It is the security breach they said would never happen. Dozens of pictures showing members of the public being X-Rayed by the controversial new body scanners have been leaked online. The 100 images show visitors to a Florida courthouse standing inside the machine as it takes their photograph - their intimate body parts clearly visible. They were posted by technology blog Gizmodo after it emerged that US Marshals at the court had saved 35,000 images in breach of official rules. Gizmodo applied under the Freedom of Information Act and put a selection online, taking care to mask the identities of all involved. The disclosure is the most graphic example yet of the dangers presented by full body scanners which are being rolled out at airports and other government buildings across the country to huge controversy. Pilots and passengers alike have voiced their suspicion that privacy is being ignored in the quest for greater ‘security’. A website has now been set up urging a public show of defiance on the day before Thanksgiving by refusing to cooperate if asked to go through a scanner. (Daily Mail)
Wednesday, 17 November 2010
Leaked online: The body scanner images we were promised would never be saved or published
It is the security breach they said would never happen. Dozens of pictures showing members of the public being X-Rayed by the controversial new body scanners have been leaked online. The 100 images show visitors to a Florida courthouse standing inside the machine as it takes their photograph - their intimate body parts clearly visible. They were posted by technology blog Gizmodo after it emerged that US Marshals at the court had saved 35,000 images in breach of official rules. Gizmodo applied under the Freedom of Information Act and put a selection online, taking care to mask the identities of all involved. The disclosure is the most graphic example yet of the dangers presented by full body scanners which are being rolled out at airports and other government buildings across the country to huge controversy. Pilots and passengers alike have voiced their suspicion that privacy is being ignored in the quest for greater ‘security’. A website has now been set up urging a public show of defiance on the day before Thanksgiving by refusing to cooperate if asked to go through a scanner. (Daily Mail)
