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Turtleneck Posted Thu 12 Jun, 2008 2:25 PM |
Scanners that see through clothing installed in US airports
Tue Jun 10, 5:11 PM ET
Security scanners which can see through passengers' clothing and reveal details of their body underneath are being installed in 10 US airports, the US Transportation Security Administration said Tuesday.
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 "millimeter waves" that go through cloth to identify metal, plastics, ceramics, chemical materials and explosives, according to the 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 in a statement on its website.
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.
But 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, told AFP.
The ACLU said in a statement that 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, added that passengers are not obliged to accept the new machines.
"The passengers can choose between the body imaging and the pat-down," she told AFP.
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.
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I think this is terrible, this is just wrong. So now in order to fly on an airplane people get to see you naked? (Or the option of being padded down, thanks a lot!) I have a LOT of questions about this. How do they choose who will go through the scanner? Do they need a valid reason or are they going to choose people at random? What about kids/teens? Even my husband just called from work to tell me about this and I was getting ready to email it to him.
I'm sorry, that's just too much detail, come on! Can you imagine what's going to happen when they try to screen a Muslim woman who is covered from head to toe? (We have a high Muslim population in metro Detroit.) And just because I'm not Muslim doesn't mean I don't have a sense of modesty! The people checking these screens are not doctors, they're basically security guards. This is the price we have to pay for safety? How about X-raying checked luggage, people!! This is just...ugh, it really freaks me out. And is it safe? What the heck is a "milimeter ray?" What if a woman was pregnant and didn't know it yet? They won't let you get dental X-rays if you're pregnant, this is a whole body scan! I just don't like it at all. |
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Yulia Nox Posted Thu 12 Jun, 2008 2:45 PM |
| that's just too much T__T! |
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Darran Posted Thu 12 Jun, 2008 4:26 PM |
| Folks better get waxing and trimming. |
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AbsolutPurple Posted Thu 12 Jun, 2008 4:42 PM |
They're gonna see a black hole (in place of a brain) when Dubya is scanned.
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BenFilbert Posted Thu 12 Jun, 2008 4:42 PM |
We'll be taking more than our shoes off next...
If it continues like this we won't need the Airbus A380s, because nobody will be flying. |
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AbsolutPurple Posted Thu 12 Jun, 2008 4:44 PM |
BenFilbert wrote: We'll be taking more than our shoes off next...
If it continues like this we won't need the Airbus A380s, because nobody will be flying.
Mr James Blunt is back ?
Where have you been ? |
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Aletways Posted Thu 12 Jun, 2008 4:48 PM |
| I can't believe someone approved this, it's just another complete violation of privacy for "security's sake". |
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BenFilbert Posted Thu 12 Jun, 2008 4:50 PM |
AbsolutPurple wrote: BenFilbert wrote: We'll be taking more than our shoes off next...
If it continues like this we won't need the Airbus A380s, because nobody will be flying.
Mr James Blunt is back ?
Where have you been ?
What are you on about? I've not gone anywhere. Open your eyes, it might help.
And thanks for the Blunt comment. He's very successful, I'll take it as a compliment. |
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Posts: 8468 |
AbsolutPurple Posted Thu 12 Jun, 2008 4:52 PM |
| Jerry Seinfeld once said that security ppl at airports was for people who failed the test to work part time in a car wash. |
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Posts: 8468 |
AbsolutPurple Posted Thu 12 Jun, 2008 4:53 PM |
BenFilbert wrote: AbsolutPurple wrote: BenFilbert wrote: We'll be taking more than our shoes off next...
If it continues like this we won't need the Airbus A380s, because nobody will be flying.
Mr James Blunt is back ?
Where have you been ?
What are you on about? I've not gone anywhere. Open your eyes, it might help.
And thanks for the Blunt comment. He's very successful, I'll take it as a compliment.
why are you so blunt ? |
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dee Posted Thu 12 Jun, 2008 5:18 PM |
is it wrong that i don't really give a damn what they see?
if it saves me getting padded down, taking off my shoes and jewellery that i never remove unless i have to.
seriously, i've literally had my hair searched when i happened to have a beehive.
i'd rather just get scanned and not give a damn
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Turtleneck Posted Thu 12 Jun, 2008 6:01 PM |
But I care. I don't even like being looked at with my clothes on. I'd probably have a panic attack if they tried to scan me.
I once traveled alone with my kids. I had a diaper bag, a carry-on, and a double stroller. They made me take the kids out of the stroller (my youngest was just over a year old, barely walking). I had to take off my shoes, their shoes, fold up the double stroller and put it on the conveyor belt, try to keep my kids from running away barefoot. It was very difficult and the security people were looking at me like I was taking a long time. Um, yeah! But I'd do it all again to keep from being peeped at by Homeland Perversity guards. |
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minnmess Posted Thu 12 Jun, 2008 6:15 PM |
Turtleneck wrote: But I'd do it all again to keep from being peeped at by Homeland Perversity guards.
What a fantastic name! Ya, this is really disturbing. |
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Posts: 7404 |
Turtleneck Posted Thu 12 Jun, 2008 6:30 PM |
| I always feel like Somebody's Watching Me! |
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Posts: 8468 |
AbsolutPurple Posted Thu 12 Jun, 2008 7:17 PM |
| next time i shall go naked to the airport then ! |
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