TSA To Implement Molecular Body Scanners

If you thought the x-ray scanners at the airport were bad, wait until you find out that TSA employees will soon know what you had for breakfast and how pumped you are to sit on a plane for twelve hours. Unfortunately, you won’t know what they know, because Homeland Security’s new toy is capable of detecting every molecule on your person from over 164 feet (50 meters) away—without your permission. CIA-Backed Company Develops New Scanners “Within the next year or two, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security will instantly know everything about your body, clothes, and luggage with a new laser-based molecular scanner fired from 164 feet (50 meters) away. From traces of drugs or gun powder on your clothes to what you had for breakfast to the adrenaline level in your body—agents will be able to get any information they want without even touching you,” reports Gizmodo. The scanner was developed by Genia Photonics before being subcontracted by In-Q-Tel, a company founded in 1999 “by a group of private citizens at the request of the Director of the CIA and the support of the U.S. Congress.” Although the technology is not new, In-Q-Tel made it exponentially faster and more convenient to use—which has its own implications. Blatant Violation of Privacy Although the TSA says this technology would be used to detect explosive material, the scanners are capable of detecting countless types of molecules. Which ones will be tagged for further surveillance? The cocaine on a dollar bill you received in change after buying coffee? The used joint you unwittingly stepped on at the bus stop? (Let’s not forget Keith Brown, a father of three who had a sugar-grain-sized speck of cannabis under his shoe and was sentenced to four years in a Dubai prison.) Because of the device’s portability and ease of use, it may even begin to show up at athletic events, movie theaters, traffic lights, and bus and train stations. While this may, for whatever reason, seem like a welcome sense of security to some, it’s a blatant breach of the Fourth Amendment to our Constitution which protects citizens from unreasonable searches and seizures. This manner of surveillance too closely resembles that of the dystopian narratives of Phillip K. Dick, and will likely do little more than result in false positives, delayed human and automobile traffic in already busy areas, and cluttered minds. You choose—should this manner of privacy invasion be the norm? It will be unless we make noise about it today, while we still can. “Use it or lose it. The First Amendment is under attack across the board and unless we re-assert our right to speak up when our basic human dignity is being eviscerated by uniformed goons on a daily basis, not only at airports but also subways, highways, political events, music concerts and even high school prom nights, we can kiss our liberty goodbye.” –