LEAVE YOUR DAUGHTERS AND WIFE AT HOME....
Air travelers stripped bare with X-ray
machine
By Thomas Frank, USA TODAY
The agency in charge of the nation's air security expects
later this year to begin using a controversial
X-ray machine that will show airport screeners a clear picture of
what's under passengers' clothes whether weapons or just bare
skin.
The new system makes it easy to see possibly dangerous
devices.
Rapiscan Systems
Screeners plan to test the "backscatter" machines at several U.S.
airports, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) says.
The refrigerator-sized machines are considered a breakthrough in
scanning technology but have been labeled "a virtual strip search"
by the American Civil Liberties Union. (Related story: Airports
test 'futureworld' devices)
Security workers using the machines can see through clothes and
peer at whatever may be hidden in undergarments, shirts or pants.
The images also paint a revealing picture of a person's nude
body.
The devices can potentially be used to screen hundreds of millions
of air travelers each year, although TSA says more study is needed
to determine how the devices may be used at U.S. airports. The
agency declined to say when and where it expects to test the
machines.
Backscatter technology has been waiting on the sidelines for nearly
four years but seems poised now to move to the forefront of
aviation security. The machines are already used by U.S. Customs
agents at 12 airports to screen passengers suspected of carrying
drugs. They're also getting a test run at a terminal in London
Heathrow Airport, the first major airport to use them.
The ACLU says the scanners invade personal privacy. "This leads
directly to a surveillance society," says Barry Steinhardt, who
runs the group's technology program.
But Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told a Senate
subcommittee last month that he wants to employ the technology and
doesn't want an "endless debate" over privacy issues.
Security consultant Douglas Laird says the machines are essential
to spot explosives, which aren't detected by metal detectors.
The $100,000 machines bounce low-radiation X-rays off a person's
skin to produce photo-like computer images of metal, plastic and
organic materials hidden under clothes, says American Science and
Engineering. The TSA is testing its BodySearch machine.
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2005-05-15-airport-xray-bottomstrip_x.htm
FUN TIMEs with Air-stewardess.. hehehe....
