"Body Scanners"

The big topic lately seems to be the new body scanners that are at all the airports. I must say that I have very mixed feelings on this issue. This is one that the Constitution doesn't seem to have a clear cut answer for.

The 4th amendment states: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

While I think some might argue that the scans and pat downs are not unreasonable. I disagree. Waving a wand over somebody or having them pass through a metal detector is one thing, but these machines get to see every bit of your person. And while the government has tried to state that the images are not kept, this has already been proven untrue.

I do think that we have to be safe and secure. And I do agree that when you are in a government run facility, like an airport, that we should be vigilant and maybe take extra security precautions. But I think that when you violate someones privacy in such an invasive way, you've crossed a line.

I believe that there are alternatives. Sean Hannity has mentioned several times Israels security measures, namely behavioral profiling. This, along with other measures, could work much better. Why not use this in conjunction with search dogs. And also facial recognition software.

By using such measures we could prevent ridiculous instances like the nun who had to go through the scanner. Or the 3 year old girl who was patted down because she didn't want her teddy bear put through the x-ray machine.

We should be secure, but we should use common sense.

Tell me what you think.

May The Force Be With You.