Say cheese! Tulsa airport starts screening with full body scanners

It was only a matter of time – the first airport in the nation has switched to full body scanners as a replacement for the usual metal detector at the checkpoint.

The scanners use electromagnetic waves to create an image of you – sans clothes. The image is viewed by a TSA agent in a nearby room, which should at least mean you don’t hear their chuckles as you pass through the scanner.

A TSA screener who operates the machine reported that the images “are not pornographic at all”, and that she merely sees them as “a thing that could have something on it”.

But make no mistake – the 3D images will show all your parts to the screener, right down to the size of your breasts and genitals.

The trial aims to determine whether the full body scanners can be a true replacement for metal detectors, and whether the use of the scanners increases, or decreases efficiency at the checkpoint.

During the first day of operation, only 2 out of 1039 passengers declined to use the scanner. Of course, this could simply be because the general public is not fully aware what these new machines are, and just what the images reveal.

Personally I don’t really care what they see, I’m in favor of anything that will help me get from one end of the checkpoint to the next as fast as possible. If this technology is what it takes, then I’m all for it.

After Tulsa, the next airports scheduled to receive the new scanning technology are San Francisco, Miami, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City and Albuquerque.

(Via: USA Today)


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