US airport to reveal all with X-rays

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BORG
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US airport to reveal all with X-rays

Post by BORG »

US airport to reveal all with X-rays



AN AMERICAN airport will test a new screening system that takes X-rays of passengers' bodies to detect concealed explosives and other weapons.

The technology, called backscatter, has been around for several years but has not been widely used as an anti-terrorism tool because of privacy concerns.

The Transportation Security Administration in the US said it had found a way to refine the machine's images so the normally graphic pictures could be blurred in certain areas while still being effective in detecting bombs and other threats.

The agency is expected to provide more information about the technology later this month but said one machine would be up and running at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, Arizona, by Christmas.

The security agency's website indicates that the technology will be used initially as a secondary screening measure, meaning that only those passengers who first fail the standard screening process will be directed to the X-ray area. Even then, passengers will have the option of choosing the backscatter or a traditional pat-down search.

A handful of other US airports will have the X-ray machines in place by early 2007. The technology has already been tested at London Heathrow.

The security agency said the machines would be effective in helping detect plastic or liquid explosives and other non-metallic weapons that could be missed by standard metal detectors.

Some say the high-resolution images — which clearly depict the outline of the passenger's body, plus anything attached to it, such as jewellery — are too invasive. But the TSA said the X-rays would be set up so the image could be viewed only by a security officer and the X-ray would be deleted as soon as the individual stepped away from the machine.

AP


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Post by POPO »

This reminds me of the movie Total Recall.
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