Software upgrade to make airport scans less naked

Fresh on the heels of a federal court ruling that airport security personnel have a right to see your naked image in a scanner comes word from the makers of those scanners that new upgrades will make the revealing view unnecessary.

On July 15, the D.C. Circuit Court ruled that so-called naked images of Americans passing through full-body scans at airports does not violate their constitutional rights. The court was responding to a suit from EPIC, a privacy rights group claiming that so-called "naked scans" violates their Fourth Amendment right to be free of unreasonable search.

But in the opinion of Judge Douglas Ginsburg found that the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) had taken steps to protect passenger privacy, not the least of which is the option to undergo a patdown instead of a scan.

Then, less than a week later, body scanner manufacturer L-3 Communications announced that a software upgrade that should put privacy-obsessed travelers at ease: The new body scanners will allow security personnel to see anomalies against a generic outline of a body rather than an actual image of the denuded passenger.

The upgrade will be deployed over the next several months to the 241 millimetre wave body-scanning machines used at 40 airports. The company plans a similar upgrade for their 247 backscatter scanners no used in 38 airports.

So rest easy, Americans. Instead of worrying about the risk of radiation or terrorists on your flights, you can go back to complaining about TSA patdowns getting too close to to the scared parts of your body and opt instead for a scan that won't let anyone see see you without clothes. Because, really, what's more important?