The Incredible Discoveries of Ian J. Spector

A little while back, some airports introduced those whole body scanners – the ones where you stand with your hands over your head and the machine takes an image of your body to rule out the presence of weapons, explosives, etc. Given all of the threats from shoe bombers to liquid bombers that have made it through traditional metal detectors, I thought this was a good idea. More monitoring to insure my safety is a good thing. But the outcry from the libertarians and the privacy crowd was deafening. It was newsworthy for weeks. All kinds of concerns about TSA agents peaking at one’s body profile, etc.

So imagine my surprise when I talked on the phone the other day with folks from Unique solutions. They use the exact same technology in the shopping mall to allow consumers to create a clothing size template that is unique to them. Armed with that scan information, you can go to certain merchants to buy highly customized clothing of a fit that is unique to you. When I heard about this, I wondered how widespread it is, but right after the phone call I saw one of these in a mall near my home. Consumers are flocking, apparently. No complaints from the privacy crowd on this one. Who’d a thunk it? Essentially the same scan. Same risks best I can tell (couldn’t an errant employee view your scan?). But no outcry.