J Bull’s Pen

   Salt Lake City National Airport has been selected along with about ten other Airports in the nation to use a new security tool.  A Body Scanner. This machine will take a digital image of your person and display it on a screen for a TSA worker to view.  The agent is in a separate room. This digital picture is like an X-ray, it penetrates through your clothes but not your skin.  Now the first question that should come to mind is, How many pixels does the scanner’s lens have? If not well don’t feel bad.  This is not like your digital camera that takes a Color and Crystal Clear picture of a naked body. The image that is viewable is like a X-ray photo. That same Black, blue photo. So you are not able to see in playboy detail a naked body. Also you would not be able to identify a person by the image. This scanner is able to see any objects that may be stashed in your clothes or in parts of the body that was made for an EXIT ONLY.  I think this is a great tool, Metal Detectors would become obsolete. The scanner would bring to view everything that is under your clothes. No more undressing for the security guards they will just be able to take an X-ray. This will save on time to get on your flight. Not to mention the safety one would feel knowing nothing is passing through security that would put your life in danger. As with any new technology there is opposition. The biggest concerns are, one, taking a naked digital picture. Two, are these pictures saved into a database? Three, will these pictures be sent out on the Internet? As previously stated the image is not like a photo for your album. TSA has stated these pictures are not saved. No upload capability to the Internet. Also the image is not identifiable. This scanner is the first tool that has been put into place that will provide the “Friendly Skies” atmosphere since 9-11.