For the First Time, the TSA Meets Resistance – Jeffrey Goldberg – National – The Atlantic:
Apparently, I was the very first passenger to ask to opt-out of back-scatter imaging. Several TSA officers heard me choose the pat-down, and they reacted in a way meant to make the ordinary passenger feel very badly about his decision. One officer said to a colleague who was obviously going to be assigned to me, “Get new gloves, man, you’re going to need them where you’re going.” The agent snapped on his blue gloves, and patiently explained exactly where he was going to touch me. I felt like a sophomore at Oberlin. “I’m going to run my hands up your thighs, and then feel your buttocks, then I’m going to reach under you until I meet –” “Resistance?” I interrupted. “Yes, resistance. Do you want to go into a private room?” he asked.
Innocent citizens shouldn’t have to submit to having pornographic pictures made of their privates just to get on a plane. Now that I know I have the option of a pat-down from a burly, uniformed TSA agent, I know what line I’m getting in.
Pornography? Really? No.
I do indulge in some hyperbole here. That said, the fact that the people who operate backscatter scanners call them "Dick Measuring Devices" says something about the nature of the technology. There's even been an incident of workplace violence among TSA agents in Miami, where an employee attacked co-workers who teased him over the apparent size of his penis in a backscatter snapshot.
Pornography? Perhaps not. Naked photos? Well, given that they reveal the exact contours of your body and the size of your private parts, I'd say they're "naked enough."
The point, however, remains true: innocent citizens should not have to submit to invasive body scans just to board a plane.