After years of assurances from government officials that the feds’ full-body scans of airline passengers and other persons are discarded immediately and never saved, the truth comes out: Some federal agencies have indeed been keeping the images.

As a result of a lawsuit by the Electronic Privacy Information Center, which is seeking an injunction against such scanners in airports, it has emerged that the U.S. Marshals Service has retained over 35,000 full-body images of persons entering the Orlando, Fla., federal courthouse, Declan McCullagh reported at CNet News.

On top of that, added McCullagh, another scanner tested in the Washington, D.C., federal courthouse was returned to the manufacturer with the images still in the machine’s database. Where those images are now is anybody’s guess.

The Transportation Security Administration has not been implicated thus far, but its specifications for airport scanners are not encouraging. McCullagh wrote:

A 70-page document showing the TSA’s procurement specifications, classified as “sensitive security information,” says that in some modes the scanner must “allow exporting of image data in real time” and provide a mechanism for “high-speed transfer of image data” over the network. (It also says that image filters will “protect the identity, modesty, and privacy of the passenger.”)

The TSA has also admitted, in a letter to the House Homeland Security Committee, that the scanners “have the capability to retain and export images only for testing, training, and evaluation purposes,” though it insists that the machines delivered to airports are incapable of storing, printing, or transmitting images.

While some might be lulled into believing that TSA scanners really do delete the images, EPIC executive director Marc Rotenberg is having none of it, telling McCullagh that the “devices are designed and deployed in a way that allows the images to be routinely stored and recorded, which is exactly what the Marshals Service is doing.” Furthermore,

“TSA is not being straightforward with the public about the capabilities of these devices,” Rotenberg said. “This is the Department of Homeland Security subjecting every U.S. traveler to an intrusive search that can be recorded without any suspicion — I think it’s outrageous.” EPIC’s lawsuit says that the TSA should have announced formal regulations, and argues that the body scanners violate the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits “unreasonable” searches.

Of course, one man’s unreasonable is another man’s reasonable; and when the government gets to decide what is reasonable, one can be certain it will be defined as broadly as politically possible.

Besides, even if one trusts government officials not to misuse the images they have stored, only a fool would trust them to protect those images from prying eyes. The feds have a miserable track record when it comes to keeping Americans’ private information private. For example, an employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs took home personal data (including Social Security numbers) on millions of veterans in electronic form; when the employee’s home was burglarized, the data was stolen. The Commerce Department lost over 1,000 laptop computers, many containing Americans’ personal information, over a five-year period.

It is ironic that under a President who promised more openness in government a lawsuit was required to lay bare the feds’ lies about their body scanners. The federal government’s intrusions into Americans’ privacy since 9/11 have done much to increase Washington’s control over our lives but little, if anything, to increase our security. Instead of bowing before Uncle Sam and allowing him to strip us naked, Americans need to point out that he, indeed, has no clothes.

Photo: AP Images

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R Jensen said:

Naked If you walk thru one of these devices, here's what they might see: http://tinyurl.com/29djaf6 (results may vary)

August 06, 2010

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Wimpie said:

... This is a strip-search, period. It makes no difference that the technology allows it to be done on an industrial scale, it's a violation of privacy that ultimately has ,at best, no effect on safety. At worst, it exposes frequent fliers to elevated doses of x-ray radiation which may cause more deaths by cancer than the terrorists could ever kill with an airplane. Body-cavities are not revealed, thus making this simply an exercise in power-mongering voyeurism. You MUST opt-out of these intrusive searches, and maybe be wanded/patted by a same-sex guard. I did this at SFO a few months ago, which gave me the opportunity to officially express my displeasure - the guard wrote down the reason for my opting-out for their official records (it's a strip-search, I said). I suggest more people do this. Plus - do you want your kids showing up to Beavis & Butthead in the back room looking like this: http://www.rupture.co.uk/Terminal 4.html

August 07, 2010

zman said:

Another corporate/government boondoggle These body scanners are yet another freedom sapping corporate/government boondoggle perpetrated on us by those who use their influence in government to subvert our freedom while simultaneously lining their pockets. This article doesn't even touch upon the fact that these machines are ineffective at stopping terrorists and present a radiation hazard to people's health, but those are issues too. Body scanners are nothing more than another brick in the wall of the New World Order.

August 07, 2010

Paul Gordonson said:

... Even if they didn't scan the images, they're still illegal, immoral, a waste of money, stupid, and evil. How long will Americans let these pervs fondle and strip search their wives and daughters? Have we become so cowed that we will accept any level of humiliation and dehumanization?

August 08, 2010

Granny Miller said:

Scanners Are Anti-Christian I find it tragic that established Christian churches are silent on this topic. What cowards and hypocrites! The Christian churches should be actively engaged in protecting the modesty of women and children instead of rolling over for Uncle Sam & big special interest groups.

August 08, 2010 | url

Retired Navy said:

... Doesn't bother me...I just don't fly anymore. I would rather walk than deal with the TSA.

August 26, 2010