Think spyware invades your privacy?

[scuzzman]

Airport screeners could see X-rated X-rays

Get ready for electronic portals known as backscatters, expected to be tested at a handful of airports this year, that use X-ray imaging technology to allow a screener to scan a body. And yes, the body image is detailed. Let's not be coy here, ladies and gentlemen:

"Well, you'll see basically everything," said Bill Scannell, a privacy advocate and technology consultant. "It shows nipples. It shows the clear outline of genitals."

The Homeland Security Department's justification for the electronic strip searches has a certain logic. In field test after field test, it found that federal airport screeners using metal-detecting magnetometers did a miserable job identifying weapons concealed in carry-on bags or on the bodies of undercover agents.

Read the rest of this on C|net News.

[pwp]

me thinks thats looking for one weapon to many :o

[deuces wild]

I can see how those short handed by our Creator would be concerned. :lol:

But I also see that this may perhaps be going to an extreme. There has to be a more discrete way of screening for weapons and explosives.

[r4may]

This must infringe a persons human rights and possibly pornographic

[deuces wild]

Looks like you folks are already using this device, and it looks like the US is asking for a more discrete device:

AN X-RAY machine that sees through air passengers’ clothes has been deployed by security staff at London’s Heathrow airport for the first time.

The device at Terminal 4 produces a “naked” image of passengers by bouncing X-rays off their skin, enabling staff instantly to spot any hidden weapons or explosives.

But the graphic nature of the black and white images it generates — including revealing outlines of men and women — has raised concerns about privacy both among travellers and aviation authorities.

In America, transport officials are refusing to deploy the device until it can be further refined to “mask” passengers’ modesty.

The Terminal 4 trial — being conducted jointly by the British Airports Authority and the Department for Transport — became fully operational last month and is intended to run until the end of the year. Its deployment has not been reported until now since new security measures at airports are not normally publicised.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-1348172,00.html

[andsome]

I bet the airport staff would love it if I showed up. Talk about a thrill a minute. They would be queueing up for a look.

[-pops-]

What about the health aspects of this?

Xrays are dangerous (as is a lot of the electromagnetic spectrum) and should not be used indiscriminately.

Xrays do not bounce off the skin as is stated in one of the quotes above. Xrays penetrate the skin and the other body organs. Either way, the body is being subjected to exposure to potentially dangerous radiation. OK, this may not be of much consequence to the person travelling once a year to Ibiza but to regular fliers, and moreso, flight crew this could have quite horrendous consequences.

Or is it puffery, or have they got the story wrong, or is it not true at all? Remember that the once respected Times newspaper comes out of the same Murdoch-owned stable as The Sun and nowadays contains much of the content of both The Sun and stables (and I don't mean straw).

[catgate]

This could open up a market for Barium loaded jockstraps.

[-pops-]

This could open up a market for Barium loaded jockstraps.

This would be assumed to be a "weapon" and the poor wearer would be told to prove what it was in public.

[catgate]

This would be assumed to be a "weapon" and the poor wearer would be told to prove what it was in public.

This reminded me of an article in the last issue of Lancet which describes a new surgical procedure now being carried out on lesbians. It is know as "straperdictomy".

[nellie2]

I don't like the idea of that at all! It would be like you were walking around naked :blink:

[Scarecrow Man]

I don't like the idea of that at all!  It would be like you were walking around naked  :blink:

You mean... that's not normal?

That's why they always stare.................. :blush:

[scuzzman]

I don't like the idea of that at all!  It would be like you were walking around naked  :blink:

Come to think of it, that don't sound so bad...

[andsome]

I look gorgeous naked.

[scuzzman]

Now that DOES sound bad...

[rong]

I think he needs to go to specsavers

[andsome]

I think he needs to go to specsavers

That's where I got my specs from. :D :D :D :D