For over a year, the Transportation Security Administration has ignored a court order requiring it to engage in a formal rule-making process regarding body-scanning machines at airports. On Wednesday, the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit granted a request by the Electronic Privacy Information Center to compel the TSA to explain its actions.
Critics of the full-body scanners have questioned whether the machines protect the health and privacy of travelers, and whether the machines will prove effective at stopping terrorists. Ordinarily, those concerns would be raised during the formal rule-making process that federal agencies are required to conduct before they establish new regulations.
The TSA appears to believe these requirements do not apply to them. So in 2010, the Electronic Privacy Information Center filed a lawsuit challenging the use of the scanners. In July 2011, the DC Circuit agreed with EPIC that the TSA needed to begin a formal rule-making process, as the law requires.
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Article by Timothy B. Lee (c) Ars Technica - Read full story here.
