Airport security plans called
'disgusting'
Norway's Data Inspectorate, charged with protecting Norwegians' right to privacy, has branded plans to use revealing new airport security scans as "disgusting."
 The new scanning equipment can see through a person's clothing. PHOTO: HO NEW/REUTERS  Data Inspectorate director Georg Apenes questions the need for such intimate scans. PHOTO: ERIK JOHANSEN/SCANPIX |
Georg Apenes, director of the inspectorate known as Datatilsynet, told newspaper Aftenposten on Monday that the revealing scans are "an affront to one's decency."
Aftenposten reported the planned testing of new scanning equipment over the weekend, and reaction was swift. Readers called the scanners, which reveal literally stripped-down images of their subjects, everything from "unacceptable" to another step towards total surveillance.
While some defended them, noting that other countries already use such scanners, Apenes was clear in his condemnation. "I think this crosses the line of decency," he said. He runs the inspectorate, which was set up in 1980 under the Norwegian Ministry of Labour and Government Administration,
"to protect persons from violation of their right to privacy" and to "protect personal integrity."
Avinor, in charge of air traffic in Norway, is planning to test such scanners at Stavanger's airport next spring. The scanning is conducted by security guards who can't identify who they're monitoring.
Apenes wants Avinor officials to document why they see a need for such intimate scanning of passengers, and whether many have gone on board flights in Norway with illegal items that current equipment didn't pick up.
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