W hy don’t we just be honest enough to repeal the Fourth Amendment — “the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches” — if we are willing to live in a society where unreasonable searches are routine? The right to be secure in your person is going right out the window as we enter the age of virtual strip searches.
With no public debate, the TSA is installing at airports around the country backscatter technology that allow screeners to see through travelers’ clothes. Although agency spokesmen have described the image produced as little more than a “chalk outline” and too fuzzy to expose anatomical details, that clearly is untrue. James Schear, the TSA security director at BWI airport, said the images are so detailed “you can actually see the sweat on someone’s back.”
