TSA Airport Scanners Causing Controversy

Body scanners by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), are coming to an airport near you! (David Hecker/AFP/Getty Images)

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has deployed hundreds of x-ray machines to airports around the U.S. to screen passengers as they go through security checks. (Click here to see the list of airports)

The machines, which the TSA calls “advanced imaging technology,” allow TSA officials to see through passengers’ clothing. The x-ray vision technology, which is being called “virtual strip searches” by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), projects a naked image of a passenger on a screen for TSA officials to see.

If a passenger refuses to go through a scanner they can opt for a body pat-down search.

According to the ACLU, passengers “may insist on your right to opt out of the full body scanners.” But they warn that the alternative is “an invasive pat-down of your body at the hands of TSA screeners.”

The guidelines for pat-downs are now more invasive, and TSA screeners can now use the front of their hands to touch areas around breasts and groins.

The ACLU advises that any passenger opting for a pat-down search should be given privacy and searched by TSA screeners of the same sex. They also advise that a pat-down search takes longer.

The TSA now has 385 advanced imaging technology machines at 68 airports across the U.S. Chicago Midway International Airport, Houston William P. Hobby Airport, and Saipan International Airport are next on the list to receive machines.