A colleague of mine joked that she may introduce a line of lead clothing in order to protect herself from virtual strip searches on the street. The sad part is, it may be a really smart idea.
A few months ago, we blogged about the new body scanners popping up at airports across the world and the abuse reported at London's Heathrow airport. These scanners take pictures of you without your clothing on, constituting a virtual strip search. Thousands of images have been saved, and inappropriate use of the technology has already been reported. At first, it was hard for me to imagine technology that could actually see through my clothes and take a picture of me. Then I saw the image below on the ACLU's website. (Warning, almost nude photo below.)
The good news: at the airport, you can exercise your fourth amendment rights and refuse to walk through the scanners. The bad news: if you refuse to walk through the scanner, you are subject to an invasive pat down. The worst part: Andy Greenberg at Forbes reported that the machines that produce these images at airports have been sold to law enforcement agencies and may hit our streets soon. In fact, the manufacturer of the technology is marketing the machines for this very purpose.
This is an extreme and excessive invasion of privacy. At the airport, I can opt out of the virtual strip search. How will this work on the streets? Will I have to opt out before I get out of my car and be subjected to a pat down? Will I have no say and simply have to let nude photos of me be taken and saved? And most importantly, exactly how does this make us more safe?
Have we forgotten that it's possible to be safe and free? It's moments like these that I am deeply grateful for the ACLU. I'm certain our technology and liberty project will be hard at work in the coming months to protect our privacy.