New airport scanner can
'undress' people
A new X-ray machine at London's Heathrow airport, which sees through passengers' clothes, has been attacked by civil liberties campaigners as a “voyeur's charter”. The machine uses low-level radiation to see through clothing, producing an anatomically detailed black and white image of the body underneath.
’
Capable of detecting solid objects concealed under clothing, it started a four month trial in October. Randomly picked passengers are asked if they will volunteer to be scanned by the machine.
“I stood in front of the screen and they took three pictures in different positions,” said passenger Pernille Nielsen.
“I don't mind if the pictures are a little more personal as long as I'm safe in air—that's what matters,” she told Reuters.
Another passenger, Maria Love, said: “It's all about being safe, and I really have no problem with it.”
A spokeswoman for BAA Heathrow said 98 percent of participants gave positive feedback.
But British civil rights group Liberty called the X-ray images unjustified and intrusive. “We obviously do not object to taking security measures, but I remain totally unconvinced that it is necessary,” a spokesman said.
To justify the intrusion, the airport should show current detectors are inadequate, he added.
“It's an obvious invasion of people's privacy—it's a voyeur's charter.”
No comments:
Post a Comment