Wed, Apr 08, 2009
Privacy, Health Issues Top Critics' List Of Concerns
When the US Transportation Security
Administration
announced the debut of full-body scanners at American
airports, all the concern seemed to be over whether
passengers would revolt at the idea of strangers looking at their
bodies with X-ray vision. TSA assured us the screeners seeing the
images wouldn't know who we were, that the images would not be
retained, and that only volunteers who preferred X-rays to being
frisked would be scanned.
What a difference a few weeks makes. Robin Kane, the
agency’s acting chief technology officer, tells the New York
Times initial results from tests at 19 airports have been so
positive that the agency is now considering replacing the old metal
detectors with scanners for everyone.
"It's very, very quick; the scan is about two seconds," added
TSA spokesman Sterling Payne. "They'll tell you the position to
stand in, there's the quick scan, and then you step out of the
machine and wait for the resolution, which happens in a separate
room in another part of the checkpoint."
Not everyone is sold on full-body scanning. Bruce Schneier, a
security technology consultant, equates the process to "a
physically invasive strip-search... How do we know they're not
going to be storing those images? We're taking their word for
it."
Others worry about the exposure to X-rays... though if that's
your issue, you probably shouldn't be flying anyway. TSA says a
scan is equivalent to the ambient radiation received in two minutes
aboard an airliner, where much of Earth's protective atmosphere is
below you.
Developers say advanced X-ray technology may soon be able to
detect explosive chemicals in carry-ons, bringing an end to the ban
on shampoo and other gels.
Experts warn that could make thousands of TSA jokes obsolete
almost overnight...
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