“If You Touch My Junk I Am Going To Have You Arrested”

When John Tyner refused to walk through a full body X-ray scanner at a San Diego Airport he was told by TSA officials he would have to submit to a pat down including a “groin check”—This apparently did not go over too well with Mr. Tyner and now he is facing an $11,000 fine from TSA. Tyner recorded the incident on his phone and now the video is going viral.

Something about this scenario seems awfully flawed. Man refuses to go through a full body scanner that takes and records and image of the naked body. Man then has to submit to a full body pat-down. Man warns against having his testicles fondled by middle-aged male airport security agent. Man is then told he cannot board airplane unless he submits to pat-down or body scanner. Man again refuses and is then fined $11,000.

I can’t help to think this situation would have had a less confrontational ending had TSA gotten a young female agent to carry out the pat-down. In most states when a female suspect is patted down by police it has to be carried out by a female officer. If the TSA allowed passengers to choose who carries out the indignity, would it mitigate some of the ire?

This news comes in the wake of growing apprehension over the use of millimeter wave and x-ray backscatter body scanners that display and record naked images of those passing through.

Gizmodo recently discovered 100 leaked photographs saved by the Gen 2 millimeter wave scanner improperly operated by U.S. Marshals in an Orlando, Florida courthouse.

While these scanners are used to protect the innocent, it is the innocent being exposed and made to suffer perhaps the most unpleasant of phobias—gymnophobia.

While no one wants to board a plane that might potentially explode, submitting to a “molestation” pat-down or having naked pictures of yourself leaked over the internet is not exactly a consoling alternative.

In other news, Microsoft is racing to beat Apple in developing an x-ray body scanner app.