TSA lied: Body scanners CAN store your strip search image and transmit it on the Internet

Whoa! Even George Orwell didn’t envision this. Turns out those body scanners that we’ve been hearing so much about lately do more than show whether we’re packing more than what we should in our underwear. They store your images and have USB and Internet connectivity that will allow them to be shared and swapped with anyone the government wants.

This all has come out from the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) as a result of a Freedom of Information lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, which wants the scanners in all airports. The EPIC obtained 250 pages of specifications of the scanners and posted them on its website.

The documents contradict assurances previously made by the Transportation Security Agency in that the Whole Body Imaging machines can record, store, and transmit digital strip search images of Americans.

In fact, they show that TSA flat out lied when it said on its own website: “The machines have zero storage capability.” An accompanying  video assureed passengers “the system has no way to save, transmit or print the image.”

The documents obtained by EPIC show  that the security agency can export raw image files to other agencies.

That previously hidden ability raises the possibility the machines — which can see beneath people’s clothing — can be abused by TSA or hacked by outsiders, said EPIC Executive Director Marc Rotenberg.

Right now, some 40 machines are in place at 19 airports around the country and the TSA says has announced plans tol deploy 150 more by the then of the year. Next year,  it wants to add 300 more body scanners.

“I don’t think the TSA has been forthcoming with the American public about the true capability of these devices,” EPIC’s Rotenberg said. “They’ve done a bunch of very slick promotions where they show people — including journalists — going through the devices. And then they reassure people, based on the images that have been produced, that there’s not any privacy concerns.

“But if you look at the actual technical specifications and you read the vendor contracts, you come to understand that these machines are capable of doing far more than the TSA has let on,” he said.