Eclectic Home                     Index of Michael Says... Articles                    Shop with Michael
Michael says...  Seeing through a security scam

As a result of the September 11 attacks, the FAA is again looking at body scanning machines previously considered too invasive, or at least, immodest. The Rapiscan 1000, for example, will certainly show anything from belt buckles and keys, to cell phones to hidden weapons - along with pretty clear images of certain body parts. Now, perhaps such privacy is no entitlement in another setting, a prison, for example (where it is used; the U.S. Customs Service also uses it).  But for those traveling through airports, finding metal or other solid objects on the body's image ought to provide sufficient security.

FAA security officials, in fact, are pressing for a "cloaker" - so instead of showing all of the body's curves, the body would become a fuzzy "Gumby"-like figure, with metal and other solids showing clearly.

Now, what irritates me is that the Rapiscan company and several others are going to make a fortune as their technology replaces the nearly 30-year old metal detectors currently in use, yet their response to the request for a "cloaker" was that they could work on it, "maybe through FAA grants."  Uh-huh, pay them to come up with a system that satisfies the need and then pays them again, big time, to sell us the product we subsidized. (we... as in, we the people. The government isn't paying for such rip-offs, we taxpayers are.)

What ever happened to free enterprise was my first thought... except they and others might argue that IS free enterprise.  Certainly, they're not alone in this kind of scam. Let's hope the FAA doesn't let us pay twice for this security.

posted December 17, 2001 - March 18, 2002