Senate bill targets body scan image misuse

Passengers can opt instead for a new pat-down search that includes the crotch and chest.

But privacy advocates said current safeguards fail to ensure that the images produced by the machines cannot be misused by TSA employees or other workers. Groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and the Electronic Privacy Information Center contend that the machines are too invasive.

Asked what he thought about use of the scanners, Schumer said he didn’t oppose them. “You need to balance security and privacy,’’ he said.

Federal laws prohibit employees of agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service to release private information to anyone not entitled to receive it. No such law applies to TSA scanner images. Although the TSA says its scanners are not equipped to save images, it was recently reported that 35,000 images from a scanner at a Florida courthouse were saved and 100 were posted online.

Schumer’s proposed law would make it unlawful to record or distribute an image of any full-body scan taken at an airport, even using personal cameras or hand-held devices.