In Thomas Frank’s article X-ray Tests Both Security, Privacy, he writes that this new type of x-ray security improves our national security but also is violating people’s privacy. In the article Frank quotes Bill Scannel “It shows nipples. It shows the clear outline of genitals.” In contrast, Andrew Karam thinks that the backscatter x-ray machines will prove beneficial to the security of the United States. I believe that these machines will indeed improve our national security and help prevent any terrorist attacks in the future. I believe this because the machines are able to see through ones cloths clearly, revealing any concealed weapons someone may be hiding. This includes be able to clearly see a nonmetallic explosive, such as a plastic explosive which is just as powerful as any type of dynamite. The machines don’t show in color a person’s every detail; in fact Karam says that they can smooth out sharp edges, eliminating the factor of “showing nipples”. Furthermore, the TSA is a worldwide administration there is no way they will let any type of pictures leak out into the world. They can closely monitor all the systems, also only allow a select few people authorized to get into any type of database of the images in case of a national crisis. To me the benefits of potentially saving hundreds, thousands, or hundreds of thousands of lives clearly outweighs the disadvantage of having someone see the outline of my body for merely seconds. Especially when someone’s privacy can be monitored so closely than virtually no one will know about it.
