The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was wrong to decide to widely deploy whole body scanners in airports [1] without first issuing a proposed rule and giving the public a chance to comment. That's the judgment of a three-judge circuit court panel in the case Electronic Privacy Information Center v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 10-1157, U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (Washington), reports Bloomberg. But, as Thomson Reuters notes, "The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the machines, known as Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT), were not an unconstitutional search [2] and declined to halt their use despite TSA's failure to follow proper procedure." The panel said that the TSA may, therefore, continue to use the scanners while it now complies with the requirement to go through the rule-making process.

Photo by pbyrne/flickr [3]

Thumbnail: