Over the past 18 months I have referred several times to the body scanners which, in the name of security,are being installed in airports all over the world.
Now there appears to be growing concern as passengers object to the invasion of privacy from equipment that reveals intimate details of their bodies.
One American newspaper reporter wrote:
"NEW security airport scanners are so efficient they can pick up passengers' personal details such as BREAST and GENITAL size.
The hi-tech back-scatter X-ray machines are being installed in ten US airports and take just seconds to scan plane passengers.
They are designed to replace the physical 'pat-down' that is currently widespread in airports.
A random selection of plane travellers in Washington, New York's Kennedy, Los Angeles and other key hubs will be shut in glass booths while a three-dimensional image is made of their body beneath their clothes.
The booths close around the passenger and emit "millimetre waves" that go through cloth to identify metal, plastics, ceramics, chemical materials and explosives, according to the Transport Safety Authority (TSA).
While it allows the security screeners - looking at the images in a separate room - to clearly see the passenger's sexual organs as well as other details of their bodies, the passenger's face is blurred, TSA said.'
Well, that's ok then!
The ACLU said passengers expecting privacy underneath their clothing "should not be required to display highly personal details of their bodies such as evidence of mastectomies, colostomy appliances, penile implants, catheter tubes and the size of their breasts or genitals as a pre-requisite to boarding a plane".
Besides masking their faces, the TSA says on its website, the images made "will not be printed stored or transmitted.
"Once the transportation security officer has viewed the image and resolved anomalies, the image is erased from the screen permanently. The officer is unable to print, export, store or transmit the image."
Lara Uselding, a TSA spokeswoman, said passengers were not obliged to accept the new machines.
"The passengers can choose between the body imaging and the pat-down," she said.
TSA foresees 30 of the machines installed across the country by the end of 2008. In Europe, Amsterdam's Schipol airport is already using the scanners.
Here is a picture taken by one of the machines:
Click on image to enlarge
Another newspaper makes the point that photos issued to the media for publication do not show the finer detail seen by operators of the equipment:
"Unless you're an exhibitionist, you might object to the new backscatter x-ray machines now beginning to be used, which give your screener a naked image of your body.
These images are nothing compared to how detailed the images really are. These are the photos that are toned down for the media to use for the general public. The Real images are so highly detailed that they can actually see the pores on your skin!
If that isn't enough, every image that is taken of everyone who passes through these x-ray scanners will create a biometric digital image of your body and map it just as they do with digital biometric face scans.
Your biometric "digital thumb print" of your body will then be entered into a federal database where it will be added to your record and stored permanently. Do you mind having your naked body photographed and digitally stored by the government?
Has this gone too far? Is giving up your privacy worth whatever security you are perceivably getting? You decide."
N.B. This type of equipment has been used on a random basis at Heathrow Airport for the past four years.
