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Furb Furbish figured if Transportation Security Administration screeners were going to take naked photos of him in order to allow him on an airplane Wednesday, he might as well save them the trouble.
So the Taylorsville resident stood in front of Salt Lake City International Airport in frigid temperatures wearing nothing but shoes, stockings, scarf, a wool cap and a tiny Speedo-style swimsuit.
Furbish was motivated by an Internet campaign to encourage Thanksgiving travelers to disrupt the nation's airports during one of the busiest travel days by protesting passenger-screening protocols put in place by the Transportation Security Administration and refusing full-body scans.
Officials at Salt Lake City's airport and airports across the country said Wednesday's protests didn't have much of an impact and few passengers opted out of the scans. Security lines were moving smoothly, they reported.
Protest organizers say the screening techniques are an unnecessary invasion of privacy and a violation of civil rights. TSA officials defend the measures, saying they are necessary to ward off terror attacks such as the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound plane last Christmas, allegedly by a Nigerian man who stashed explosives in his underwear.
Furbish's one-man protest included a placard that read: "TSA: We're just doing our jobs. Nazi SS: We're just doing our jobs." The other side was a haiku: "Iron hand in latex glove feeling up your junk on way to grandma's house."
Travelers stopped to gawk and take photos as airport security agents watched closely from a few feet away.
"If they are going to take a naked picture of me next time I go through the airport, I might as well get it over with," he said. "They can take a naked picture of you, your kids or your spouse." He called the searches patently offensive.
Three Utah County men acquired a protest permit in order to make their feelings known at the airport. Law officers told Caleb Christian and Keith Kuder, of Orem, and Dave Chiu, of Provo, they were confined to a small booth near the Terminal 1 baggage-claim area. But that didn't stop many travelers from stopping to chat.
Bay area resident Michelle Poole said she was 100 percent behind the trio's protest.
"This security is completely unnecessary," she said. "It is nothing but garbage."
Chiu passed out small papers asking the TSA two questions: "Is my body a temple or not?" and "What's the probable cause for violating my very personal security?"
Christian held a sign that said, "Hands off my tea bag," while Kuder's placard read, "Don't touch my junk" and "No TSA porn."
The trio said the searches violate the public's Fourth Amendment rights requiring probable cause for a search.
Despite the controversy, security lines at Salt Lake International Airport appeared to be moving smoothly, with increased TSA staffing to handle the holiday crowd. TSA Salt Lake City spokesman Dwayne Baird said the longest wait was 12 minutes Wednesday morning.
"It is an urban myth that this is the busiest travel day of the year," said airport spokeswoman Barbara Gann about the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. "It's brisk, but not extraordinary. It can be busier some summer days."
Weather proved to be a bigger concern for many travelers as a storm moved east across the United States. Gann said Salt Lake City's storm Tuesday night caused 29 cancellations, but no flights were canceled Wednesday.
"Our flight last night to Phoenix was canceled after a 2½-hour wait," said Marcia McIntosh, of Taylorsville, who was in a wheelchair. "We went home."
She said she had no problems with security who did a pat-down when she cleared the station Tuesday.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.