Full Body Scanners Installed In 10 US Airports

Lapzilla brings word that airports around the US are beginning to use a new type of body-scanning machine which records pictures of travelers underneath their clothing. The process takes roughly 30 seconds, and the person viewing the pictures is located in a separate room. We've discussed similar scanners in the past. From USAToday: "[Barry Steinhardt, head of the ACLU technology project] said passengers would be alarmed if they saw the image of their body. 'It all seems very clinical and non-threatening -- you go through this portal and don't have any idea what's at the other end,' he said. Passengers scanned in Baltimore said they did not know what the scanner did and were not told why they were directed into the booth. Magazine-sized signs are posted around the checkpoint explaining the scanners, but passengers said they did not notice them."

Comments

embarassment? your Mum might know it was you ...

[pbhj]

It's no more a violation of privacy than having your bags xrayed.

Or are you scared that someone will find out you've got knees in your trousers, or other human body parts. The scans produced aren't exactly colour photographs.

Look on the bright side if an image of you from the scanner becomes public you'll be able to sue for a few hundred thousand dollars.

As for knowing why they should - you may have heard of this thing called hijacking, it's popular with the dissident crowd. Illegal narcotics? Ringing any bells with you?

I'm sure everything would be much safer under the scheme of bury-your-head-in-your-arse and don't check anyones person or baggage as they go on board instead just assume that the countless terroist groups worldwide prefer to attack powerlines.

Sheesh, nobody cares if you have a small penis, OK.

Re:Mod: -1 Troll, -2 Clueless, -5 FUD

[rts008]

"So I take it you don't fly often."
So, you are wrong. I fly often, but as I actually pay attention to my surroundings by nature, I am not caught off guard.
There are more than "one" sign, and yes, I see them. All of them, because I make a point of actually looking around me to tell what is going on.
Get over yourself and your '5,000 dollars' worth of electronics you feel the need to travel with.
I was raised to pay attention to what was happening around me and to make reasonable decisions based on that reality.
\
There is no excuse for not having your stuff squared away. I have been doing it for decades with no problem.
What I hate the most are those that want to try to 'game' the system. I despise those that want to hold the rest of us up with their 'entitled to bring it with us' mentality.

Good luck trying to 'work/play' with their laptop next to me on a flight.

I separate my work from travel, and will happily disrupt my co-seat mates.