The TSA scanner porn hoax lingers on
These images are fake.
Update: Gizmodo fixed the post today.
Another update (March 10): Fast Company used the images today, and the author of the post, Kit Eaton, has the gall to claim that he knows they are a hoax, writing in the comments of the post: “But that’s basically the point, since it’s not *too* dissimilar to the imagery these things produce, which taps neatly into the privacy issues.” Um, yes, they are very dissimilar, and it is completely unethical to use the images without acknowledging ANYWHERE in your article that they are fake.
I am able to track my traffic and its sources here at True/Slant. Over the past month and a half, I’ve been getting steady traffic to this post: These TSA porn photos would be alarming — if they were real.
In it, I debunked some supposed TSA porn photos that the Drudge Report and Gizmodo had posted, falsely showing what could be done with images from full body scanners.
These images, at right, are not images from a TSA scanner that have been “inverted.” They are part of a hoax that both Gizmodo and the Drudge Report fell for. The photos are of a nude model, taken from a German website and Photoshopped to look like they came from a whole-body imaging machine. Read more here.
But bloggers around the Web continue to post these photos in the belief that they are real, usually linking to Gizmodo as their source. There’s been a fresh round of posts using the images thanks to the TSA’s recent decision to install the whole-body imaging scanners in 11 more airports.
In some cases, a reader of those sites points out that it’s a hoax and posts a link to my post in the comments, but I have to assume that many people are getting misinformation along the way.
Gizmodo has a huge audience and owes that audience an update to their original post on this. Many commenters have said that the photos are fake on the Gizmodo website and I emailed the author, Adam Frucci, on January 27th to point this out:
Still the author has not gone to the trouble to take three minutes out of his day to update his post. I have to assume that’s out of laziness, or a desire to keep attracting page views by disseminating false information.
Gizmodo and Adam Frucci, fix your f***ing post. You’re worse than Radar Online.
Is It This Easy to Pull Straight Nude Pics From Airport Scanners? [NSFW] [Gizmodo]
You can request that Gizmodo issue a correction by emailing tips@gawker.com and adam@gizmodo.com.
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I’d think so long as bloggers are compensated on page hits alone for ad revenue, the truth is going to suffer at the hands of sensationalism.
This is a good example where blogger journalist.
Er, “blogger not equal to journalist”. The symbols were lost in translation.
In response to another comment. See in context »[...] Dear Gizmodo. Fix your f***ing post. (trueslant.com) [...]
[...] I thought it was an actual naked image, but it turns out that’s a hoax. The bogus images continue to be reused in the press, so I can’t be sure if that’s actually influencing perception or not. I [...]