SECURITY
scanners
that can see
through
passengers'
clothing and
reveal
details such
as their sex
organs,
colostomy
bags and
breast size,
are being
installed in
10 US
airports.
A random
selection of
travellers
getting
ready to
board
airplanes in
Washington,
New York's
Kennedy, Los
Angeles and
other key
hubs will be
shut in the
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.
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.
The scan
only takes
seconds and
is to
replace the
physical
pat-downs of
people that
is currently
widespread
in airports.
TSA began
introducing
the body
scanners in
airports in
April, first
in the
Phoenix,
Arizona
terminal.
The
installation
is picking
up this
month, with
machines in
place or
planned for
airports in
Washington
(Reagan
National and
Baltimore-Washington
International),
Dallas, Las
Vegas,
Albuquerque,
Miami and
Detroit.
The new
machines
have
provoked
worries
among
passengers
and rights
activists.
"People have
no idea how
graphic the
images are,"
Barry
Steinhardt,
director of
the
technology
and liberty
program at
the American
Civil
Liberties
Union, said.
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.