Would you be happy to take the naked body scan?
LONDON, England - December 29, 2009 - Fears over airport security could leave millions of passengers facing the indignity of a naked body scan and paying higher fares to fund it.
Hi-tech body scanners can see through clothes to detect hidden weapons or explosives such as those we are asked to believe were used in the so-called “Christmas Day plot”.
They produce an anatomical image of passengers' bodies, including breasts and genitalia, and have been attacked as too intrusive. Critics have described them as a virtual strip search.
Home Secretary Alan Johnson said the government was looking at the use of the full body scanners, but admitted there were cost and privacy issues.
The scanners are on a year's trial at Manchester Airport, where security officers have already been banned from using them on children following warnings that the images could break child pornography laws which outlaw the creation of images of youngsters.
The machines cost £80,000 each, meaning it would cost millions to install them in all of Britain's airports. Inevitably the cost would be handed on to passengers through higher airfares.
But security experts have said they would speed up safety checks by quickly revealing any concealed weapons or explosives.
Dutch airport authorities said yesterday that they would make the new scanners mandatory after Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was able to board his flight from Amsterdam to Detroit without the explosive sewn into his underwear being detected.
Heightened security ordered by the U.S. in the wake of the failed bomb plot has caused massive delays on both sides of the Atlantic, as airports struggle to cope with the new measures.
The machines would speed up checks as they eliminate the need for passengers to take off their shoes, belts, coats and scarves and would reduce the number who were then subjected to pat-down searches.
Instead, the fully-clothed passenger steps between two screens and is instructed to stand with fingers touching the sides of the head, to provide a clear image of the body.
The machine performs a simultaneous front and back scan using electromagnetic waves, similar to a low-level X-ray.
According to the manufacturer, Rapiscan, passengers can be scanned safely up to 5,000 times a year. They say a dental X-ray produces 20,000 times more radiation.
The scans show every contour of the body, including intimate areas, and also reveal body piercings, colostomy bags, false limbs and even breast enlargements.
Hi-tech body scanners can see through clothes to detect hidden weapons or explosives such as those we are asked to believe were used in the so-called “Christmas Day plot”.
They produce an anatomical image of passengers' bodies, including breasts and genitalia, and have been attacked as too intrusive. Critics have described them as a virtual strip search.
Home Secretary Alan Johnson said the government was looking at the use of the full body scanners, but admitted there were cost and privacy issues.
The scanners are on a year's trial at Manchester Airport, where security officers have already been banned from using them on children following warnings that the images could break child pornography laws which outlaw the creation of images of youngsters.
The machines cost £80,000 each, meaning it would cost millions to install them in all of Britain's airports. Inevitably the cost would be handed on to passengers through higher airfares.
But security experts have said they would speed up safety checks by quickly revealing any concealed weapons or explosives.
Dutch airport authorities said yesterday that they would make the new scanners mandatory after Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was able to board his flight from Amsterdam to Detroit without the explosive sewn into his underwear being detected.
Heightened security ordered by the U.S. in the wake of the failed bomb plot has caused massive delays on both sides of the Atlantic, as airports struggle to cope with the new measures.
The machines would speed up checks as they eliminate the need for passengers to take off their shoes, belts, coats and scarves and would reduce the number who were then subjected to pat-down searches.
Instead, the fully-clothed passenger steps between two screens and is instructed to stand with fingers touching the sides of the head, to provide a clear image of the body.
The machine performs a simultaneous front and back scan using electromagnetic waves, similar to a low-level X-ray.
According to the manufacturer, Rapiscan, passengers can be scanned safely up to 5,000 times a year. They say a dental X-ray produces 20,000 times more radiation.
The scans show every contour of the body, including intimate areas, and also reveal body piercings, colostomy bags, false limbs and even breast enlargements.
