ScannerShirts Blur Airport Body Scan Images.

Recently, I went to L.A. When I was waiting at security checkpoint, the U.S Custom officer asked me to do the full-body scanners. That was not my first time to do this; I could not count the times that I have been to this situation. However, I have read an article about this controversial issue that how to led entrepreneur Marc Carey to launch a line of airport underwear for men, women and children. His company, Kentucky based ScannerShirts.com, markets underwear with smiley faces and patriotic symbols like stats and the U.S seal, strategically placed to obscure private parts if the wearer must do the full-body scan. I am wondering, is it ethical to market merchandise that aims to thwart government-mandated initiatives like full-body scans at airports?

However, there are some pros and cons in this issue:

Pro: Full-body scans are revealing invasive and undignified; moreover, merchandise like airport underwear does not prevent security personnel from adequately screening travelers for prohibited devices.

Con: Scanning requires only that travelers stand in a screening room, fully clothed for only 15-25 seconds. Experts claim the extremely low dose of radiation poses no health threat. Furthermore, an item like airport underwear provokes consumers’ worst fears about inappropriate contact.

Therefore, given the circumstances, consumers need to exercise their own good judgment about whether to purchase special travel underwear.

What do you think?

Sources:Fran Golden,”Airport Scanner Blocking Underwear a Hit,” AOL Travel, January 5,2011.

8 thoughts on “ScannerShirts Blur Airport Body Scan Images.

  1. Special travel underwear to me seems very humorous. Yes it does solve the feeling of privacy but I don’t think it will be taken as seriously. Is this even allowable for security, since the whole point of a body search is to search for things that could be hidden in which could harm the public. So I feel this underwear would just cause more implications with the search process and be more difficult with time for passengers when asked to not wear the underwear for security purposes. (as weird as that sounds)

  2. Personally I do not care that much about the body scanners at airports. Although I have only gone through one at LAX, I did not mind it. I am not sure why I feel this way, maybe because I want the process to go along as fast as possible. It sad not to think of safety but time is important to me when boarding a plane. If scannershirts are not allowed and will cause me so sort of delay I will be unappreciative of the idea. However, I agree that they are humorous and if they were unprohibited and I traveled by plane a lot, I might buy some.

  3. People have the prerogative to wear whatever they want. Congress has not made a law stating that people cannot wear deflective clothes when going through security, so the TSA cannot legally object…unless they do a strip search.

  4. I can’t see myself investing in “airport underwear”, it just seems silly. I understand why someone created this, but more than anything it seems like an avenue for them to make money off of scare tactics. The thought that someone will see your private parts instills fear. This is simply a matter of personal choice. There is no right or wrong answer.

  5. There has been much debate about these full body scanners being an invasion of privacy for travelers. Almost a year later, it has been made clear that these are not going away. They are no longer a screening device that only a select amount of people are being subjected to. Every passenger who wished to board an airplane had to be scanned when I was at O’hare and DFW (Dallas, TX) last weekend. These undergarments, while humorous, seem like it will only create a hassle for the traveler, workers, and anyone behind them in line waiting to get through the dreaded security line.

  6. Airport underwear is a crazy idea. This week coming back from South Carolina I had to go through these scanners and they were not bad at all. The picture that shows up on the screen is an outline of a standard body. When a person has any metal on their person a box shows up on that area of their body. This drastically cuts the time to get through airport security. Rather than walking back and forth through the metal detector until there is no beeping sound, using these body scanners is worthwhile. As for the underwear, if anyone feels exposed then they should explore those options, but there is a possibility that the outcome could be much worse like getting stripped searched or detained.

  7. This article made me laugh a little bit. From my own experiences of having to go through the scanners on multiple trips I’ve never really thought about sending secret messages to the people looking at the scanners. I personally don’t have a problem with the new scanners because they’ve proven it isn’t much of a health risk and they are just trying to be safe. If someone really doesn’t feel comfortable going through the scanners this idea of buying special underwear is a good alternative. I’m interested to see if this becomes into a popular trend.

  8. This article made me laugh a little bit. From my own experiences of having to go through the scanners on multiple trips I’ve never really thought about sending secret messages to the people looking at the scanners. I personally don’t have a problem with the new scanners because they’ve proven it isn’t much of a health risk and they are just trying to be safe. If someone really doesn’t feel comfortable going through the scanners this idea of buying special underwear is a good alternative. I’m interested to see if this becomes into a popular trend.

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