Content Provided By Airport Full-Body Scanners
ANN April 1st Special Edition:
TSA announced Friday that it is launching a premium cable and
satellite channel comprised of full body scan images from the
nation's airports. The move was immediately slammed by civil
liberty groups across the country.
"When we were initially approached by the cable and satellite
industry, we had no intention of saying yes, but budgets are
impossibly tight," said TSA Administrator John Pistole. "When we
looked around the Internet and saw how much people pay to see other
people naked, we realized we have the perfect content stream. It's
anonymous, vague, and free. People don't even have to sign waivers
because you never see their faces."
When asked at the news conference about the promise that the
images could not be saved, stored, or transferred, Pistole just
looked at the reporter, cocked his head, and said "Really
....?"
TSA Administrator John Pistole
The announcement was met with expected outrage from civil
libertarian and other advocacy groups. The ACLU issued a statement
saying it would oppose the move "in the strongest possible terms,"
and was already exploring a lawsuit against the government to block
the channel's launch. Kate Hanni, president of FlyersRights.org,
said it was bad enough that people had to suffer the scanning, but
to have the scans broadcast was beyond outrageous. "This will not
stand," Hanni said. "First of all, because of the demographics of
people who would pay for such a channel, it means a
disproportionate number of women will be selected for enhanced
screening, and then mostly the attractive ones." When told that
Pistole said that agents would be trained not to profile in the
random screening process for any specific factor, Hanni looked at
the reporter and said "Really ...?"
Kate Hanni
The channel's producers said they had originally asked TSA for
permission to have security camera video capturing the enhanced pat
downs as well, promising to blur out the faces of those being
checked. One executive said the administrator considered it for a
moment, then looked at the pitch panel and said "Really ...?"
"He actually thought about it, particularly when we offered to
sweeten the pot with additional cash for the security camera
video," said producer Ivanhoe Scrooples. "But at the end of the
day, even TSA realized there was a line that should not be
crossed." Scrooples said the channel would be launching on most
major cable and satellite services within a few months.