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First Heathrow passengers have 'naked' body scans
Mark Prigg, Science and Technology Editor1 Feb 2010
Heathrow today introduced full body scanning of passengers to avert major terror attacks.
Airline passengers will not be allowed to fly if they refuse to go through a full-body search scanner.
The airport is introducing the measures following the failed plane bombing over Detroit on Christmas Day, and after Britain's terror threat level was raised last week from “substantial” to “severe”, meaning an attack was
considered “highly likely”.
Lord Adonis, the Transport Secretary, said a small proportion of passengers would be selected for scanning.
In a written statement to the House of Commons, he said: “If a passenger is selected for scanning, and declines, they will not be permitted to fly. Given the current security threat level, the Government believes it essential to start introducing scanners immediately.”
The scanners will also be introduced in Manchester, and Lord Adonis outlined plans to use them at every airport. He told Parliament: “These scanners are designed to give airport security staff a much better chance of detecting explosives or other potentially harmful items hidden on a passenger's body.”
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has warned that the scanners breach privacy rules under the Human Rights Act for their naked images. The exemption of under 18s from being scanned, which was in place during the trial of the machines in Manchester, has also been removed.
Today the Department for Transport published an interim code of practice for the scanners. The officer operating the machine never sees the image, and the employee viewing the scan must be in another room. The scan cannot be saved, printed or transmitted. Passengers can also demand that only officers of their sex see their image.
BAA, which runs Heathrow, refused to comment on how many scanners are in place and in which terminals they will be used, although it is believed they will be in Terminal 4.
Images that highlight danger
The £100,000 full body scanners produce “naked” images of passengers.
They work by beaming electro-magnetic waves on to passengers while they stand in a booth. A virtual three-dimensional image is then created from the reflected energy.
However, fears have been raised that the scanners will not detect al Qaeda “body bombers”, who have explosives surgically inserted inside them.
MI5 has uncovered evidence that the terrorist network is planning to use this method for the first time. It is believed that male bombers would have the explosives secreted near their appendix or in their buttocks, while females would have the material placed inside their breasts in the same way as figure-enhancing implants.
Reader views (19)
If images obtained using this scanning device cannot be printed, captured to a file, photographed, or reproduced, how was image included with article obtained?
- Cj, Anytown, Anywhere, 02/02/2010 20:00
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Edgar, London - the usual alarmist twaddle based upon zero information.
The others that insist that they can save these images and indeed must do so for evidence? The mind boggles at such superficial thinking. What do you think they are going to do with people who appear to be threats due to scanning, lock them up with suspicious objects left intact and uninspected? The scans are there for detection of threats - security staff will confirm said threat or clear the individuals as appropriate, obtaining any devices as all the evidence they need. (They'll get accused of planting things, naturally, they always do by bad guys - which is why they have witnesses during searches).
This is simple 1+1=2 stuff folks. It's called thinking it through. The image is needed only to see if security needs to go further, and it is pointless to keep it after it has done its job, either way.
The other comments I've seen here and elsewhere that imply that because it can't detect EVERYTHING, it is somehow not worth having at all? As a PART of a battery of measures it IMPROVES the chance of detection. What part of doing "better than nothing" don't these armchair experts understand?
- Rogan, Irving, 01/02/2010 23:32
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Lord Adonis? With a name like that, his image should be the "poster boy" for these scanners!
- Portnatal, Chicago, USA, 01/02/2010 21:45
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Why do I suspect all the people making negative comments do not fly
- Lloyd, london, 01/02/2010 21:11
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Lord Adonis, the Transport Secretary, said a small proportion of passengers would be selected for scanning.
Huh? Surely this measure is either unnecessary, or essential.
- Mdj, london uk, 01/02/2010 19:51
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im sorry but this is going beyond a joke. its invading are human rights just cause they cant figure out who terrorists are!! its perfectic and im sorry but how stressful do people get at air ports do you really think they want sercurity looking at their naked bodies?! NO!!
- Sam, norwich, 01/02/2010 18:56
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Won't the terrorists just fly through Gatwick, Glasgow, Edinburgh, or many of the other international airports in the UK? Seems like security theatre more than anything else.
Terrorism has been part of Londoners' lives since the 80s; the moment we change the way we go about our daily business as a result of their actions, we have let the terrorists win.
- Mark Lee, Vauxhall, 01/02/2010 18:48
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My wife is pregnant and we have to fly to the states next week, I dont want my child killed by some machine !!! HELP !
- John, london, 01/02/2010 18:36
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welcome to police state britain! yet another overreactions by this tired, pathetic, authortarian government that has ransacked this country.
- Josh, london, 01/02/2010 18:12
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I think the weakest part of an airport is the check in...it seems vulnerable to me and I doubt seeing a couple of police officers with machine guns will stop a terrorist who is hell bent on glory.
- Sheila, london uk, 01/02/2010 16:35
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Just how safe are these things? Even young children are to be scanned. The X-ray levels may be low but they are cumulative and immature young bodies are vulnerable.
Expect health implications in years to come.
- Edgar, London, 01/02/2010 16:30
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Seriously folks, do you want someone oggling at you naked children in a back room, and making copies of them (yes these do copy, how else would you prosecute without evidence??). All these machines do is to line the pockets of the companies making them and those who have shares in them. We are more and more becoing like the old USSR with our rights and liberties being stripped from us day by day. Creating all this security is playing right into the hands of "Al-CIA-Duh" every day. How far will this go. Why are these terrorists attacking the West? Is it because of democracy?, Our (diminishing) freedom or because we are invading, bombing and killing people in the name of WHAT?
- Brian, London, 01/02/2010 16:16
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I went through one of these scanners at Heahrow a few years ago when they were testing them. They asked of I wanted to see the pictures (which I did). What a sorry state! They really work - my watch and the metal studs on my jeans were the only visible things.
I suspect that the BAA Xmas party will see a move from the traditional "bottom photocopy" to a complete body scan without the need to actually disrobe! Progress!
- Jaffa Cake, london,England, 01/02/2010 15:11
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Explosives can be inserted into your teethe,only a small amount is needed to cause massive damage or loss of an aircraft.
Who is checking the aircraft on the ground,to avoid a bomb being placed on an aircraft by a corrupted employee.
Is all checked baggage carefully screened.
A security nightmare and one that is never going away.
- David Nigel Braham, Milan Italy, 01/02/2010 14:48
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Not saving pictures, yeah right, and how are you going to get any evidence to a court in the future under the prevention of terrorism act.
Prosecution
Oh the defendant attempted to take a bomb on board your honour and this was caught by out new cool imaging system foiling the attempt.
Defence
Prove it as you have no photos of course of the offence?
You think the Crown Prosecution Service will not get a copy.
You are more than welcome to nock me over with a feather if they really do not.
- Anonymous, London UK, 01/02/2010 14:29
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Will only heterosexual people be allowed to see naked images of passengers of their own sex?
- David Short, Tunis, Tunisia, 01/02/2010 14:14
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Great the government are sanctioning child pornography, don't be fooled by the image here they are using the same technology that the hospitals use in their Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machines and these machines in the hospital show every detail.
Also the line ", which was in place during the trial of the machines in Manchester, has also been removed." means the government are also sanctioning child pornography. Irrespective of if their point about images can not be saved, printed.
Finally given the last paragraph in the article what does this actually achieve?
- Annoymous, London UK, 01/02/2010 13:53
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Of course the Equality and Human Rights Commission don't approve; they'd rather assist the terrorists.
- Will, Bristol, England, 01/02/2010 13:48
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Does anyone seriously believe this will prevent another terrorist outrage? You do not stop these acts by indiscriminately unleashing ever more technology on EVERY SINGLE passenger, thereby infeasably clogging up security lanes, but by intelligently profiling and picking out those passengers for extra questioning who are most likely to commit a terrorist act. Ben Gurion Airport shows how it should be done.
- Alex, London, 01/02/2010 13:46
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