March 26, 2010 4:54PM # Stunner: Strip-Search Machine Used to Ogle By [Jim Harper](https://www.cato.org/people/jim-harper) --- SHARE An airport security staffer faces discipline after using a whole-body imaging machine to ogle a co-worker, according to [this report](http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE62N52E20100324). It’s another signal of what’s to come when the machines are in regular use. (In a previous post, I [aired my doubts](https://www.cato.org/2010/02/10/i-told-you-so/) about the veracity of reports that a famous Indian movie star had been exposed, but the story foretells the future all the same.) I’ve [written before](https://www.cato.org/2009/04/24/limiting-the-tsas-use-of-strip-search-machines/) that whole-body imaging machines in airports create risks to privacy despite TSA’s efforts to minimize those risks with carefully designed rules and practices. > Rules, of course, were made to be broken, and it’s only a matter of time — federal law or not — before TSA agents without proper supervision find a way to capture images contrary to policy. (Agent in secure area guides Hollywood starlet to strip search machine, sends SMS message to image reviewer, who takes camera-phone snap. TMZ devotes a week to the story, and the ensuing investigation reveals that this has been happening at airports throughout the country to hundreds of women travelers.) Rules against misuse of whole-body imaging are fine, but they are not a long-term, effective protection against abuse of “strip-search machines.” ##### Related Tags [Defense and Foreign Policy](https://www.cato.org/defense-foreign-policy), [Technology and Privacy](https://www.cato.org/technology-privacy) [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).