TSA Scanner Images: Now, Less Naked

Technology replaces naked image with generic one
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 21, 2011 5:42 AM CDT
TSA Unveils Less Naked Scanner Images
A traveler pushes a carriage with a child past an x-ray information advisory near a security entrance to departure gates at Boston's Logan International Airport, Monday, Nov. 22, 2010.   (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

After six months of testing, the TSA has finally unveiled software to make us look a little less naked to its airport scanners. The software, which works on the millimeter wave machines installed at 41 airports, replaces the blurry image of a passenger’s actual body with a generic gray body image, the Washington Post reports. Similar software for backscatter machines is still in the works.

“This software upgrade enables us to continue providing a high level of security through advanced imaging technology screening, while improving the passenger experience at checkpoints,” a TSA administrator says. But one part of the “experience” that’s not changing is the aggressive pat-down. If you refuse the scan, or it turns up anything suspicious, you're in for an unpleasant groping. (Read more Transportation Security Administration stories.)

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