WASHINGTON, DC — The Transportation Security Administration — part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security — probably didn’t intend to horn in on the adult entertainment industry’s territory when it installed new equipment that allows agents to perform virtual strip searches at airports.However, the equipment has some critics leveling charges that include invasion of privacy and “pornography creation” at the agency’s efforts to protect America’s friendly skies.

To be installed at security checkpoints in 21 of the busiest airports in the U.S., the new L3 portal equipment uses millimeter wave technology to generate 3D images that outline every nude curve of a passenger’s body. According to the TSA, the images allow the easy detection of prohibited objects like explosives and weapons.

Not everyone is thrilled about the TSA’s new proactive approach to terrorism. American Civil Liberties Union Director of Technology and Liberty Barry Steinhardt called the new technology “a virtual strip search. If Playboy published these pictures, there would be members of Congress calling them pornography.”

TSA spokeswoman Laura Uselding said the equipment is designed to safeguard flights and passengers’ privacy. The machinery automatically blurs passengers’ faces, and each image is deleted automatically, she told ABC News.

Moreover, “the officer who directs you into the portal never sees the image,” she said. Instead, a second officer in a remote booth reads the image and “never makes eye contact” with the passengers he or she screens.

Already tested in 10 airports scattered around the country, the L3 portals have proven more popular than “pat-downs,” Uselding said. Ninety-six percent of passengers given the choice at Los Angeles International Airport and John F. Kennedy Airport chose the L3 portal.

Steinhardt isn’t impressed by the statistic. He said the TSA should show passengers an example image before putting them through the portals.

“Almost no passengers know that once you go through this portal, they’re displaying their body,” he told ABC News.

The criticism hasn’t phased the TSA.

“This major step-up in technology, coupled with our enhanced security training for our officers, will elevate security across the board … [and] will greatly enhance our ability to find small [improvised explosive device] components made of common items, which remain the greatest threat,” TSA administrator Kip Hawley told ABC.