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Are body scanners a necessary invasion of privacy?
(CNN) - The first of 150 new full-body scanners are being installed at two of the busiest airports in the United States: Boston Logan and Chicago O'Hare.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/03/03/art.france.body.scanner.afp.getty.jpg
caption="Do you approve of the use of body scanners at airports?"] The move comes after many international airports, including several in Europe, introduced the machines as an added security precaution. Their introduction followed the alleged attempt by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to blow up a flight bound for Detroit on Christmas Day.
The scanning machines, which feature in Paula Newton's report for CNN, take a near-naked full-body image to reveal if a passenger has anything hidden underneath his or her clothes. Supporters of the devices believe they are a vital tool for security agencies in the fight against terrorism and will deter attacks by terrorists.
But the machines are also controversial. The American Civil Liberties Union has denounced them as a "virtual strip search," while Pope Benedict XVI has stressed the importance of protecting the "integrity" of travelers as they pass through airports.
But what do you think? Are body scanners an invasion of privacy? Or are they a vital tool to protect against attacks on air passengers? Have you yourself been body scanned? What was the experience like?
Leave your comments below and we'll use some of them on Connect the World tonight at 9GMT. And please let us know from where you are writing.
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I strongly believe that it is very important to have body scanners at the airports all round the world because terrorist attack is getting stronger day by day thereby endangering many lives. I strongly suggest that many lives can still be secured by installing body scanners at the airports.
FINALLY!! I have no problem with this "search" method. For those who do – they can wait in line for a standard "search" while I take my seat on the plane.
They are a complete invasion of privacy insofar as they will be used as a first line of inspection. They should only be used to confirm some confirmed, articulable and identifiable suspicion that a person is covertly carrying contraband items. If that threshold isn't met, then it is solely for the convenience of the searcher that one is effectively forced to disrobe. It's very existence creates an unduly coercive environment, and as such, submission to it should be understood to be an abuse
of power.
We are becoming our own worst enemies as our actual enemies relish every moment of our discomfort. The irony alone should dissuade us from using them.
The human body is what it is. We all look the same under our clothes. Health care professionals see our bodies and scan them for legitimate reasons. The protection of human life (one's own and that of other passengers) is sufficient reason to let someone see a ghostly image of our bodies. I respectfully disagree with the Pope's comments, which reflect the Church's own uncomfortable relationship with the human body rather than a legitimate ethical concern.
40 years ago there was no security for planes. And now this. We need to remove the root cause (namely a few hundred or thousand) radical religious fanatics. Catch them, and push them out a plane without a parachute over suspected insurgent villages to send a message. Ditto for the pirates off Somalia. What we need is not more security; get to the root cause and eradicate it.
I believe that everyone should have a choise in the matter, go through the scan or take a train. If it is an invasion of your privacy to insure the safety of others, then remain private and on the ground. Man up and get over it.
Traveling via air has become a real challenge and is now taking an increasingly humiliating turn for all of us who have to go through this ordeal of having to take a flight. Being forced to carry in a transparent plastic bag your toothpaste and other personal belongings containing fluids was already somewhat unpleasant, but now with these new body scanners we’re on a new level of humiliation for all of us, ordinary passengers who are increasingly being treated like nothing more than cattle.
Is terrorism the only reason why traveling by air has taken such a ludicrous turn? I don’t think so I think we’re also paying the price of repeated gross incompetency from various sovereign security agencies throughout the world.
Being blown in pieces by a bomber on the plane is an
invasion of privacy. The rest is 'human rights' trash
which values style rather than substance or
approval rather than life itself. These people should
join al Quada. They, too, prefer death over life, tho
I understand theyre not so keen on calling their
version 'human rights'. Hard to, after all, with all
those head rolling .... literally.
Full body scan means, I can travel safe. Only if you have something to hide do you not want the scan. Scan or stay at home.
I really don't see the problem with being scanned. They don't see your genitals. It's just a silhouette image. The person seeing your scan is not gonna pass you in the street one day and say "Hey Mr. Smith I saw your body scan five months ago and you're pretty poorly endowed, haha! And by the way, good idea to lose some weight dude". We all have the same stuff under our clothing, more or less. And one day we'll all be skeletons and turn to dust. So let's get real!
Yes and No.
Yes it is a necessary invasion of privacy for the good of one and all.
No, because if technology could build full body scanners then technology would also allow us to build software that can show only the parts of the body on the screen which are categorised as the suspecious regions..for example, if a person is carrying some metal then we can isolate this part of the scan from the rest of the image and only display this part on the screen..
Just more chipping away at our rights. All you passive folks who think this is a good idea are allowing all of OUR rights to be diminished. I personally could care less if the machines could see my body in full color....or anyone standing around them for that matter but this is not the issue.....chipping away at OUR rights is.
I am all for scanning George W Bush on all his flights.
Yes, they are an obscene (pun intended) invasion of privacy. I would never submit to such an invasion of my privacy just on a matter of principle. Where does it end? Will body cavity searches be next?
This absurd Kabuki theater does nothing to protect anyone, except perhaps the bottom lines of the companies that produce the machines.
If the government really wanted to protect us, they could start with a sane
foreign policy. I have no ill intent but even I as an electrical engineer have already figured out how to defeat these scanners. Just another pathetic example of the merging of big government and big business run a muck.
Unfortunately, this is what we've come to. It may not be pleasant, but it's faster than an actual strip search and it will serve a necessary purpose. The intention isn't for some $12.00/hr airport security worker to examine our curves, but to keep every man, woman, and child safe in an airplane.
Peter suggested we simply rid ourselves of extremists. I'd like to see him try. But until he's successful in his endeavor, I'll subject myself to a body scan to ensure the saftey of myself and my fellow passengers.
"Only if you have something to hide do you not want the scan. "
Only if you have something to hide do you not want police to enter your house without a warrant or tap you phone without a warrant or keep you in a police station without a warrant. If you don't like it, just move to a different country. The EXACT same things were said by the Nazis and the KGB and in North Korean and Iran, etc, etc, etc.
I have no problem with this. I'd rather have a near naked painless X Ray of me taken, then be completely groped by a security guard after having to take off my shoes and half my clothing.
The people who complain about there "rights to privacy" obviously have never lived a day in their lives in fear, or even experienced being a victim of a crime. That, or they have something to hide.
Exit your little "me" bubble and enter the world where people DO want to hurt you, and DON'T care if they wipe out your entire family in one shot, and security precautions are about all you have standing between them and you.
Jay...in the body scan u actually do see the person's genitals..!! Look at this image and say whether you see the person's genital or not. http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/01/03/britain.body.scans/index.html?iref=allsearch
Full body scans is not an invasion of privacy or a virtual strip search. If the system provided a full view of the human body (and all of it's features) under a person's clothes, then it would be a "strip search".
If people want to know what a "real" strip search and invasion of privacy is, they should have a strip search done to them like the ones that are done in prision. They call those "body cavity" searches.
We have to be real careful what this impact will have on society in general even if we're personally or indiviaully not bothered by it much today like I am. I mean what's next? maybe this device we don;t care about but in 10 yrs they may have other devices that may well bother us... so we have to be careful the types of can we're opening.
So, how does this machine compare to x-rays and other scanners used in hospitals? Are they safe for pregnant women to pass though?
As long as the picture it's generating is a generic (like in the picture in the article) I don't see a problem with them.
No matter how advanced technology is used to combat terrorist , there will always be other ways to take the plane down. The type of scanning implemented at heathrow clearly restricts our 'rights of privacy', a full scan showing the NAKED body is clearly an insult compared to the image scan shown above.
And of course it violates our privacy. What a silly question to ask.
If the faces were completely obscured there could be no privacy issues. I believe it a small price to pay for a great enhancement of security. I fly every two weeks and I think these devices are long overdue.
I have no issue with being scanned. However, I do have an issue with authorities leading people to believe this technology will reduce the threat of terrorism; it won't. Does anyone really believe, for instance, that a person willing to sacrifice their life would hesitate to hide explosives inside a body cavity? Use your imagination ...
The only proven effective method of screening at airports and other public venues is that used by the Israelis. Our authorities continue to ineffectively combine high-cost technology with low-paid 'security guards' in order to avoid employing professional, well-trained personnel as per the proven Israeli model.
Look at the last incident in New York – lots of cameras and recorders (not working) combined with a security guard who left his post and allowed someone to slip into a secure area.
Let's get serious and simply adopt what has been proven effective, even if it wasn't 'invented' here.
Probability of dying in terrorist incident on airplane about 1 in 20,000,000. Probability of dying from cancer caused by X-ray body scanner assuming Linear No Threshold about 1 in 20,000,000
Both are very unlikely but which do you think is worse?
Physics Professor
As an engineer I agree with the comment from the persona that said that these scanners should be tuned up to display the threat only not the whole body
I understand the security implications but it is not my fault that there are thousands of black minded guys trying to hurt the U.S. or their citizens
as someone else said people are being treated like cattle and that is not fair, not fair for 6 billion people, treating the root of the problem putting economical interests at a side would be a feasible solution
meanwhile people will be treated like cattle 🙁
No one has the right to see my body without my permission. That means special peoplein my life and healthcare professionals. NOT ariport employees. It is a strip search!
These scanners will not improve security, the ninnies here that say they will have no comprehension of what people will do to cause terror. They have alreayd moved beyond the latest attempts. These scanners just feed the weak willed into thinking that they must do anything the government says to be safe. Sorry, nothing is safe, it NEVER was.
These scanners are a complete violation of privacy, if not then why are we not allowed to go about our business naked? I think there is a law against that. The ACLU has it right ans we should support them, they are the only ones fighting for our rights while the stupid throw them away.
I fail to see how the scanners are any more an invasion of privacy than a pat down.
I'd rather have my private parts show up on a security camera than on the 6 o'clock news as part of some air craft debris field.
I don't mind the search if it's gonna keep me and my son safer. Either we like it or not they are crazy people out there that can blow the whole plain up. I don't want to be a dead body or my son one too. I preffer that than the crazies sitting at the seat next to me.
There may be a fundamental right to privacy, but there is no right to fly. I say the airline do whatever they require to *actually* make us safer (rather than the charades they go through now to create the impression of safety).
Nobody says you *have* to fly. It's a choice. If you don't like their security measures, travel another way. If it's inconvenient for you, too bad. That is YOUR choice.
In the interest of safety, I find it a good thing. But what I want to know is, are there health risk involved?
Guest, I checked out the scan example you provided. All I saw was a vague X-ray – like image of something that could be interpreted as genitals. What is the cr*p about invasion of privacy. You might experience an uncomfortable moment while standing there, but after you pass it is forgotten by you and the scanning staff, so what's the big deal? After looking at a thousand X-ray images of genitalia they all look the same anyway..
I can not believe all the people on here that glibly side with increasingly fascist governments and say that body scanning is ok. Oh, now I understand. Its CNN next to this text box it says. Comments are moderated by CNN, in accordance with the CNN Comment Policy, and may not appear on this blog until they have been reviewed and deemed appropriate for posting. Also, due to the volume of comments we receive, not all comments will be posted. IE CNN can twist the new the way they want it and make it appear that the majority is ok with scanners. I bet this comment wont make it.
How many bombs have gone of on flights in the last 10 years. How many flights have taken place in those ten years? Millions of flights and no bombing events on western aircraft. You have more chance of dying in a car accident of catching the common flu or having your plane brought down by a bad storm over the Atlantic, than you do of being bombed out of the sky by some idiot.
If the previous decades security was good enough, why do we have to wave away our rights with the use of these machines. Especially in England where you will be refuse the right to get on a flight if you don't go through these highly eradicating machines.
How many Israeli airlines have been brought down by bombs. Non! and all without the use of body scanning.
Governments of the world! stop the over reaction to obvious red flag attempts like the christmas day bomber. Stop the pandering to multi million dollar companies who want to sell there scanning technology and make big bucks! Stop turning this world into a fascist nightmare.
Every time we allow the government to invade our privacy, they take more of our rights away. People who are ok with body scanners are giving Washington exactly what it wants....full control over every aspect of our lives. These people are nothing more than weak, naive and foolish individuals if they think this is for security.
How could anyone with the least bit of brain matter, object to a body scan!
You do not have anything someone has not seen before.
Grow up.
Racial profiling would have prevented this measure, but it is more polite to force all of us to be subjected to all these measures. How dumb is that?
Its very easy for some individuals to completely miss the point, they're so stuck into a personal world of indignation at what they see is the most important issue ie. invasion of privacy...its the old crude statement which comes into play here....." when you're up to your -ss in alligators, its easy to forget that the main aim is to drain the swamp !"
How many people have to die before these fools finally come in from the rain !?
No body scans don't invade privacy ...They are there for the protection of americans against terrorists...Any invasion of privacy is accepted now for security reasons just like in Hitler's Germany! Hitler always justified his fascist measures by invoking "Security"...
As far as i'm concerned i prefer being more at risk than giving to the state overwhealming powers ,but that's because i don't understand what freedom is...I'm not american!
The probability/risk of being killed or injured in a terrorist attack are minute, much less than even a plane crash. However, we have spent billions on security with little real effect. A determined terrorist will always find a way through and when planes seem a little difficult then other targets and methods are easily found. I volenteered to go through one of these body scanners several years ago when they were being tested and it is worrying to think that somewhere there is my naked image of me waiting to be posted on the internet. I would think that politicians, celebrities and parents of children will be very nervous of these scanners. Of course for $100 a wooden booth (like a confesional), a curtain and a one way mirror would work just as well but then a whole industry making these hi-tech scanners would be out of business. You would save many more lives if the same money were spent on healthcare or motor vehicle safety.
it is total invasion of privacy. it makes no sense. and you can not "protect" someone by harming someone else. you can not "secure" someone by invading the privacy of someone else. aren't the scan pictures going to be saved for unknown purposes?
Yes ! It means I will be safe on the flight !!!
For everyone saying it is possible to 'trick' the scanners:
When you make the argument that the scanners are not perfect, you're basically saying, "Well, this is a little more effective, but not perfect, so let's just give up and stick with the old methods."
You cannot deny the scanners are, at the very least, a little more secure and faster than the current methods of security.
For everyone saying it is an invasion of privacy:
You have no problem revealing your body to a doctor when it is a matter of your health(aka: your life). Why would you have a problem revealing yourself when it comes to your life's safety and everyone else's around you?
The body-scanners are the destruction of U.S.Constitutional right to privacy, the E.U. rights of privacy. They are unnecessary, illegal!
As for motivation, this has me mortified about my BMI! I for one am seriously taking weight loss as my piority as I do not want anyone smirking at my cleverly and fashionably camoflaged layers of fat!
Jokes aside, anyone who claims it's against their religious beliefs to be body scanned at an airport would not object to a body scan in a hospital to save their life, so why the double standards?
Evolution is a given, in 100 years time security no doubt will be even more hi tech than our limited vision of today allows us.
If these scans are really going to remain innocuous and anonymous then the President should have his wife and daughters scanned every time they travel commercially or not, all past Presidents and their wives should be scanned and all Congressmen and their wives should be scanned every time they travel commercially or privately.
It would reassure the public that it's no big deal.
Taking a plane as a means of transport is a privilege...there are other options. Since this "invasion of privacy" is a hotly debated topic, why don't airlines offer separate flights for those who do not want body scans.
The next time I fly, I will probably whistle "The Stripper" and pretend that I am using a dance pole as the machine takes the scan.
How the heck would these machine invade privacy? I would rather stand for a machine then be felt up by a stranger.
Scanning technology is only part of the issue. Just as important, is the method of choosing the lucky few that will be body scanned. New screening technology is always limited by slow speed and too few machines. The result will be only a very small percentage of passengers will get chosen at random for body scan (just as they are now being chosen randomly for hand swabbing). This is a waste of expensive technology, time, manpower and passenger’s nerves. The solution? Passenger profiling. Profiling has become a dirty word, Un-American so to speak. But that is ignorant simple racial profiling. We need to wake up and understand that well developed profiling would greatly improve overall security and need not be based on ethnic or religious parameters but on common sense factors applied by trained individuals controlled by strict rules, good supervision and oversight. Security personnel talking to passengers, checking documents and making assessments is an intelligent approach. Right now there is no common sense in the selection and selection is THE key element in the system. Un-intelligent selection means the system inherently fails. The body scan of Grandma makes a mockery of the checkpoint, the investment, the guards and the system as a whole.
If we could abandon our drive for domination and exploitation of other nations and people, going to the military extent we go and, as a consequence, creating enemies at the rate our government creates, Americans would not require the level of security (and the expenses, inconveniences and loss of liberties that come with it) we are FORCED to tolerate these days.
Our government CREATES the DEMAND for big armies, big security, and billionaire expenses paid by OUR TAX MONEY!
It happens, AT THE SAME TIME, unemployment is rampant and the economy sinking like a rock!
All this makes me wonder if the politicians we put in power have the BRIEFEST notion of where they are taking this nation!
I wonder how safe these scanners are – if repeated x-rays and mri's can be a danger to our health, what damage will these scanners do to us, especially to those who frequently fly.
I wonder how long it will take hackers to post these pictures on the internet.
I will not fly out of any airport that uses these scanners. I fear airport securit personel more than I do terrorists – they have the power to abuse at will and there are far more of them then there are terrorits.
I strongly believe in PROFILING! I don't think the Grandmas & Grandpas who clearly are not a threat need to be humiliated by having to go through the scanner, in fact I don't have a problem at all saying specifically that those of Middle Eastern origin should be scrutinized first and foremost. Call me a bigot or a racist but the fact is it isn't Grandma or Grandpa or the family going on vacation to Disney World who are the threat. The threat is young men and women of Middle East decent or origin. If you are of Middle Eastern decent or origin and have a problem with this then put some pressure on the fanatics who are causing all the problems and get them to stop!
They are a base violation of our rights as citizens and furthermore they will not detect soft powder explosives hidden in underwear, nor will they detect explosives hidden in body cavities.
You might as well strip search everyone as well as probe all body caviities because when this machine fails, as it will, that will be the only option left if the authorities aren't willing to interview and profile all passengers.
Americans are only the people on the face of the earth stupid enough to think there is a machine that will fix every problem, including marriage and airline terrorism.
I think body scanners are crucial for the safety of all the passengers. It is important to respect everyone's integrity, but I also think when death is involved then making sure you remain alive is more important.
This is all fine and dandy until some hacker gets hold of all the images and posts them online with peoples names attached to them.
I strongly disagree with this new invasion. I fly quite a lot every year and don't look forward to some minimum wage earner chuckling at my aging body! If I thought it was the only option to keep flying safe, that would be another matter. But, do you think every podunk airport around the country is going to fork out the bucks for this technology? Are they going to scan every transit passenger from every small town in America? Don't you think the bad guys will figure out where they can start their journey in order to NOT get scanned? It's time we face the fact that throwing money at technology is not going to keep us safe. Life is just dangerous.
I really don't mind to go through the scanner if it means the security checks in airports will be easier and shorter. I don't think there is a problem if a security person sees us naked in a computer, who cares as long as we are safe in the plane and there is no religious fanatic there trying to blow us just to go to heaven!
Privacy invasion?...........what about Cancer or any other disease related to long exposure?.......If I were Richard Quest or any other frequent flyer I'd be worried about that.......Unfortunately my bottom is not so impressive to be worried about privacy invasion.....I wish........
I think they should pipe it into all the monotors in the airport, then they would have many more eyes helping to look for weapons. This would also provide for great entertainment, and make airport waits more bearable for travelers.
Full strip search with use of body scanners will not provide any increased travel securty. Just one more fake procedure to intimidate people and collect naked images of individuals under false pretenses. These images earlier of later will be used by govenament (and probably sold to private industry) for other applications. This is going to be one extra item added to collections of information on private individuals to already existing database about telecommunication history, credit card purchases, health status, employment. Any increase of database about private individuals is dream came true for any totalitarian government.
It is all about safety and security reasons so there is nothing wrong about that, is either you scan or you stays back, no two ways about that.
I'd prefer to go through scanning rather than all the partial stripping I go through now. I’d prefer to go through scanning and not have to remove shoes, belt, and all the other items. As for the, "OMG they can see me!" GET OVER IT. First, if you have ever been to a nude beach you well know that most people look “better” with some clothes on. Second, what is this “big deal” about being seen naked? I have never understood this Christian guilt issue that someone should not see a naked body. I am not ashamed of my body, are you?
It amazes me that no one here even mentioned how these machines unzip DNA strands. The health effects, cancer, or whatever have yet to be determined! You can please step forward to the front of the line and in ten or twenty years, when you are dieing of invasive cancers... I'll be laughing. And if it doesn't kill you or harm you – there's still no harm done to me. Please step forward and be the test subject! Just like irridium and 1920s foot x-ray machines, and Agent Orange, and polio vaccines... You can cut that line in front of me and sit down on the airplane first! Please be my guest!
Check this out:
http://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1GGLS_enUS362US362&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=body+scanner+unzipps+DNA
the only people this effects are religious people
i dont realy care if i get scanned im not that big of a loser to complain about a scan that will only take a couple of seconds
There needs to be a serious discussion regarding Profiling of Passengers. (see my earlier post) Profiling doesn't need to target race, religion or origin. It can be more sophisticated and non-discriminatory and still be effective. Behavioural indications and indications in documents should both be observed. Are you acting nervous..... or maybe you have a stamp in your passport showing you visited Syria last year ... please step this way to the body-scanner. I don't care if you are Swiss, American or Syrian. Is it discriminatory to target people who visit countries that the US State Dep't claims sponsor terrorism?
Ok for all you saying it's to keep us safe. Yeah like all the security kept us safe from the guy whose OWN PARENTS alerted various agencies that he was a threat and yet we let him on a plane.
Or the alert level that is ALWAYS orange.
On a recent trip a fellow passenger asked a service person what time it was. She said that since the December issue they are no longer allowed to give out that information but she could tell us we were on time. My thought that this was to prevent a bomber from knowing where we were in the air was shattered when the next flight I took featured a GPS map of our location as we traversed the skys.
Here is the inherent flaw in the system.
You're trusting your security to people. And people can and do make mistakes, misread things, get bought off and become inattentive. Couple that with an agency already full of itself that doesn't know the meaning of the words logic and common sense and you aren't secure no matter what invasive whiz bang technology they're trying to use.
I could care less if some TSA employee sees me, but I don't like that my kids are potentially being exposed (literally) to all sorts of creeps. These machines are only as secure as the people operating them.
Count me out. I won't be flying out of any airports rocking one of these beasts. My cancer risks are high enough with all the petroleum byproduct emissions I breathe as it is, thank you very much. Also, I expect to be paid handsomely before having my 'goods' inspected.
Why not go back to profiling people? If it looks like a terrorist, acts like one and carries an attitude like one – it probably is one.
I hardly see the need to scan a 92 year old lady in a wheel-chair.
Besides, this is just another 'small' work-around for terrorists. While we send high school educated kids to fight them, they're turning out handlers with graduate degrees in chemistry. But I wouldn't expect anyone in the US to figure that out.
To be absolutely honest with u all.. The introduction of the new Full-Body Scanner is no Invasion of Privacy. It actually has nothing to do with something of that nature. Has anybody ever think we are talking about human lives... Even, its the so-called Invasion... Is life not more precious than that. For me as a frequent air traveller, the introduction is totally welcome and supported not by me alone but all Nigerians. Sure!! And it should even apply to all flights either internationally or locally. Its just a perfect idea. Thanks. Abd Rashid Bn Immam, Lagos, Nigeria.
and who said this introduction saves lives? that is a joke.
for those who are comparing it to the doctor's checking your body, its is foolish comparison because you CHOSE to go to the doctor.
My rights. My choice. I will not be allowing the use of scanners on my person. The chance of the plane going down is miniscule. Live free, die free. I call the sheeple who allow this erosion of rights 'cowards'.
We make GE and other manufacturers of these machines wealthy while the gov't says to live in fear. Sorry, not me. It is my duty as a citizen to resist gov't intrusion and the fear-mongering of terrorists. Come and get me, cowards.
Dear friends,
Body Scanners are not a necessary invasion of privacy.
In fact we need to Fly Safe and Arrive Safe!
Conclusion
OUR HEALTH IS IMPORTANT!
Advice
Let us NOW make our world
a Better Healthier and Beautiful World!
Greetings,
Jurgen R. Brul
City: Paramaribo,
Country: Suriname,
Latin America
If we look at this matter well u will see that body scaning is neccasery and ver y good .the fact is that,it safe's live.
The best is the goverment support over this matter let us the govement to make it work.Am sure this it will be batter and it will improve more this. THANK U..............
It's hard to believe how many americans don't see how the government uses fear to control all of us. This is just another tactic they are going to use. This is not good and it's the ignorant americans that trust in the government that will allow all of us to continously loose our freedoms that this country was once built on. I have the hardest time believing how many americans don't see this at all.
I personally won't go through one of these scanners and will not fly if I have to. This is a choice that I should have as an american citizen and if I don't have this choice, read above what I said about freedom.
The TSA as it is are ignorant to objects that can be brought on and make you throw things away that shouldn't be. Imagine how these scanners will be used.
Do the scanners actually replace body searching? Having had both my hips replaced I have to go through the indignity of being side tracked into a cubicle and to be body searched as I stand, arms out stretched, bare footed while an operative pats me all over. I am seventy years old for heavens sake! If the scanner replaces the body patting I am all for it.
I suspect in a case such as mine it will be scanner then wait for pat down. Does anyone know the answer from experience yet?
It's not a privacy; since the doctors already do scan us, why not do it for safety purposes?
This action,is more to say people have being dominated by politics. How can you Imagine a man who isn't a Doctor or creator to scan through sex of every human ? Scanning through every sex is an Abuse of human Nature,because i can imagine my wife going through sexual assult... Please change the plan for the sake of christ .
I dnt tink there is a neccesity 4 that because i as a person would not allow my innermost privacy to be expost,an i see that as a machine abuse
It's just another way to give the public their false sense of security while scanner companies make millions. If someone wants to get around it they could, we've had x-ray machines forever and articles still go thru it undetected; the problem is 2 fold: 1) people bring too much stuff on board – the FAA must enforce checking everything except the most essential to reduce carryon, 2) Systems must be changed to automatically detect explosive and liquid compounds – people get distracted or numb to the same routine and miss things (that's why dogs are better solution because they see it as a game)
I am deeply opposed to these scanners. If I sound like a conspiracy theorist, then I will have to take that chance. The government is going overboard. They are using this terrorist scare to implement machines that are unnecessary. What about biometric technology. Casinos have them and apparently they work very well or casinos would be being robbed right and left. I feel that exposing my body to scanners is really morally wrong and disturbing. I honestly believe this will lead to these devices being put everywhere, including grocery stores, clothing stores etc. What about homegrown terrorists. If people can get to people in prison, they will work around the scanners. Most of the people undergoing this procedure, are innocent people. Where is the FBI rogue's list. There are so many other ways of going about this. I am totally opposed to scanners and physical searches.