If you’re one of the many travelers who aren’t exactly thrilled at the idea of having the intimate details of your anatomy displayed on a monitor at the airport security checkpoint, here’s some promising news. The TSA is testing out an upgrade to some of its full-body scanners that could put an end to incidents like this or this.

From the Chicago Tribune:

Scanners being tested in three U.S. airports starting this week will display for screeners a generic stick figure, and any suspicious object on a passenger’s body will be flagged for inspection by a pale red box on the drawing. A passenger cleared to go will see the screen flash green and read “OK.”…

The software being tested would be used to replace the revealing images generated by millimeter wave scanners and currently viewed by a TSA agent in a separate room. The new computer program identifies hidden foreign objects and indicates to TSA searchers where to look during a pat-down.

The new system is being tested at Reagan National in Washington, D.C.; Las Vegas McCarran International; and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International.

If it’s successful, this upgrade can be inexpensively installed in the existing millimeter wave scanners. The Tribune says that a version of the software is being developed to work on the even more controversial backscatter scanners.

Less invasive body scanner software tested at airports [Chicago Tribune]

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