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I think most people would agree that the latest installation of full body (read: naked) airport scanners are … well … icky. Privacy concerns are legion.
Good news, shy travelers! Gizmodo is reporting that these scanners are getting a privacy upgrade:
Now L-3 and Rapiscan’s machines, often used by the TSA, are implementing a software upgrade that takes the raw data from the scanner and displays it as a generic human-formed figure on the monitor of the TSA agent. As such when you stand in front of the viewing system, your own body parts aren’t subject to ogling. The software merely highlights regions of “interest” on the body where its pattern recognition code has calculated you may be hiding something””ready for a more traditional pat-down.
It still doesn’t solve the lingering privacy concerns of the TSA saving and/or archiving these images. But I’d say it’s a start.