blog » June 8, 2008/One step closer to flying naked

(see also: /.)

As we all know, the only way to make sure that terrorists don't sneak weapons onto planes is to require that all airline passengers fly naked, without any carry-on luggage. Well, it looks like we're one step closer to that. Several American airports have installed new scanners that can see under peoples’ clothing.

And, like most recent airport security measures, the security scanners are not only completely unnecessary and useless, they also seem to be completely ineffective too.

The scanners do a good job seeing under clothing but cannot see through plastic or rubber materials that resemble skin, said Peter Siegel, a senior scientist at the California Institute of Technology. "You probably could find very common materials that you could wrap around you that would effectively obscure things," Siegel said.

Yes, apparently you can find some certain materials, wrap them around your body, and hide weapons there.