Uncle Sam will see your Gonads
WANT to fly to the US of A? The Transportation Security Administration - TSA will see you nude. After a Nigerian, Farouk Abdulmutallab almost blew up a plane to Detroit on Christmas Day, security has been tightened and now all passengers will have to stand before a machine that can see through their clothes and officers will study the body of the passengers minutely, especially the gonads, because that's where people would like to hide bombs and that's where Security is least likely to check. At least our latest Nigerian bomber had it sewn right in his underwear.
TSA is beginning to deploy scanners that can see you naked without removing your clothes. At the last count, the agency said 40 scanners were in use at 19 airports, with 150 more on the way.
But it is not total invasion of privacy – private parts rather. Nobody who sees your naked body will see your face. That's how the TSA system works: The naked image shows up in a separate room without facial detail. The officer who sees you in the flesh never sees you on the monitor. The officer who sees you on the monitor never sees you in the flesh.
But as the Indian Supreme Court pointed out in a case we reported yesterday, the rights of the passenger will have to yield to public interest.
But then can Security Agencies really prevent the terrorists? Look at this case of the missed bomb on Christmas Day in the Detroit plane. It was God and not the Security Agencies that prevented the bomb from going off. Farouk's father had informed the US Embassy in Nigeria about his son's doubtful activities – still he managed to get into a plane bound for Detroit and with enough bombs attached to his crotch. Had the US embassy in Nigeria shared this information, he could have never got into that plane!.
Any lessons for India – Mr Chidambaram and Mr. Shashi Tharoor?