It could soon be coming to an airport near you. A new x-ray screening device has been put into testing at airports in Phoenix, Los Angeles and New York.
The new machine has the ability to peek underneath passengers’ clothing to search for guns, bombs or liquid explosives. Initially, the machine will only be used to scan volunteers, but that may change.
From the New York Times:
Security officials examining the head-to-toe images work in a closed booth, hidden from public view, agency officials said. Special “privacy” software intentionally blurs the image, creating an outline of a body that is clear enough to see a collarbone, bellybutton or weapon, but flattens details of revealing contours.
Several issues are at debate here: privacy and health concerns due to the radiation used in the scanning, to name a few.
How do you feel about the extra screening?
One Comment
It would be great if you could use some kind of luminous marker that would show up on the scan and write ‘How do I look?’ somewhere on your anatomy.
Really, some security officer seeing the average citizen butt naked seems like nothing to be concerned about to me. I imagine celebrities and world dignitaries might have more to lose though. I could well foresee the paparazzi paying big bucks to get those images out of the machine and into their newspapers.
I also think they should make this technology portable as soon as possible. I ordered some x-ray specs from a magazine when I was about 9 and they were a real disappointment.