Since the brutal September eleventh attacks, security has imploded everywhere and the technological industry is making money hand over fist. The most recent of controversial security devices is the full body scanner which is now being used by the Transportation Security Administration. However, many people argue whether or not this is a violation of one’s Fourth Amendment Rights against unreasonable searches. Others argue that the scanners have not been fully tested enough in order to begin implementing them. But many oppose the scanners due to taking private and intimate images of people’s bodies; some even going so far as to claim that they are “pornographic” in nature.
Amazingly enough tried and true techniques such as profiling are being rejected. The claim is that because society views the method as intolerable it should not be employed. As the Seattle Times reported, experts unfortunately disagree as to which methods are most effective in providing security at airports. Further, there are a slew of companies that want to provide shoe scanners to airports around the United States. Of course, the Transportation Security Administration has not made a selection for this type of security technology.
Airport security is of utmost importance and as technology continues to grow, more questions become unanswered. Unfortunately no one has the right answer as to protecting the country and at the same time protecting citizen’s Constitutional Rights. With as far as we have come in the past ten years it would seem that there would be a simple solution. Of course, there never is.
So where do we draw the line? The security of the United States airports is a crucial and never ending issue. There is a reasonable solution to this debacle; they just have yet to find it. However, security can not override the rights of the citizens.