Not Exactly the Transparency in Government We Were Hoping For

[beamjockey]

After singlemaltsilk recently told me that millimeter-wave and X-ray backscatter scanners would soon be in use at Chicago's O'Hare Airport by the Transportation Security Administration, I went looking for more information.


Here is TSA's example of millimeter-wave imaging (with facial features deliberately blurred):

Here is TSA's example of x-ray backscatter imaging:


Here's a description of a backscatter system from one vendor (not necessarily the one deployed at O'Hare). Dose is said to be less than 10 microrems per scan. Americans average about one millirem per day from environmental and medical exposures.

Here's a paper that discusses the risks of squirting X-rays at random travelers, and piously states that the benefits must be balanced against the risks. But it is mighty vague about quantifying the benefits.

(Presumably millimeter RF is less hazardous than X-rays are.)

In the comments of this airport blog, Airline Biz, I found a brilliant suggestion.

Posted by fratermus @ 6:35 PM Fri, Jun 13, 2008

Want to get buy-in? Have each screener post the scans of their own bodies at the entrance to the checkpoint. "Hello. You are being scanned by Tim {pic here}".

If it's no biggie then why not post the scans of the screener (and, hey, the head off the TSA and FAA while we're at it).

If they get to look at us millimeter-nude, we should at least get to look at them millimeter-nude.

An even better idea: Don't use these machines to peer under the clothing of airline passengers, at all.

Comments

[johnridley.livejournal.com]

Well then, I'll just weigh the risks myself... and drive instead.

Honestly, this doesn't really bother me at all. I won't pretend that after the 5000th person, the screener will even be paying any attention, let alone be interested in looking at me. I think they look at us all as argumentative cattle anyway. They do stuff every day that gets me more irritated than this does by far. This might even be less irritating than some of the stuff it replaces.

If people are all that worried about being exposed to radiation, they should stay below 6000 feet.

[whl.livejournal.com]

But you have to! They might be smuggling their own headphones on to listen to the radio with!

[erikvolson.livejournal.com]

This is America.

Amendments 1 and 3-10 are moot, otherwise, the Terrorists will win.

A friend who hails

[dragonet2.livejournal.com]

from South Africa was visiting here (Kansas City, he's a green-card resident alien) a few years ago.

He told me about these, every diamond mine screens all employees as they leave the work site. And he wondered why TSA had not thought about them.

[almeda.livejournal.com]

These scanners are particularly ominous-sounding to transsexuals, who ALREADY get hassled at airports because of support garments having metal hooks or giving the passenger an 'odd' look or a 'strange' feel when patted down ... and now, gee, they'll be able to SEE YOUR GENITALS. Homeland security claims they're not interested in doing gender no-match between what the scanner shows and what your ID says, but I'll believe THAT when I see it.

[isherempress.livejournal.com]

I think it's gross, and an invasion of privacy.

It's irritating as hell that I can still remember when air travel was fun and exciting, and now the entire process is absolutely dreadful. I don't know how some of our friends, who essentially travel for a living, can stand it.

[madtechie2718.livejournal.com]

You know, if I never wanted to fly again (and also spend a big chunk of my remaining years in prison) I'd wear an undergarment, doped with an RF reflective material that spelt out: 'Piss off, you nosy little sod' or something similar.

Or perhaps, in the case of a female traveller - 'Hey! I've shown you my tits, now you show me yours'...

There are darker ways to use this - secretly spray/stencil 'TSA SUCKS' on someone's clothing using RF-absorbent paint - but only if they've *really* upset you...

Main problem, to steal a phrase, is that it's just security theatre. far more immediate issues at airports are the next-to-nonexistent vetting of people and things that go airside: ground staff, cleaning staff, the vast numbers of deliveries of inflight catering, many of whom are on minimum wage - as are the security staff.

A recent undercover program at several UK airports (and informal comment is that US ones are no different) showed pretty lax standards and crap implementation of such standards as there were.

General rule seems to be to irritate the customer with grandiose high-visibility madcap schemes, but adopt an out of sight, out of mind view of the 'back office'.

I took a train several times last month - bought a ticket on line, boarded, took my reserved seat, got off in London and walked straight to my destination - the whole experience being just as I remember flying was like 30-odd years ago...

[madtechie2718.livejournal.com]

Have a look at these, for image quality:

http://www.caravan-ny.com/th_personal.html

Here's an interesting point - radiologists have been sued for malpractice if they've missed a lesion in, say, a lung, while diagnosing the requested (and different) part of the body - abdomen, let's say.

So, a TSA screener who has medical experience (radiographer, doctor, nurse, failed med student...) may be exposed to a potential lawsuit if a traveller goes through and there is a detectable lesion visible in the image, that is not then acted upon...

I'll have to show some of these images to my chest radiological colleagues - given the spread of TB recently, I have to wonder if it is detectable in images like these - something else for DHS/INS/CDC to get their teeth into?

Or maybe this is just the fine point of a wedge strategy for universal health screening - for frequent travellers...

[beamjockey.livejournal.com]

Looks like they've re-invented the fluoroscope.

I note that the Caravan company's logo appears to show a Saturn V flying over the Moon, which cannot be right. Unless the Lunarians have learned to build copies of the Saturn V.

Could the legal issues you raise be countered by arguments about spatial resolution and signal-to-noise ratio?

[madtechie2718.livejournal.com]

Yes but!

In a case with which I am familiar:

A CT scanner (and also an MR imager) takes a low res scoutview or topogram image, a longitudinal image used only for locating the higher res diagnostic axial images.

At the reporting time, this image is presented, with lines overlaying it to show the location of the axial images. It is not deemed to be of diagnostic quality.

In this case, a request was made to scan a particular part of the anatomy - the scoutview, as is usual, covered a greater chunk of the body than required.

The radiologist reported no lesion seen on the axial images he was asked to review.

Right on the very edge of the scoutview image, in low resolution, was a vaguely suspicious lesion (in retrospect, of course) which later turned malignant.

There is a claim that he should have studied *all* of the data presented - even that outside the specifically requested area, outside his area of exprertise(*) and of non-diagnostic quality, 'just in case'.

Not heard if the case has been resolved. My guess is that the case will not proceed.

(*) IIRC it was a chest radiologist looking at axial chest images and the scoutview extended into the neck, where - with some squinting and if you knew it was there - you could just see a little oddity near the spinal cord in the neck.

Maybe.

[ann-totusek.livejournal.com]

I see a potential income source here- RF reflective underwear. So what sort of stuff would have to be in the fabric so that it would be RF reflective but not set off the metal detectors?

[madtechie2718.livejournal.com]

Not sure - aluminised mylar may work - not enough aluminium to trigger a metal detector, but the mylar may absorb the RF unless you wear it shiny side out - but then, you would, wouldn't you??

Have no experience with millimetric stuff, but might be worth a bit of searching....

[madtechie2718.livejournal.com]

OK, before someone corrects me - I think the shiny side is the plastic side, so that oxidisation is prevented - you'd need to wear it dull side out...

??

[almeda.livejournal.com]

Alas, I can reassure you that mylar sets off airport metal detectors.

While I was working at O'Hare, I grabbed a souvenir shiny pen (cheap and available in-terminal) when my home-brought one quit working, and it lit up the entire checkpoint like a Christmas tree.