Privacy campaigners have expressed concerns that the images produced by the new body scanners are very graphic and effectively represent a virtual strip search.
Strict UK child protection legislation bans the creation of indecent images of children and this is relsulting in under 18s being exempt from body scans. Civil liberties groups have called for strictly enforced safeguards to ensure that images aren’t published on the internet or distributed.
At the beginning of January 2010 a trial of the new body scanning technology was commenced at Manchester airport.The body scanner triall only started after under 18s were exempted from the security check.
Concerns have been raised over the use of similar systems in the United States where the system calls for instant deletion of images. Concerns have been raised that security staff would not be able to resist sharing scanned images of celebrities or those with unusual physical profiles.
Concerns have been raise by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) who have said that the new systems risked breaching an individuals right to privacy. To address these fears the UK Department of Transport are developing a code of practice that will prevent staff from sharing or distributing images derived from body scanners.
The recent alleged attempt to blow up an American aircraft on December 25th by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab has led to the rushed proposal to introduce new security technology at British airports. Some have said that there is only around a 50 to 60% chance that the device carried by this alleged terrorist would have been detected by the new scanning technology.
The proposed introduction of full body scanners has provoked a wide debate on the subject of civil liberties, privacy and security.
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