image. They removed one of the two types of machines, only because the backscatter scanner vendor couldn't provide the abstraction layer in time. The millimeter wave machines are still in place. I heard a TSA agent basically tell a nervous traveller this when I was in the U.S. last: "Oh no, we go rid of those machines, these are totally different -- see it just shows me a picture of where any hidden items are. Not any different than are old metal detectors! Safe as can be!" Millimeter wave machines still violate your privacy, and still expose you to radiation. But, freedom, amirite?
  - mpyne 13y ago
    Uh, you're exposed to radiation all the time, by that definition. Much more so when you step out into the sun (despite the bears being outside I do hope you try to brave the solar radiation every so often). As it happens millimeter wave machines are a fancy way to say "EHF radio", which is very much non-ionizing and is not known to be harmful. One caveat is that any radiation beam that the body is not fully transparent to can be harmful at high power, but that is from the heat effect, not anything inherent to the radiation (i.e. it's the same hazard as standing under a heat lamp for too long).
auctiontheory 13y ago
The TSA's claims about these machines have repeatedly been shown to be false. The article does not provide much reassurance that this time will be different. Who is making the determination about "potentially forbidden items"? An AI?
basseq 13y ago
I always refuse to go through them and opt for the pat down. At this point I know the routine better than the TSA employee.
marssaxman 13y ago
Nothing the TSA has ever said about this program has turned out to be true, so I'll believe that the machines are gone when I stop having to opt out of them.
mickdarling 13y ago
There is still evidence that those particular wavelengths can cause genetic damage, and as someone who already has a propensity for sub-dermal tumors, I will still opt out. Ref: http://www.technologyreview.com/view/416066/how-terahertz-waves-tear-apart-dna/ http://www.technologyreview.com/view/416066/how-terahertz-wa...
glenra 13y ago
Ugh, even just seeing that picture of an airport security checkpoint makes me angry. I cannot believe we are collectively so dumb as to require the waste so many hours, so many billions of dollars, and so many lives on this ridiculous security theater. We pay morons in blue outfits to actively make our trips less convenient and our lives less safe. The cost is staggering. So many politicians claim they want to "repair our crumbling infrastructure", presumably so we can get where we're going faster and more safely, yet this option is constantly overlooked: abolish the TSA. Leave security up to the airlines and passengers. That one change would do far more to improve our transportation network than any bridge or road project, and it costs nothing - it would save money. And time, and lives. Forget trimming the leaves on this tree - we need to find some way to hack at the roots and the trunk.

7 points by jamesbritt 13y ago

"..all US airports scanners equipped with the ability to produce the penetrating images will now only show a generic outline of a passenger to the operator. " The headline is incorrect. The TSA did not eliminate the machines. The machines have been modified to show less detail, that's all.

blcknight 13y ago
Correct! The machines still take dirty pictures of you -- they just provide an abstraction layer and a human ostensibly doesn't view the raw image. They removed one of the two types of machines, only because the backscatter scanner vendor couldn't provide the abstraction layer in time. The millimeter wave machines are still in place. I heard a TSA agent basically tell a nervous traveller this when I was in the U.S. last: "Oh no, we go rid of those machines, these are totally different -- see it just shows me a picture of where any hidden items are. Not any different than are old metal detectors! Safe as can be!" Millimeter wave machines still violate your privacy, and still expose you to radiation. But, freedom, amirite?
- mpyne 13y ago
  Uh, you're exposed to radiation all the time, by that definition. Much more so when you step out into the sun (despite the bears being outside I do hope you try to brave the solar radiation every so often). As it happens millimeter wave machines are a fancy way to say "EHF radio", which is very much non-ionizing and is not known to be harmful. One caveat is that any radiation beam that the body is not fully transparent to can be harmful at high power, but that is from the heat effect, not anything inherent to the radiation (i.e. it's the same hazard as standing under a heat lamp for too long).

auctiontheory 13y ago

The TSA's claims about these machines have repeatedly been shown to be false. The article does not provide much reassurance that this time will be different. Who is making the determination about "potentially forbidden items"? An AI?

basseq 13y ago

I always refuse to go through them and opt for the pat down. At this point I know the routine better than the TSA employee.

marssaxman 13y ago

Nothing the TSA has ever said about this program has turned out to be true, so I'll believe that the machines are gone when I stop having to opt out of them.

mickdarling 13y ago

There is still evidence that those particular wavelengths can cause genetic damage, and as someone who already has a propensity for sub-dermal tumors, I will still opt out. Ref: http://www.technologyreview.com/view/416066/how-terahertz-waves-tear-apart-dna/ http://www.technologyreview.com/view/416066/how-terahertz-wa...

glenra 13y ago

Ugh, even just seeing that picture of an airport security checkpoint makes me angry. I cannot believe we are collectively so dumb as to require the waste so many hours, so many billions of dollars, and so many lives on this ridiculous security theater. We pay morons in blue outfits to actively make our trips less convenient and our lives less safe. The cost is staggering. So many politicians claim they want to "repair our crumbling infrastructure", presumably so we can get where we're going faster and more safely, yet this option is constantly overlooked: abolish the TSA. Leave security up to the airlines and passengers. That one change would do far more to improve our transportation network than any bridge or road project, and it costs nothing - it would save money. And time, and lives. Forget trimming the leaves on this tree - we need to find some way to hack at the roots and the trunk.