Strip Searches

In our clothed society, the strip search continues to be controversial, and generally humiliating for the subject. We have conditioned ourselves to covering up at all times, so when we are exposed in any way, it becomes horrifying. A common nightmare that results from this mental state is being the only person naked in a crowd. In fact, we are so afraid of our own nudity, that prime time television shows use murder, dismemberment, disease, accidents, war and other tragedies as entertainment, while the mere split-second sighting of a female nipple sends us all into convulsions.

It's likely that even a seasoned nudist would object to being pulled aside prior to boarding a plane and be strip searched, not because of personal shame at exposing the body, but on the violation of personal space. If you've ever been in a social nudist situation, you will know that while people are completely naked and unashamed, they will not tolerate inappropriate touching or other unwelcome behavior.

So get ready for our government's next hammer blow to the First Amendment in the form of the virtual strip search at airports. According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, 663,000,000 people will pass through US airports in 2007, and if our government has its way, eventually all of them will be visually strip searched with a body-scanning machine. Tests are scheduled to begin today at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, with randomly-selected passengers being pulled out of line, and offered the "choice" of a traditional pat-down, or to step into the body scanner.

To protect privacy, the image will be shown on screens in a completely different area than where the screening is taking place. The TSA officer doing the screening will never see the computer image, and images will not be saved, TSA spokeswoman Ellen Howe said.

Reporters were only shown an example of a female body image, which was a three-dimensional image of a very fit woman in her brassiere and underwear. TSA describes this as similar to a "fuzzy photo negative."

Privacy advocates say the images are more graphic than that.

"If you want to see a naked body, this is a naked body," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's program on technology and liberty.

Steinhardt also received a demonstration of the new machine, which he says shows the same graphic image as the backscatters.

"I continue to believe that these are virtual strip searches," Steinhardt said. "If Playboy published them, there would be politicians out there saying they're pornographic."

So, a government that arrests people for "indecent" exposure, that heavily regulates the strip club industry, that bans the use of personal sex toys, and fines television stations for even the most fleeting glimpse of nudity, is now preparing to visually strip down hundreds of millions of people each year in the name of "national security".

It has been suggested by some, albeit tongue-in-cheek, that we all simply fly naked. If the government succeeds in getting these millimeter wave machines in all the nation's airports, we will all be naked anyway. And it won't be long before we are all virtually naked when entering government buildings, schools, shopping malls, etc.

Is this the beginning of the end of personal body privacy?

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