'Privacy'? Turns Out Airport Scanners Can Store, Send Images.
Imagine that! First of all, who can believe that they'd lie to us about just how much they can see with these airport scanners? (That was irony, folks.) And not only that, they have the capability to take, say, celebrity scans and email them to the National Enquirer. Who'd a thunk it?
Washington (CNN) -- A privacy group says the Transportation Security Administration is misleading the public with claims that full-body scanners at airports cannot store or send their graphic images.
The TSA specified in 2008 documents that the machines must have image storage and sending abilities, the Washington-based Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) said.
In the documents, obtained by the privacy group and provided to CNN, the TSA specifies that the body scanners it purchases must have the ability to store and send images when in "test mode."
That requirement leaves open the possibility the machines -- which can see beneath people's clothing -- can be abused by TSA insiders and hacked by outsiders, said EPIC Executive Director Marc Rotenberg.
EPIC, a public-interest group focused on privacy and civil rights, obtained the technical specifications and vendor contracts through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
The written requirements also appear to contradict numerous assurances the TSA has given the public about the machines' privacy protections.
"The machines have zero storage capability," the TSA Web site says.
A TSA video assures passengers "the system has no way to save, transmit or print the image."
And the TSA has distributed numerous news releases with similar language as it lobbies for public acceptance of the machines as a less intrusive alternative to pat-downs.
A TSA official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the official is not authorized to speak on the record said all full-body scanners have "strong privacy protections in place" and are delivered to airports "without the capability to store, print or transmit images."
http://palank.files.wordpress.com/2009/08/jen...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
If you've been following the decades-long saga of the Department of the Interior (not to mention the Navy War College), you know that the Federal Government has standards of information security so low they're beneath the septic tank. Don't expect them to get any better any time soon.
If these systems can be hacked, they will be hacked. Often. By insiders as well as outsiders.
I wouldn't be surprised if they want a body-recognition database, just like face and fingerprint recognition. Those CC cameras --popping up everywhere-- don't always get a face shot. Just my conjecture, but the gov't seems bent on compiling this kind of data, not protecting privacy.
far left loon >.<
With all those crimes being solved through the use of cameras.
Between the people who will be convinced that these machines cause cancer and those whose religious and cultural values forbid them from allowing anyone to take pictures of their junk, we are in for a lot of delays as we stand in security lines that smell like feet and flop sweat.
We've had hundreds of millions of commercial flights in US in the past 8 years. We've had two pathetically failed bombing attempts in that time. I can't be certain, but I'm pretty sure you stand a better chance of accidentally killing yourself with a Q-tip than dying onboard an airplane due to terror attack.
It's time to start saying what no one seems to be willing to say: the war on terror is almost completely a crock. The world has a few psychopathic criminals who we should take REASONABLE steps to guard against, but ultimately we need to just move on.
More Americans are killed every year by deer than al-Qaeda. And that includes military casualties.
"Between the people who will be convinced that these machines cause cancer and those whose religious and cultural values forbid them from allowing anyone to take pictures of their junk, we are in for a lot of delays"
I'm more worried about these machines being used in addition to all the other steps, adding more time and cost and STILL being useless.
in the MSM or the in the political realm, but plenty of folks here and on other sites have written about what a hoax all of the 'wars' we've been 'fighting' are.
The propagandists and the corpora-fascists have to keep people scared as much as possible, all the time, whilst they continue robbing us blind....in so many ways.
"Egotism is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of Stupidity" - Frank Leahy
Don't fly. I'm sure I'm on the wrong side of this issue but we've been scanned for years before we fly, and yet we fly. It's a scan, they're not checking out old girlfriends your journal...
Don't fly, last I checked Greyhound isn't scanning.
is intended to be a factual statement
all the passengers look like they should be scanned, just because.
:P
me-oww!
If you travel within the USA. All my flights are international.
far left loon >.<
on my last long trip so I wouldn't have to endure these idiotic "security" measures. However, I shouldn't have to avoid flyring to avoid police state tactics.
"Don't want scanned[?] Don't fly"
My preference would be to change the way my country does things rather than to change what I accept as reasonable. Used to be I thought that was possible, and that others cared too.
Privacy in this country ? Forget about it , those days were gone long ago . Just one of many ( outrageous ) examples : I don't know about the rest of the country but at all major grocery chains out here north of Seattle to get normal prices you have to join "the club" and get a club card registered only to you and everything you buy is on record , if you don't sign up you pay substantially more , of course they call it a savings card but it's a phony racket and it's really paying regular prices verses being gouged , hell you can pay with cash and still they even know what you buy at the grocery store . If they want to look at my bod and take pictures fine , I'll gross em out , what do I care ? I'm not vain anymore I'm old and don't give a damn . LOL
Insanity , it is what it is , there is no understanding it .
History shows this have happened from Nero to Hitler.
We always say: How did those Smart Germans Bought Fascism?
What about Italians?
FEAR is the Answer?
The FEAR of Communism, The fear of External Enemies (Hitler told Poland was Attacking them just the they before the Invasion)
Now we have the Fear a TERRORISM AFTER just few dubious Incidents.
“Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”
Benjamin Franklin quotes
What's next : The Internet,Books?
"I don't know about the rest of the country but at all major grocery chains out here north of Seattle to get normal prices you have to join "the club" and get a club card registered only to you and everything you buy is on record"
The easiest solution to that is to exchange your frequent shopper card with a stranger. At least that's not illegal yet.
Airport worker emails another worker: "Hey looks at this naked lady Carl! She's hot!"
female TSA workers scanning my junk.
You gonna fluff it first?
far left loon >.<
I did once.
I had gotten off of the midnight shift in the Air Force, and got back to my room and went to bed.
On one occasion, it was one occasion to many, when I heard our female lieutenant approaching for room inspection, I was so annoyed and tired, that instead of jumping up and pulling on some clothes, I actually pulled off my underpants, and shook hands with myself briefly, and actually fell back to sleep.
As I understand it, she came in as saw me asleep, nekkid and sporting a boner.
After that, we formed our own barracks committee with our own officers from among us to inspect rooms.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
This proves it. Take a look at this one. Rush does have a cob up his arse!
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. ~ Abraham Lincoln
If they want to scan my wife, I'll call them what they are: Perverts.
"Someday somebody related to some of these sufferers, these victims, these collaterally damaged souls, may try to kill you. And I have to tell you, I think you’ll have it coming." - Christopher Cooper
That there would only be people of the same sex/gender doing the scans. As my girlfriend noticed in California, that turned out to also be a lie.
I mean, I certainly wouldn't want a queer getting off looking at the xrayed vision of his or her own genders' bits and pieces.
me-oww!
My criticism involved more false expectations being set. And yes, I WOULD trust "the queers" to be better adjusted and less likely to store/share these sorts of images, thanks for asking.
because see, all THAT shit, once the homophobes figure it out, will cause the TSA to become a No Queers Allowed deal, like the military.
Next time I see you posting, if I am going to comment, I'll bring the joke diagram board along, though that tends to drag down the telling of the joke...
me-oww!
SERIOUS BUSINESS
Sorry. I keep forgetting
:D
me-oww!
I think most queers would be very disapointed with that job. Have you seen the average man?
far left loon >.<
"Here are all these guys sporting six-packs, and I'm standing here with a beer keg."
Homer Simpson at a Springfield Gay Pride Parade.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Does this mean they are going to scan my 11 year old daughter or son also? Like hell they are.
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. ~ Abraham Lincoln
Next you'll tell me that NSA agents were LYING when they said that they would never listen to the conversations of civilians and non-terror targets when they were granted restrictionless wiretapping!
So how quickly do you folks think images taken of women and children are going to hit the dark side of the internet? I'm sure it'll take all of a year when these things hit widespread adoption.
I'm more then happy to support body scanners many people I know support them, but only if there privacy is maintained. So why are they asking for stuff they know will not fly with the people of America? This makes no since it is as if these idiots can't help but be self destructive.
... feel free. Trust me its not such a big deal, especially when I'm walking through an airport. Well, there was this one time on a flight to LA where I thought the woman in front of me was Kirsten Dunst, but that was an anomaly. But I digress...
Have you seen the pictures these things take? I'm sorry but I don't see the big deal. Listening to my phone conversations or reading my email is an invasion of privacy but I really don't understand why people are so concerned about this. And I agree the GWOT is mostly BS but at the same time there are a few nuts out there who want to blow up their feet, genitals and as much or the rest of the plane as they can and if this makes it harder for them I'm fine with it.
Does it?
according to some the "underwear" bomber probably wouldn't of been caught by one.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12401...
And since they don't penetrate the skin they would be useless against terrorist who took an old play from the drug runners and smuggled it in through the backdoor. Or surgical implants, I hear pten boobies are going to be all the rage for the female terrorists this year, invest now you'll make a killing.
And for the pictures they take.. compare these two.
http://www.bild.de/BILD/news/bild-english/wor...
http://freedomfliesblackflag.files.wordpress....
I wouldn't doubt if it was real, but i'm curious if the photos were staged.
As this report shows, the body scanners used in British airports transmit the images from the scanner to a separate room for evaluation.
For an idea of how invasive the body scan is, watch in particular from 0:45 to 0:50.
AFP: British airports trial body scanners
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
some wedding tackle there, didn't he?
me-oww!
I learned a new phrase today: "wedding tackle".
thanks!
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
it seems totally obvious to me that the software has to be able to store images in order to be tested, and to produce documentation that it works. Those images that you see on websites? They were saved by the software.
However it may also be entirely true that the machines as delivered to airports will not have this capability. Perhaps they only save images in a debug build, or a "test mode" build. (That will make perfect sense to a programmer, but is too technical a thing to say at a press conference.)
As previously mentioned, all machines are invulnerable to hacking from a network, if they aren't on a network. Similarly, you can't send an image in an email if you don't have a connection to the internet, regardless of what the scanning software is capable of doing. That's simple enough.
I'm waiting for more details about what exactly is going on here.
You should assume that the feature is present, and easily enableable. The only thing that would remove the feature is public outcry. If people are unconcerned, they'll move it from the test to the working mode.
It's not like a military organization like the DHS has some sort of "privacy policy" in place. They don't care. They don't need to answer to us.
If it keeps a plane from being blown up it's not a big deal but is just common sense to do all possible to stop the bastards from succeeding . We've just been real lucky so far , two amateur / failed attempts . Besides the lost lives just imagine the chaos and results if ( or when ) one of them succeeds . Reality folks !
Insanity , it is what it is , there is no understanding it .
Apparently this is proof that it works.
Time to make things more invasive, we'll tolerate much more as a society.
Here's why:
"If it keeps a plane from being blown up it's not a big deal but is just common sense to do all possible to stop the bastards from succeeding"
You could use this argument for racial profiling or any other practice, dubious or not.
that can look through the wall of your house from a parked van out front now.
it's thermography. and they can see through walls with it. Some cases over cops using it to find grow ops w/o a warrant.
me-oww!
But local police usually have much more checks and balances in place to use such authority responsibly.
the perfect career choice for unemployed voyeurs everywhere.
Hiring now!
I'm thinking, after being man-handled coming back from Europe on January 5th, that dogs would be the most efficient bomb finders there are. Humans bungle and continue to do so, and no amount of government contracts for new devices is ever going to change human error. Think of all the homeless dogs we could save in the process, and unless they find something most of us would be on our merry way.
And I'd rather have 5 seconds of a dogs nose on my crotch than someone's hand followed by a nudie pic.
I agree. Has anyone addressed this idea?
It doesn't matter if these machines can store and/or send data.
As long as there is some kind of port somewhere - Firewire, USB, whatever - downloading images is child's play. Even if there is no network connection (which I find incredible - wouldn't the FBI want real-time access to thermal images of suspect passengers?) a port is arguably necessary in order to upgrade software and diagnose problems.
It's totally meaningless for TSA to claim the scanners have no internal store/send capability.
Remember when you had to buy an external modem for your computer? They'll just do that, or use a flash drive.
"As long as there is some kind of port somewhere - Firewire, USB, whatever - downloading images is child's play."
In order to view the image, you need a monitor. This can be photographed.
But of course the machines can store and forward the images. I can't imagine building one any other way.
We don't want you to fly. If everyone stops flying, the terrorists will stop flying.
Brilliant. Way to make EVERYONE suffer.
NOBODY 2012
...the love is fading for my country.
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. ~ Abraham Lincoln
That sort of 'privacy' or lack thereof shouldn't be an issue. If it keeps someone from blowing up a jetliner, I'm all for it. So what if they'll see your junk? Last I heard, everybody has it. It's just genitals and boobs, get over it.
Government + the Federal Reserve = organized crime
“Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”
Benjamin Franklin quotes
He was talking about boobs and genitals?
Government + the Federal Reserve = organized crime
Comments are closed on this entry