Sayonara, Porno-Scanners!

Bloomberg reports this morning the TSA will remove the remaining 174 porno-scanners manufactured by Rapiscan from our nation's airports.

After the company failed to meet a Congressionally-mandated timeline for creating a "privacy filter," similar to the generic male and female images currently associated with the millimeter-wave scanners, the contract TSA had with Rapiscan was terminated.

While this is certainly good news for C4L members long engaged in opposition to the scanners since their release in the fall of 2010, it's only a partial victory, and one that should be immediately followed up with further action.

TSA went for broke when they rolled out their new scanning and groping screening procedures, and had Americans accepted the virtual strip-search they were being forced in to, you can bet they would still be using them.

Make no mistake, the TSA continues to grope passengers daily with their "enhanced pat-downs" and Rapiscan's porno-scanners are simply being replaced by the millimeter-wave scanners and other backscatter machines manufactured by different companies.

Reports indicate the millimeter-wave scanners have high false-positive rates, and some have suggested they are manually triggered to go off, which leads to secondary screening and a "complimentary massage" from the TSA.

Furthermore, the TSA still doesn't acknowledge that their machines - privacy filter or not - and grope-downs violate American's 4th Amendment rights.

In addition, as the article notes, the TSA is looking to move the Rapiscan machines to other government agencies, " that might not require the same level of privacy called for in a crowded airport."

We should be happy that some of the potentially irradiating porno-scanners are leaving our airports, but it's time to double-down against the continuation of the TSA's unconstitutional and invasive screening tactics.

So long as the TSA continues to grope, scan, poke, and prod Americans - treating us more like cattle than human beings - we must continue to speak out. Our dignity demands it.

This Congress, Campaign for Liberty will continue our fight to abolish the TSA and turn airport security over to the private sector where it belongs.