January 5, 2010 12:10 PM

Do New Airport Body Scanners Violate Child Porn Laws? Brits Balking at US Security Demands

By
Edecio Martinez
Topics
Daily Blotter
(AP Photo/Cynthia Boll, file)
NEW YORK (CBS/AP) British airports are largely in a holding pattern over the introduction of full body scanners, amid concerns the technology may breach child pornography and child protection laws, which ban the creation of indecent images of children, according to UK paper The Guardian.

Photo: An employee of the Schiphol airport in the Netherlands stands inside a body scanner during a demonstration on Dec. 28, 2009.

Privacy advocates are balking at the scanners, which generate naked images of passengers including their genitalia and breast enlargements.

They liken the security scanners to a "virtual strip-search," the paper writes.

The Guardian claims airport officials and ministers may have to exempt flyers under the age of 18 from using the scanners or be delayed by new legislation "to ensure airport security staff do not commit offenses under child pornography laws."

Despite the concerns, British airports may soon rely on this new technology in the wake of the bombing attempt on a jetliner bound from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says the incident was a "wake-up call."

He announced Sunday that full body scanners would be introduced in British airports.

However, according The Guardian, airport body scanners also create an additional huge privacy concern, because semi-nude images from the devices could wind up on the internet. Civil liberties groups are demanding safeguards to ensure that never occurs.

In Manchester airport, 200 miles from London, a 12-month trial of the scanners began last month after those under 18 were exempted.

An airport spokesman told the Guardian that for now only passengers over 18 will be scanned until the legal situation with children is clarified.

Five hundred people have volunteered to take part in the Manchester trial.

Airline passengers bound for the United States faced a hodgepodge of security measures across the world Monday, but most European airports did not appear to be following a new U.S. demand for increased screening of passengers from 14 countries.

U.S. officials said the new security measures would be implemented Monday but there were few visible changes on the ground in Europe, which sends thousands of passengers on hundreds of daily flights to the United States.

In addition, few if any changes in airline procedures were reported in the 14 countries named by the U.S. as security risks, although officials in Saudi Arabia said extra security personnel had been placed at the airport.


Add a Comment
by huraaaaaa January 7, 2010 11:47 PM EST
If America would stop f*cking around with the Muslim world. There wouldn't be any terrorists in the first place. And we wouldn't have to go through this crap.
Reply to this comment
by bubbajill January 6, 2010 10:26 PM EST
If the fear is these images would appear on the internet then 1) figure out how to electronically encrypt them so the won't 2) Make sure you have fully investigated the TSA officers you hire and have them go through a thorough psychological testing. I would welcome the technology because it would provide a safer flight for me. Yes the terrorists would use children for their schemes, they already have. These people have no conscience, no heart. They think they do this for their God. I don't know any God who would force others to believe in an ideology that teaches hate.
Reply to this comment
by dppavlis January 6, 2010 8:31 AM EST
People need to use there heads. Bodyscanner's are fine with me and I don't care what the TSA officer can see, if it can stop someone from bring something on a plane then do it. And the child porn bit, give me a break! Those same people yelling about that will be the first ones crying that a TSA office didn't do his job and that is how something got on the plane. Plain and simple people, if your worried of some TSA officer seeing you or your child digitally nude on a computer screen for 45 seconds then STAY OFF THE PLANE AND DRIVE YOUR CAR THERE!!!
Reply to this comment
by licht1 January 5, 2010 7:10 PM EST
Full-Body Scanners are so "old technology."

See:

http://notionscapital.wordpress.com/2010/01/05/full-body-scanners-old-technology/
Reply to this comment
by patriot2011 January 5, 2010 4:32 PM EST
These scanners would not detect items (explosives, matches,etc) that someone had ingested. That person could simply take laxatives once onboard to 'retrieve' the material. This is how convicts sneak contraband into prisons.

Since people under the age of 18 are not required to go through the body scanners, what's stopping the terrorists from using kids to bring bomb making materials onboard?

It seems like the more incompetent/irresponsible government workers, the fewer rights we are allowed to keep. Law enforcement received intelligence that Al Qaeda operatives were planning on using commercial airliners to attack the US. The government did nothing, thousands of people died and now the rest of us have to go through more stringent security screening. The same thing happened with the Nigerian bomber. His own father reported him to the US embassy, the government did nothing, no one died (luckily) and now we are all forced to go through virtual strip searches.

How many government workers have been fired over the Nigerian bomber incident? Zero

How many law abiding citizens are being forced to comply with virtual strip searches? Millions
Reply to this comment
by Marcos989 January 5, 2010 2:51 PM EST
It would be nice if people would get up to speed on this issue. The Dutch have been using technology at Schipol airport on two scanning machines that transform the full body image into a stylized "cartoon" image. No actual body representation is viewed on the monitor. Furthermore a computer reads the stylized image and if no red flags trigger additional inspection no human eyes see the stylized image. Probably 95% of everybody passes through without human interaction.
Privacy or child pornography is a moot point.
I have heard several US authority figures without this knowledge in the last week.
Come on get up to speed or stop commenting on things you do not know about.
Reply to this comment
by Marcos989 January 5, 2010 2:52 PM EST
I should add that the body scanner was NOT used on the Nigerian.
by liberalme January 5, 2010 2:46 PM EST
Perhaps some people are afraid it may show they have no brain activity.
If someone is afraid it will show fake boobs--guess what? It's obvious anyway.

On some occasions, it may cause the screeners a good laugh!!
Reply to this comment
by ginagagnon January 5, 2010 1:43 PM EST
I would rather be safe than sorry. I have nothing to hide. I think it is silly of people to be worried about laws being broken, etc. This is for the protection of all - not a scam to seek photos for display on the internet. It only takes one bomb on a plane....who cares if you have breast implants, metal plates in your heads, it's the bombs you gotta watch out for......would you rather be safe? Think about it......
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