Four Scanners Per Airport Planned In Two Months

The Canadian government says it will install full-body scanners in all of that country's major airports in the next two months, following the Christmas Day attempt to bring down a Northwest Airlines aircraft en route to Detroit.

"We are not immune to acts of terrorism or terrorist threats and we must remain vigilant to be at the forefront of new security technology," said  Minister of State Rob Merrifield at a news conference. He said the scanners will cost about $240,000 each. He added that passengers who are selected for secondary screening will have the option of being physically searched rather than pass through the scanner. Images from the scanner will be viewed in separate rooms and deleted, he said.

The international news service AFP reports that Nathalie Des Rosiers, executive director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, however, told public broadcaster CBC when the scanners were tested at an airport in Kelowna in western Canada, about 75% of those who were scanned still had to be patted down due to a high number of false positives. Still, 95% of those selected for scanning reportedly chose the scanner over the hand search.

And the scanners aren't the only security change in Canada. The Globe and Mail reports that some publishers are questioning why books and magazines purchased before clearing security are not on an approved list for taking onboard an aircraft.

Guidelines announced December 28th by Transport Cananda say passengers may take "one or more" of 13 specified items onto an airplane, including "canes, cameras, laptop computers, musical instruments and “medical devices.” Books and magazines are not listed, and Carolyn Wood, executive director of the Association of Canadian Publishers, said she is “speechless, really."

Canadian news reports indicated only books and magazines bought after clearing security would be allowed in an airplane cabin, though airlines were allowed "some discretion." 

We'll be watching for an uptick in sales of Kindle readers.

FMI: www.tc.gc.ca/eng/air-menu.htm