Nelon-Schumer Legislation Making Misuse of TSA Body Scan Images a Federal Crime is Accepted Unopposed as Amendment to FAA Bill

Press Release

The Security Screening Confidential Data Privacy Act, introduced by U.S. Senators Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Charles Schumer (D-NY), was today accepted as an amendment to the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Bill that is currently under consideration in the Senate. The legislation makes it a federal crime to misuse images recorded by the Transportation Safety Administration's (TSA) full body scanners used at airports nationwide. The amendment was adopted 98-0.

The Nelson-Schumer legislation ensures that any person with access to the scanned body images, whether security personnel or members of the public, would be prohibited from photographing or disseminating those images and it would impose a penalty of up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000 per violation. These penalties apply to the distribution of images generated by scanners in federal buildings nationwide, including airports, courthouses and federal office buildings. The measure is cosponsored by Senators Richard Durbin (D-IL), John Kerry (D-MA), Daniel Akaka (D-HI), Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Jon Tester (D-MT), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH).

"Nebraskans and the American people understand that every step needs to be taken and every resource needs to be used to ensure the safety of our citizenry," said Nelson. "Using technology to scan individuals for hidden weapons is a necessary --albeit sometimes unpleasant--aspect of making sure our airways and public buildings are safe. However, safeguards should be in place to deter people from collecting and using those images inappropriately--and we're proposing tough consequences to make sure these images stay private."

"This law sends a loud and clear message to the flying public, not only will we do everything we can to protect your safety, we will also do everything we can to protect your privacy," said Schumer. "As we put in place new technologies to detect and capture those who wish to do us harm, we need to do everything we can to protect the privacy rights of the air travelers."

Federal agencies like the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the Social Security Administration (SSA) have statutes on the books that make it a crime for any employee of the agency to disseminate private information to anyone not entitled to receive it. No such statute exists for TSA body scanning images. The Nelson-Schumer legislation, the Security Screening Confidential Data Privacy Act, would create similar privacy statutes and make the misuse of TSA full body images illegal. The legislation makes it unlawful to photograph or record an image of a body scan at an airport; makes it unlawful to distribute an image of a body scan at an airport; and lastly, provides a sentence of up to one year in prison and a fine of up to $100,000 per violation. The legislation was originally introduced in December 2010.

According to the TSA, full body scanners cannot save images and are immediately deleted once a passenger has successfully passed through the security screening process. Despite similar assurances, it was reported several months ago that some 35,000 images from a full body scanner at a Florida Courthouse were saved and 100 of them were posted online. While these images were not obtained through airport screening procedures, they highlight the potential for misuse of full body scan images. The Nelson-Schumer legislation covers not only the misuse of the original images recorded from the actual scanners, but also photographs of scans recorded and disseminated from personal cameras, video devices, or cell phones, taken from security personnel, airport employees or passengers.

Source