Take a look at this short video by Jonathan Corbett. He makes a pretty good case that the nude body scanners at American airports constitute an $8 Billion fraud, in addition to exposing us to supposedly safe radiation and invasive searches. Most important, these scanners are technically flawed to such a degree that any terrorist can slip virtually anything into an airplane. Corbett points out that the Israelis refused to invest in these scanners, because they are “useless.” This is a rather unsurprising accusation against the folks who never considered locking the cockpit doors prior to 9/11–boondoggle and ineffective. But at least a lot of Americans will see those shiny expensive new nude body scanners and assume that they are safe. After all, these new scanners are newer than the “old fashioned” metal detectors that actually work. But it seems to be the prime objective of the TSA to cause people to believe that they are safe.

For more information, see Corbett’s website posts on this topic here and here.

If Corbett’s analysis is correct, these nude body scanners exemplify this country’s approach to many issues. Hype a problem, inject with the fear of terrorists, spend a lot of money that isn’t really needed, violate lots of fundamental civil liberties and cover up the fact that the money is not being well-spent.