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In German Trials, Airport Body Scanners Easily Confused

Posted by timothy on from the bitte-to-be-straightening-dein-pleats-maedchen dept.

OverTheGeicoE writes "The German government just finished a 10-month test of millimeter-wave body scanners made by L3 Communications. It appears they are not happy with the results. The devices raise false alarms 7 times out of 10, and are confused by layered clothing, boots, zippers, pleats, and even incorrect posture. Australia recently started a trial, and the second person in at the Sydney airport set off the alarm repeatedly due to sweaty armpits."

2 of 91 comments (clear)

  1. MIssion Accomplished by am+2k · · Score: 5, Insightful

    As far as I understand, the primary (and probably only) purpose of those scanners is to make their manufacturers a buttload of money. I think they're doing that perfectly fine, so it's definitely a success!

  2. Re:What does "seven out of ten" mean here? by NixieBunny · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think the rate of actual terrorists is .000000001%, so essentially all positives are false positives.

    --
    The determined Real Programmer can write Fortran programs in any language.