Getting naked for security - CANADA

[Bushnud2]

Getting naked for security

Roger Pike
24 May 2007
The Advertiser


Are you ready to get naked for airport security?
This is no joke. The government needs to look under your cloths.
Ceramic knives, plastic guns and liquid explosives have now made
airport mental detectors obsolete. Carry on bags are x-rayed, so the
safest place to hide a weapon is on your body.

Earlier this year the Transportation Security
Administration in the United States began using a new backscatter x-
ray machine in several airports to screen passengers for weapons.
The first machine is up and running in Phoenix and according to an
internet story by William Saletan for Human Nature: Science,
Technology and Life the next ones will be set up in New York and Los
Angeles.

Susan Hallowell apparently runs the Transportation
Security Administration's research lab. A few years ago, according
to Saletan, she apparently volunteered to be scanned by a new
backscatter x-ray machine which sees through clothing. She was
wearing a skirt and blazer. But in the picture viewed by security
scanners she's as good as nude. Now, says Saletan, it's our turn to
get nude for security.

When the manufacturer of the backscatter machines,
American Science and Engineering, introduced the technology in
prisons nine years ago the whole point was to replace strip
searches. Thanks to terrorism the rest of us now face the same
choice. Under TSA policy in the United States, if you set off an
airport metal detector or are chosen for secondary screening, you're
subject to a pat down inspection that may include sensitive areas of
your body. Unless, that is, you're lucky enough to be in Phoenix,
where you can choose a backscatter machine instead.

So how long will it take to get this new technology
into Canada? My guess is that it's on its way. Will VIP's have to
be screened this way? Can the images be transferred for others to
see? What about my privacy? I just recently experienced the puffer
screener in Los Angeles. This screener puffs massive volumes of air
onto the body in search for drugs, explosives or perfume. It messed
up my wife's hair big time fortunately I was ok if you know what I
mean. The new technology boggles the mind.

And what about shoes? Some airports require you to
take off your shoes. One passenger actually had to remove her flip
flops.

How can you hide explosives in flip flops? I even heard of another
passenger having to remove rabbit paws collected while on a recent
snaring trip to the province. Some people take crazy things through
security don't they?

Airport security is big business today and rightly
so, but one has to wonder where it will end. It's not that I'm
against security. Heck I want to fly safe. But will my image from a
backscatter x-ray machine be a conversation piece for the security
staff and how secure is that image from being placed on the Internet
for the world to see. Glad I'm not a movie star.

I don't mind being ogled by airport security but be
dammed if I want to be Googled.


http://www.gfwadvertiser.ca/index.cf...2537&sid=21747

[Bushnud2]

Getting naked for security

Roger Pike
24 May 2007
The Advertiser


Are you ready to get naked for airport security?
This is no joke. The government needs to look under your cloths.
Ceramic knives, plastic guns and liquid explosives have now made
airport mental detectors obsolete. Carry on bags are x-rayed, so the
safest place to hide a weapon is on your body.

Earlier this year the Transportation Security
Administration in the United States began using a new backscatter x-
ray machine in several airports to screen passengers for weapons.
The first machine is up and running in Phoenix and according to an
internet story by William Saletan for Human Nature: Science,
Technology and Life the next ones will be set up in New York and Los
Angeles.

Susan Hallowell apparently runs the Transportation
Security Administration's research lab. A few years ago, according
to Saletan, she apparently volunteered to be scanned by a new
backscatter x-ray machine which sees through clothing. She was
wearing a skirt and blazer. But in the picture viewed by security
scanners she's as good as nude. Now, says Saletan, it's our turn to
get nude for security.

When the manufacturer of the backscatter machines,
American Science and Engineering, introduced the technology in
prisons nine years ago the whole point was to replace strip
searches. Thanks to terrorism the rest of us now face the same
choice. Under TSA policy in the United States, if you set off an
airport metal detector or are chosen for secondary screening, you're
subject to a pat down inspection that may include sensitive areas of
your body. Unless, that is, you're lucky enough to be in Phoenix,
where you can choose a backscatter machine instead.

So how long will it take to get this new technology
into Canada? My guess is that it's on its way. Will VIP's have to
be screened this way? Can the images be transferred for others to
see? What about my privacy? I just recently experienced the puffer
screener in Los Angeles. This screener puffs massive volumes of air
onto the body in search for drugs, explosives or perfume. It messed
up my wife's hair big time fortunately I was ok if you know what I
mean. The new technology boggles the mind.

And what about shoes? Some airports require you to
take off your shoes. One passenger actually had to remove her flip
flops.

How can you hide explosives in flip flops? I even heard of another
passenger having to remove rabbit paws collected while on a recent
snaring trip to the province. Some people take crazy things through
security don't they?

Airport security is big business today and rightly
so, but one has to wonder where it will end. It's not that I'm
against security. Heck I want to fly safe. But will my image from a
backscatter x-ray machine be a conversation piece for the security
staff and how secure is that image from being placed on the Internet
for the world to see. Glad I'm not a movie star.

I don't mind being ogled by airport security but be
dammed if I want to be Googled.


http://www.gfwadvertiser.ca/index.cf...2537&sid=21747

[Guest]

Bushnud, just to let you know: not all newspapers in Canada have editorials that are this poorly written! I couldn't believe the spelling mistakes, lack of punctuation, etc.

(I now I'm off-topic, but this is a pet peeve of mine...)

[Antal]

naked air the easy way to fly beat the line ups

[Ken Palmer]

Oh my goodness! Wouldn't this be a dream come true for us nudists? I am saying this out of humor of course! I am not sure how I would take to this airport scanning method to be honest. When I am at a nudist club or resort, I am OK with people seeing me in the nude obvious. And more likely than not, I probably know those people. But when a bunch of strangers come along and begin X-raying me almost to the point where they can see everything, that will definitely be a test for me.

Ken Palmer

quote:

Originally posted by Antal:
naked air the easy way to fly beat the line ups

[missouriboy]

quote:

...how secure is that image from being placed on the Internet for the world to see. Glad I'm not a movie star.

I don't mind being ogled by airport security but be
dammed if I want to be Googled.

Sigh... why don't people use their noggins to actually think a little before fretting about such nonsense?

These machines are used to find objects under the clothing, not under the eyelashes, therefore there's no need to include your face! Is your body so unique that people will know it's you, without even seeing your face? If anyone knows your body that well, it's because they already knew it before you visited this machine...

Sheesh!

[brainyguy9999]

This guy needs to do some more research before he flies off of the handle. Every issue that he has raised has been addressed in hundreds of other articles and by the companies implementing the machines.

The articles that I've read about these machines usually say that:

1) The face is blurred/blackened out because they don't need to scan it (you can't hide anything there anyway) and it adds to the person's anonymity.

2) The person that views the image is in a different location (once they get a bunch of these set up, they'll probably be viewed in a call-center type environment in a central location) so the person looking at the scan never sees the person they are scanning. The person looking at the scan just sends a signal to the security personnel at the scanner whether they are okay to go or if they need to be detained.

3) The machine is not capable of recording or storing any images. It simply displays what is being scanned. When the person moves away, the image is gone. Sure, someone could take a digital camera in and snap a picture, but why go to that trouble?

There is another type of scanner that doesn't use X-Rays, but uses a low level infrared scan because some were worried about the health risks on frequent fliers. I believe those machines will be rolling out in Europe soon if they haven't already.

The people that worry about this should make sure to check for hidden cameras when they go to public bathrooms, locker rooms, or store changing rooms. They should also look for hidden cameras in their hotel room when they go on vacation. Access to cheap video cameras has led to a lot of people placing cameras in facilities to try to get images of people using them. Those images go up on the Internet in the blink of an eye. Worrying that airport security personnel are going to put your scan up on the Internet is not worth worrying about, though.

Personally, I vote to use the machines if the 3 guidelines I stated are followed. I'll definitely use them if it shortens my security checkpoint time.

Stay nude.

bg