TSA says new full-body scanners will add 'privacy filter' to protect passengers

A new full-body scanner will not yet be rolled out by the Transportation Security Administration due to privacy concerns for passengers.

The scanner, built by the British firm Thruvision, is in the demonstration phase at the TSA testing facilities in Arlington, Va., and will not be considered for use in U.S. airports until the company fulfills government officials’ requirement to add a “privacy filter” to further protect passengers.

The machine, which, according to Thruvision, can perform a full-body screening with no blind spots in just eight seconds, and successfully screen passengers from up to 25 feet away, invited some controversy over its potential to show too much — though Thruvision Americas Vice President Kevin Gramer said the scanner does not violate travelers’ privacy.

“A piece of narrowly drawn legislation from several years ago created a requirement that all people-screening technologies used at U.S. airport checkpoints have a privacy filter regardless of the image displayed,” Gramer said to the LA Times in a statement.

The company’s screening equipment and technology has “tremendous privacy and safety benefit,” Gramer added.

The concerns stem from a group of full-body scanners made by Torrance manufacturer in 2013 that reportedly used low levels of radiation to create a seemingly nude image of the passenger.

The Thruvision scanners, however, use terahertz technology that is similar to thermal imaging to create a “green blob-like” image of a passenger, a spokesperson for the TSA said to Fox News. A dark outline is used to show if weapons or explosives are hidden on the passenger’s body.

Though the spokesperson told Fox News that the scanner was not in violation of privacy laws per federal regulations concerning advanced imaging technology, the administration was concerned over potential privacy concerns and requested the addition of the filter. TSA could not confirm how the privacy filter will obscure the images further.

TSA is expecting the privacy filter software updates to be available for the scanners in June. The agency will then determine how and when the scanning technology will be implemented at airports.




https://www.foxnews.com/travel/tsa-new-full-body-scanners-add-privacy-filter

Nothing like flying the friendly skies & get body scanned inside & out from 25 feet away.......this is like the futuristic movie The Running Man, made in 1987 with technology we have today.

Wonder what it will be like by 2030

Nevermind. No comment

much more concerned with a few of these airlines using face scanning technology in lieu of a boarding pass. there's never been legislation allowing some sort of central government facial recognition database for private companies (airlines) to access real-time, yet it's happening

and the airlines response is that you are automatically "opted-in" to this program unless you specifically opt out. how can someone opt out of a program they didn't know existed? Currently the only way to opt out would be to arrange an appointment with the US Customs and Border Protection ... that sounds like fun, eh?

and they admit that no standards are in place with how to deal with the dbase and facial recognition data:
“[D]espite the risk that airlines will use biometric exit data and technology for their own tracking purposes, [the agency] has not published any guidelines for or agreements with its private partners"

rolltide said:

much more concerned with a few of these airlines using face scanning technology in lieu of a boarding pass. there's never been legislation allowing some sort of central government facial recognition database for private companies (airlines) to access real-time, yet it's happening

and the airlines response is that you are automatically "opted-in" to this program unless you specifically opt out. how can someone opt out of a program they didn't know existed? Currently the only way to opt out would be to arrange an appointment with the US Customs and Border Protection ... that sounds like fun, eh?

and they admit that no standards are in place with how to deal with the dbase and facial recognition data:
“[D]espite the risk that airlines will use biometric exit data and technology for their own tracking purposes, [the agency] has not published any guidelines for or agreements with its private partners"

Click to expand...

Face scanning technology is getting big.

In fact, in some places it has replaced the old fashioned mugshot. You stare at a dot and it completely maps your face.

Whats bs is they can do all of this in name of " terrorism" to try to justify it yet ummm how about just not letting Muslims in the country to begin with.

rolltide said:

much more concerned with a few of these airlines using face scanning technology in lieu of a boarding pass. there's never been legislation allowing some sort of central government facial recognition database for private companies (airlines) to access real-time, yet it's happening

and the airlines response is that you are automatically "opted-in" to this program unless you specifically opt out. how can someone opt out of a program they didn't know existed? Currently the only way to opt out would be to arrange an appointment with the US Customs and Border Protection ... that sounds like fun, eh?

and they admit that no standards are in place with how to deal with the dbase and facial recognition data:
“[D]espite the risk that airlines will use biometric exit data and technology for their own tracking purposes, [the agency] has not published any guidelines for or agreements with its private partners"

Click to expand...

You see the amount of cameras & surveillance China has on their people.......eventually America will become exactly like that......might not happen for another 20 years, but we will get their also.

The Computer Group said:

You see the amount of cameras & surveillance China has on their people.......eventually America will become exactly like that......might not happen for another 20 years, but we will get their also.

Click to expand...

China also has some kind of score they give every citizen as well based on loyalty to the regime.

This country will eventually realize I was right all along but things will still have to get worse before they get better.

Its not a coincidence there is a terror cell in Minnesota. Bring over a bunch of Muslims and thats what will happen

You know when a nuclear weapon will be detonated again?? I do. It will be by a terrorist in a western allied country

Your civil rights at the airport went out the window on 9/11. Nothing they devise and implement will surprise me. They were strip searching and pulling people out of line at Heathrow in the 90's long before 9/11. Go back to the seventies when you didn't have to show ID and basically could show up at the airport 15 minutes before your flight. Flying was so laidback then. The attendants never said a word to the passengers. You could do what you want. It was so relaxed.