G-rated scanners for travellers

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This was published 13 years ago

G-rated scanners for travellers

By Tim Barlass
Full body scan (left) and the "stick-figure" imaging Australia will be using.

Full body scan (left) and the "stick-figure" imaging Australia will be using.

AUSTRALIAN travellers will be granted an added degree of modesty when full-body scanners are introduced at airports this year.

Unlike the ''nude'' images transmitted by the controversial scanners used in the US, those that will be introduced in Australia, including Sydney Airport, will not reveal details of body contours or private areas.

Instead the imaging software will detect potential threats such as weapons and explosives and show their location on a generic outline of a person.

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If no threat is detected, an ''OK'' will appear on the monitor with no outline.

A spokesman for Transport Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed Australia would be getting the ''stick figure'' version of the scanners.

''At the moment we are working through a variety of technologies and are trying to address concerns about privacy and health,'' he said.

There are two types of scanners on the market and the government, which will spend $28.5 million on 26 machines, is consulting with the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency on which ones to buy.

Dr David Brenner, of the Centre for Radiological Research at Columbia University, wrote in the journal Radiology that there is about a one in 10 million chance of dying from cancer after exposure to an airport X-ray machine during a return trip.

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But a Sydney Airport security expert believes the scanners are a ''placebo'' to make passengers feel good about safety and do not address non-passenger threats.

''There is no tarmac security on any Australian airport and all airports can be penetrated,'' Roger Henning said. ''The priority is to plug the holes - not add more glamorous front-of-house terminal screening technology.

''Body scanners will do nothing to reduce the risk of attacks on airport facilities - such as the suicide bombing of the Moscow terminal, which claimed 35 lives and injured more than 100.''

Transport Workers Union secretary Tony Sheldon said baggage handlers were often casual workers ''with little training and often not screened by [police]. It is a waste of money having a system in place when nobody is checking the checkers.''

A trial of stick-figure imaging began last month at three airports in the US. The US Transportation Security Administration said that by eliminating detailed images of passengers, the process would be more efficient and a separate officer will no longer be required to view the image in a private room.

In the US, passengers who refuse to go through the body scanners must instead undergo a pat-down by security staff.

One man who refused a body scan and pat-down at San Diego Airport become an internet sensation last November when he told the security officer, ''Don't touch my junk or I'll have you arrested.''

Former Playboy model and Baywatch actress Donna D'Errico claimed she was singled out flying from Los Angeles to Pittsburgh and claimed she saw officers from the Transportation Security Administration ''leering'' at her full-body scan.

The US Senate has approved a proposal to amend a bill to punish any person found misusing scanned body images with up to a year in prison and a fine up to $US100,000.

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