Bomb Body Politics: On the TSA's Algorithmic Policing of Gender

Long before modern discussions of algorithmic policing, the Department of Homeland Security was using sexist and racist algorithms to determine which individuals to subject to additional screening. The algorithms are built into the Transportation Safety Administration’s advanced imaging technology, and they are used to justify the systems of policing already in place. In this Article adapted from remarks delivered at the Technology, Media, Privacy, and the Law Conference in 2022, the TSA’s discriminatory practices against transgender people serve as a cautionary tale for surveillance reformers who risk entrenching violence against the “wrong” bodies to protect the “right” ones.