Do you remember the security X-ray screeners in the movie Total Recall, where the passengers filed through a corridor and on the outside… security personnel could see their skeletons as they passed through?

Those are now a reality… sort of.

The TSA has begun deploying security screening devices which can see through a person’s clothing, exposing any metal, explosives, plastics, or ceramics that might be hidden underneath.

Ten US Airports are getting the machines, with a total of 30 screeners planned across the country by the end of 2008.

The controversy, of course, is that in addition to any guns or other contraband, these machines also apparently show off the passenger’s naked body.  The ACLU thinks that’s unacceptable:

“People have no idea how graphic the images are,” Barry Steinhardt, director of the technology and liberty program at the American Civil Liberties Union, told AFP.

Okay, is there anything the ACLU finds acceptable?  Isn’t it their mission to abhor and challenge pretty much everything?

But seriously, they have a point here.  How many of you, by show of hands, want the TSA screeners to see you naked?  Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Oh, but they won’t know who you are:

While it allows the security screeners — looking at the images in a separate room — to clearly see the passenger’s sexual organs as well as other details of their bodies, the passenger’s face is blurred, TSA said in a statement on its website.

Right.  Because they can’t see my face as I’m walking into the machine.  Somehow I don’t see the fact that the faces are blurred making Americans feel better about being so exposed.

The images are also not stored in any way, but are erased once the passenger is cleared through the checkpoint.  So that’s good, at least.

Look, not to be graphic or anything, but I really don’t care if the TSA wants to see me naked.  I’m all for doing whatever it takes to help make the skies safer.  And I’m no Adonis–it’s their loss, really, if they have to put me in one of these things.

But millions of Americans are going to cry foul.

Thankfully, the TSA is saying that travelers have some options:

Lara Uselding, a TSA spokeswoman, added that passengers are not obliged to accept the new machines.  “The passengers can choose between the body imaging and the pat-down,” she told AFP.

Sweet.  So if I don’t want strangers to see me naked I can choose to let strangers put their hands all over me.  Excellent choice.  I believe that’s what’s called a Catch-22.

Anyway, now that the TSA is blogging, you can head over there and leave them some feedback on this new development.

So blogging is a big deal.  Everyone’s doing it, even us (you’re reading our blog right now).  If you don’t have a blog, you’re behind the trend, right? 

So it should make perfect sense that the Transportation Security Administration launched a blog yesterday.  The TSA, if you didn’t know, is the organization that attempts to ensure that you don’t board an aircraft with a lighter or a big bottle of shampoo or any other deadly weapon. 

Okay, they’re looking for guns and bombs and knives too.  And by all accounts they do an excellent job.  Wait…. no…. maybe that’s not right.  Sometimes they let fake bombs through.  But hey….with millions of air travelers a day, they can’t be expected to catch everything, can they?  What’s the harm in a fake bomb getting through the security checkpoint anyway?  I mean….it’s a fake bomb… not a real one. 

Oh, wait.  But if a fake one can get through, then probably a real one could.  That would be bad.  Hmmm. 

Maybe the TSA annoys you by patting you down every time you go through screening.  Maybe they annoy you by unwrapping your Christmas presents you packed in your suitcase during the holidays.  Maybe they annoy you by not stopping fake bombs.  Regardless, if you want to give them some feedback, The TSA is blogging now, and you can now leave them a comment.  They promise they’ll be reading them and reacting to them:

“We will incorporate what we learn in this forum in our checkpoint process evolution,” Hawley wrote. “Our postings from the public will be reviewed to remove the destructive, but not touch the critical or cranky.”

So they’re also going to censor the comments, deleting the “destructive” ones.  Not sure what qualifies as a destructive comment, but I’m guessing it would be vulgarity or threats.  Apparently, the critical and cranky comments are allowed.  But when I went to the blog, which you can find here, I saw 162 comments on the main post, and I had to scroll pretty far through them to even find some negative feedback. 

I find that hard to believe.  I think people are generally quite negative.  I also think people are generally not satisfied with the TSA, whether or not it’s fair.  I don’t want to be a conspiracy theorist, but I think there should be more negative comments on the blog than we’re currently seeing.  But maybe the word hasn’t gotten out yet.  Right now, many of the comments seem to be coming from actual employees of the TSA–screeners–and they seem to be very supportive and encouraging. 

Not everyone feels so supportive:

“This will just make it easier for them to receive complaints for them to ignore in the name of national security,” said David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association.

I say:  at least they’re trying something.  At least they’re trying to improve their feedback system and trying to reach out to consumers.  At least the TSA is blogging.  I think more government agencies need to blog, like the CIA and the FCC and the White House staff.  Everything can be improved with the help of a blog–imagine the comments people would leave on that blog!

Anyway, if you want to let the TSA know what you think of the job they’re doing, head on over to their brand spanking new blog and leave them a comment.  I can’t promise it will do any good, but it can’t hurt.