Airport full body scanners leave worries, doubts in UK

Security continues to get tighter at international airports. Here in Britain, the introduction of full body scanners means virtual nakedness is up next, along with some angry citizens.

Already in existence at a handful of American airports, the body scanners announced by Prime Minister Gordon Brown will enable security officers to search for explosive devices that may be hidden beneath passengers’ clothes. Not surprisingly, the long lines will persist.

Controversy has been high since British Prime Minister Gordon BrownGordon Brown announced on January 3, that he has given the go-ahead for the $150,000 devices to be installed this year at UK airports, including London’s Heathrow International Airport. Brown said UK travelers would see the “gradual” introduction of the full body scanners throughout 2010.

“It’s wrong and definitely infringes on our rights as citizens to privacy,” said Mona Ahmed, a 34-year-old Egyptian woman living in Liverpool who was traveling to Egypt in early January.

The new security measures stem from Nigerian Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s alleged attempt to detonate a bomb on a Northwest Airlines flight Amsterdam to Detroit, Michigan, in the United States. According to eyewitnesses, Abdulmutallab apparently tried to ignite his underwear, which had an explosive device in them. US experts have said that if the body scanner had been used, the Nigerian would have been arrested and not allowed to board the plane.

Here in the UK, however, experts disagree. Ben WallaceBen WallaceBen Wallace, a Tory MP involved in a defense firm’s project to test the efficiency of the scanners before he entered Parliament, told the Independent newspaper after Brown’s announcement that there are major flaws in the machines. He said that the Christmas Day’s attempted attack would not have been detected. The scanners, Wallace said, were best “at detecting shrapnel, heavy wax and metal, but not plastics, chemicals and liquids.”

Already part of security procedures at Manchester’s airport, the public appears divided over the potential of being virtually strip-searched and having their naked image being broadcast anywhere.

In the United States, scanners have already been in use and a recent poll revealed nearly four out of five Americans are not opposed to the scanners. Some 40 machines exist at 19 airports across the U.S. and Washington has announced that it has plans to extend the body scanner penetration by 150 machines this year.

Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport said in a statement that it has issued an order for more scanners, but did not say how many and when they would be implemented.

The scanners beam electromagnetic waves onto passengers while they stand in a booth. A three-dimensional virtual image is then produced from the reflected energy.

“The image does not give complete details of the persons body,” said Heathrow Airport spokesman Rajeev Gujaratne. “It is simply a 3-D image that virtually removes the clothes, not to mention the person viewing the image will be in another room away from the scanner so they won’t see them and have personal contact with the person being scanned,” he said.

Some passengers appear ready to move with the idea and accept the more stringent security when traveling. “I think they’re a great idea if they actually work,” said Jen Thum, an archaeologist and web designer from New York who travels regularly, including through the UK.

“I think it’s ridiculous that people are complaining that they are a violation of privacy because you have two choices, let someone in a room momentarily see an image of your outlines, or risk being blown up,” she said.

Back in Britain, the controversy has left many worried over their personal freedom and privacy. Unlike Thum, Ruqayya Izzidien, a British journalist of Iraqi-Welsh origins, believes the machines are a “scary idea” that could push people away from flying.

She said that many Muslims, especially women, she has spoken to are concerned about having someone other than their spouse see their body.

“A lot of people are angry and believe this is a major violation of who we are as people. A lot of Muslim women, especially those veiled are already saying they won’t do and would rather have a female airport employee strip search them instead of risking exposing themselves to an unknown man’s gaze,” she said.

But Liberal Democrats have spoken out in favor of the new security measures, echoing Thum’s assessment that the images will help end pat downs by airport personnel and give passengers a stronger sense of security when they board planes.

“But, as we have seen by the studies on these machines that they are not full proof and may not actually stop potential bombers,” said Mark Howard, an aviation security analyst.

Amsterdam’s Schipol Airport administration announced this month they are looking to install 17 scanners they purchased two years ago. It said that they had planned to implement them sooner, but had pulled back after the European Union voiced concerns over privacy and human rights issues.

And that is the point for many, who believe the right to privacy needs to be maintained and upheld, even concerning security issues.

A London-based sheikh said he is organizing a protest against this “invasion of privacy.” He said that while security is an important aspect of traveling, it should not go to an “extreme such as taking naked pictures of people.

“We will get all British citizens to come together, Muslim, Jewish, Christian and not, because it isn’t right,” said Sheikh Jalal Mohiedin.