Despite many objections, the TSA has been moving forward on using new airport body scan machines that show people’s naked bodies. I blogged about these machines here [link no longer available]. “Never fear,” they told us. “We care about privacy. We really care! And so we promise we won’t store the images.”
So much for that promise. From CNET:
For the last few years, federal agencies have defended body scanning by insisting that all images will be discarded as soon as they’re viewed. The Transportation Security Administration claimed last summer, for instance, that “scanned images cannot be stored or recorded.”
Now it turns out that some police agencies are storing the controversial images after all. The U.S. Marshals Service admitted this week that it had surreptitiously saved tens of thousands of images recorded with a millimeter wave system at the security checkpoint of a single Florida courthouse.
The government never seems to be able to be honest when it comes to surveillance and privacy.
Originally Posted at Concurring Opinions
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This post was authored by Professor Daniel J. Solove, who through TeachPrivacy develops computer-based privacy training, data security training, HIPAA training, and many other forms of awareness training on privacy and security topics. Professor Solove also posts at his blog at LinkedIn. His blog has more than 1 million followers.
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