The U.S. Transportation Security Administration will remove airport body scanners that privacy advocates likened to strip searches after OSI Systems Inc. (OSIS) couldn’t write software to make passenger images less revealing.

I hope you all enjoyed your free X-ray treatment. These will now go the way of the “puffer.” Another fiasco.



  1. Dallas says:

    All it took was for Cheney’s picture to circulate and they immediately ban it.

    http://bit.ly/W5sLtC

  2. noname says:

    NO, where can a jiggly exhibitionist do legal Nude flashing now, the Wallmart parking lot?

  3. TooManyPuppies says:

    Only 1 brand is being removed due to a software issue. What’s ignored is the others can be set to display the same as that brand with a toggle to their software too.

  4. deowll says:

    The story is partly in error. They are going to keep scanners that show stick figures and I suppose graphics of locations they consider suspicious.

  5. MikeN says:

    Yea, you still have to go thru the scanner and put your hands up. Only now it is being extended to buses and trains, as well as highways.

  6. Airsick says:

    I’m assuming there will be no refunds. 😛

  7. Ed Gurney says:

    This only took a few years, and was done for the wrong reasons, and it will still take you 2 hours to get on a plane, but it’s better than nothing. Now let’s see if we can get them to stop grabbing your junk.

  8. RobertW says:

    So when’s the investigation into the kickbacks for awarding this contract?

  9. dusanmal says:

    Calling bogative on: “The U.S. Transportation Security Administration will remove airport body scanners that privacy advocates likened to strip searches after OSI Systems Inc. (OSIS) couldn’t write software to make passenger images less revealing. ”

    It is PC excuse for the real reason. If you remember, there was even a post here on Dvorak, last year there were some documented radiation exposures of TSA workers. That was just the peak of the iceberg. As I posted many times on this topic (having expertize on the subject), these machines suffer from two unavoidable problems: 1) To operate as needed they must be able to irradiate much more. Add to that operators with no abilities and you have certain danger both for operators and the public. 2) Even operated as intended, Govt. used every slight of hand to mask real exposure (and I stand behind this 100% with the scientific proof) which is approximately 1 scan= 1 year of acceptable radiation exposure for your skin. (And than imagine frequent flyers total exposure,…)
    These two factors combine to a certainty of cancer incidences over very large number of traveling public and TSA workers. Skin/eye in passengers, any kind, particularly lymphoma in TSA workers. Hence, no matter how much Government loves these machines, they are not ready both for PC disaster when claims come rolling in nor for paying for them. This is typical Obama Administration attempt to cover tracks and hush up with an irrelevant spin (quite obvious that they could care less for privacy issues).

  10. MikeN says:

    This site was very supportive of the scanners when they were first suggested, with the line that those who object can have a same-sex screener.

  11. ± says:

    At this moment, the link posted by JCD returns a 404 error. WTF?

    I will add, that if the excuse is really that they couldn’t write software to degrade the image, that is a total lie. They offer this total obvious lie and know they will get away with it because they know their audience is Americans who hire RDs to govern them.

  12. Useless Eater says:

    I have a buddy who’s been working on millimeter wavelength scanners. Those may start to become more common.

  13. Lymphnode says:

    I’m 63 and have been flying to and from work (SAN to PDX) every week for the last 3 years. the line “He’s dead already, Jim” comes to mind when I read this.

    Although our present pres has been sorely reluctant to curtail policies put in place by the previous, you can imagine the outcry if the scanners get shutdown and some a-hole gets on the plane with a ziploc full of fertilizer. The real problem is our risk-averse population. We domesticated the dog, then we domesticated ourselves


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