Body scanners. Amid the storm of controversy
We just could not help, we simply had to take up this subject. As the controversy over the so called body scanners is raging and the thing is blazoned all over the media not doing so would seem as though we failed to notice it.
As ever more stories are flooding from around the USA, a slightly gloomy picture emerges. What are the main objections to the safety procedures raised by the passengers?
a) Health related issues or to be precise the danger of radiation exposure. The device in question does not have a long-term safety record. The alternative is to submit to a full body search which takes us smoothly to b)
b) Privacy issues – a full body search is a pretty intrusive procedure which opens for abuse. One can submit to it either in public which for many is quite a disturbing thought or even worse in a private room as with another TSA offices as a witness. The disadvantages of the latter is more than obvious. But the body scanning procedure is not unproblematic in terms of privacy either as exemplified by a recent leakage of pictures of some 100 citizens in Florida.
c) Furthermore – and this is truth in particular now in the pre-Christmas peak period – the procedures slow things down.
And yet for all the objections and health related concerns, a poll made by CBS found that 80% Americans support the use of full-body airport scanners. The rest has to choose between two evils. Given the inevitability of flying, the American airlines do not have to worry about any falling revenues.
