This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Friday, January 27, 2012.

I'm Caleb Brown.

When your privacy is violated by police, the lease they can do is tell you that they're violating your privacy.

Police in New York are hoping that some new technology will allow them to simply

skip the step of telling you that they're searching your body.

Tim Harper, Director of Information Policy Studies,

at the Cato Institute, comments.

A new technology has come forth in the news

called Terror Hurtz imaging detection.

It's parallel to many others we've seen including the strip search machines at the airport.

The idea is that waves at the high end of the infrared band, electromagnetic spectrum, would be beamed from a device and the reflection

from that device could reveal what's underneath people's clothing.

Applications include, according to NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, specific events or shooting prone

locations where you might be able to turn up people carrying guns or bombs.

Public safety would be benefited by this device. That's the idea anyway.

Right, but you can easily see how this would, a kind of device people would want to use at mass gathering events like the Super Bowl or any large demonstrations in public.

We're getting some experience with these kinds of devices now because a variety of form factors have come out including like I said the TSA

strip search machines.

How is this different how is this like a pat down I think is a good way to think about it.

The simple unthought through answer is it's pretty much like a pat down without the inconvenience

and discomfort of the actual pat down.

So maybe that's an advantage. but it's not necessarily an advantage.

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