TSA wants to (well, by court order has to) hear from you about body scanning
The Transportation Security Administration is letting airplane passengers formally critique its $2 billion body scanning program -- a requirement for substantial federal programs that TSA had skirted for about four years.
The concession follows a 2011 court order siding with the Electronic Privacy Information Center in part of a lawsuit. The privacy group argued TSA must release undisclosed rules for the use of so-called advanced imaging technology and allow citizens to comment on those rules.
"We will review and analyze all comments once they have been collected," TSA spokesman David Castelveter said Sunday night. He stopped short of saying whether the agency will consider changing the program rolled out nationwide in 2009 in response to submissions.
Agency officials acknowledge in the public notice to be released on Tuesday that "the U.S. Court of Appeals directed TSA to conduct notice-and-comment rulemaking on the use of AIT as a screening method for passengers." Passengers will have three months to file opinions.
Reacting to TSA’s move, EPIC President Marc Rotenberg said, "The TSA unlawfully deployed body scanners at airports in the United States. Now the public will finally have the opportunity to express their views on TSA airport screening procedures.”
The court did not order TSA to halt current operations, stating that "vacating the present rule would severely disrupt an essential security operation" and that the regulations are "otherwise lawful."
http://www.nextgov.com/defense/2013/03/tsa-heed-formal-gripes-over-body-scans/62051/?oref=ng-HPriver
The notice (PDF)
https://s3.amazonaws.com/public-inspection.federalregister.gov/2013-07023.pdf
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