Saved full-body images from security scanner revealed
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Ever feel like that actress from the Bluefly commercial, who struts through the airport security scanner naked because she has nothing to wear?
In some ways, reality might not be too far off, according to an investigation by Gizmodo. Despite assurances that images revealed on the scanners are never saved, the technology blog says that 35,000 photos from a machine in a federal courthouse in Florida were never erased.
Gizmodo got a hold of 100 of the shots from the Gen 2 millimeter wave scanner from Brijot Imaging Systems Inc., saved by U.S. marshals operating the machine. But first, it had to file a request through the Freedom of Information Act.
Similar machines are used in government buildings and in airports nationally as a way for authorities to check for concealed weapons. So much for automatic deletion, though.
Last week, the Food and Drug Administration issued a letter saying that the health risk from airport scanners was “minuscule.” A group of doctors and professors from UC San Francisco had raised concerns that the machines emitted excessive doses of radiation.
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-- Tiffany Hsu
