TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Coming Soon To Your Airport: 'The Peeper'

ADVERTISEMENT

By DANIEL RUTH

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 12, 2008

If you're offended at the prospect of your government in action turning into a bunch of voyeurs, rest assured, it will probably get even worse.

What do you suppose the chances are that in addition to being subjected to a virtual groping merely to get on an airplane, it is only a matter of time before you will also be required to pay for your own mortification?

If the airlines are charging extra fees for everything from baggage to pillows, is the notion of having to cough up a few bucks so the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) can take a gander up your bloomers so far-fetched?

Sorta puts a whole new spin on the T and the A, doesn't it?

It won't be long before the government installs four new scanning machines at Tampa International Airport, which will produce photo-quality images of the traveling public as if they were actually naked.

Or put another way, the federal government is about to drop $700,000 on a cheesy porn show.

Drooling Child

The ogle devices are referred to by the TSA as "random, continuous primary screening machines," which is another way of saying that you might be standing in the security line right behind some dreadful, drooling child and immediately in front of something out of "Deliverance" when you are pulled from the crowd and ordered to report for additional inspection.

At the risk of committing just a pinch of cynicism, if you are a TSA gendarme and you are trying to make up your mind who to single out for additional bare bones scrutiny, are you going to pick: Passenger A, who looks like the late Estelle Getty, Passenger B, who bears an amazing resemblance to Mr. Ed, or Passenger C, who could pass for Salma Hayek?

Decisions, decisions.

There are probably a few of you who are outraged at the suggestion the virtual Peeping Tom machines are anything more than a tremendous weapon in the war on terrorism.

Cue The Harrumphs!

So we'll pause for a few harrumphs. Harrumph! Harrumph! Harrumph!

It is axiomatic that if you scare the bejabbers out of people, you can pretty well get the body politic to give up bits and pieces of their freedom, their dignity and, apparently, their modesty for the sake of the perception of security.

And so if the TSA required passengers to stand on one leg and howl at the moon under the guise of "security," terminals would become a cacophony of braying travelers.

Not surprisingly, the American Civil Liberties Union has weighed in, arguing that turning airports into de facto Caliente Nudist Resorts is an egregious invasion of privacy.

Of course the ACLU is absolutely right. Why should anyone have to be treated like an involuntary low-rent Hustler centerfold merely because they want to fly to Boise?

However, since we have also become a nation of self-indulgent Facebook/MySpace/Twitterers reveling in violating one's privacy over every banal detail in life, being subjected to a cheap techno-feel will probably be no big deal for many people - just one more thing to bore people with on a BlackBerry.

Who knows if that is a defeat of terrorism, but the Fourth Amendment is sure looking a bit peaked.

Keyword: Book of Ruth, to read and comment on Daniel Ruth's blog.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT