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TSA X-Ray Machines Easily Fooled, Researchers Find

Any would-be terrorist can easily outsmart the ubiquitous backscatter scanners found in major airports around the world, two scientists say. The Transportation Security Administration's X-ray backscatter scanners have been the center of a widespread controversy, following concerns from privacy advocates that they take nearly naked photos of people. The trade-off is improved security, of course. Yet Leon Kaufman and Joseph W. Carlson, two physics professors at the University of California, San Francisco offer a stark conclusion: They can be easily duped, according to a recent paper published in the Journal of Transportation Security. "It is very likely that a large (15–20 cm in diameter), irregularly-shaped, cm-thick pancake with beveled edges, taped to the abdomen, would be invisible to this technology -- ironically because of its large volume, since it is easily confused with normal anatomy," the researchers said in the paper.

View Source: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/12/14/tsa-x-ray-machines-easily-fooled-researchers/