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 travelers
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.