Update: February 12, 2010:
More complications the new airport body scanners which have been discussed since the Christmas bomb attempt:
A Muslim-American organization in Detroit has now issued a “fatwa” that Muslims cannot go through the airport body scanners which “see” through clothing. (Hello, Muslims need screening MOST, but we know that.)
“The Fiqh Council of North America — a body of Islamic scholars — issued a fatwa this week that says going through the airport scanners would violate Islamic rules on modesty.
“It is a violation of clear Islamic teachings that men or women be seen naked by other men and women,” reads the fatwa issued Tuesday. “Islam highly emphasizes haya (modesty) and considers it part of faith. The Quran has commanded the believers, both men and women, to cover their private parts.”
All this politically-correct indignation to screening the people who are most likely to do us harm, leads us back to the Israeli model of “behavior” rather than “ethnic” screening, which is detailed in my earlier blog this week. (keep scrolling down)
In the meantime, it appears the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) is having an “epiphany” on security.
Lo and behold, they are attempting to get a lot more sophisticated with training and deployment of security personnel at airports— ala El Al, the Israeli example of how to get ‘er done.
(applause)
“WASHINGTON — About 10,000 airport security workers will get access to secret intelligence that could help stop terrorist attacks on planes.The Transportation Security Administration plan aims to help its officers spot terrorists by giving them more detailed information about tactics and threats, TSA officials and security experts said. The agency, viewed by some as throngs of workers pawing through luggage at checkpoints, hopes to empower its higher-level workers as part of an effort to professionalize airport security.
The 10,000 people in line to get classified information are managers, supervisors and “behavior detection officers” who roam airports looking for suspicious people. They represent about 20% of the TSA’s airport workforce and exclude screeners who scan passengers and bags.”
Some think this is a “brilliant” idea, others concerned about opening the pool of people with sensitive security data.
February 9, 2010: “Concerns About the New Airport Scanners”
By Jane Jamison
Since the Christmas Day bombing attempt aboard a plane over Michigan, there has been discussion of using the “full-body” scanner. Such scanners were rushed into use at London’s Heathrow Airport February 1st. There are now questions being raised about the safety and privacy of this new technology.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) “Technology Review” reports the technology can harm human DNA:
“The evidence that terahertz radiation damages biological systems is mixed. “Some studies reported significant genetic damage while others, although similar, showed none,” say Boian Alexandrov at the Center for Nonlinear Studies at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and a few buddies. Now these guys think they know why.
Alexandrov and co have created a model to investigate how THz fields interact with double-stranded DNA and what they’ve found is remarkable. They say that although the forces generated are tiny, resonant effects allow THz waves to unzip double-stranded DNA, creating bubbles in the double strand that could significantly interfere with processes such as gene expression and DNA replication. That’s a jaw dropping conclusion.
This should set the cat among the pigeons. Of course, terahertz waves are a natural part of environment, just like visible and infrared light. But a new generation of cameras are set to appear that not only record terahertz waves but also bombard us with them. And if our exposure is set to increase, the question that urgently needs answering is what level of terahertz exposure is safe.”
The airport scanning technology creates a “picture” of the passenger’s body. Clothing is not really visible. Body parts, or any “additions” or augmentations to the body, such as an implanted plastic bag of explosives, are visible.
Despite assurances that all of the potentially embarassing “naked” photos of passengers will be deleted immediately after the scan, there has been, in less than a week of operation, a security breach at London’s airport.
India News Service reports that hunky “Bollywood” star Shah Rukh Khan discovered that female employees had made copies of his body scan as he passed through Heathrow Airport security last week.
“Khan said he did not know that the body-scans – installed in the wake of last year’s abortive Christmas Day bombing of a transatlantic flight over Detroit – showed up every little detail of one’s body.
‘I was a little scared. Something happens [inside the scans], and I came out.
‘Then I saw these girls – they had these printouts. I looked at them. I thought they were some forms you had to fill. I said ‘give them to me’ – and you could see everything inside. So I autographed them for them.”
It seems highly unlikely most of the travelling public will share Khan’s good humor or relish the publicity value in the airport scanning skin pics.
In the meantime, Israel’s airport security system seems worthy of study.
New “shoe” scanners are now in use which speed security. See video HERE.
Passengers who pass through Israel’s airport must answer a series of questions. The answers can take 30 seconds, or much longer, depending on the answers. The system is considered “behavior” rather than “ethnic” profiling.
Sky.com News reported earlier this month that U.K. officials are studying the Israeli approach. Why not the U.S.?
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Carey Griffith commented on your link:
“People give up their freedoms far too easily and without bothering to learn what it is they are giving up.”
Steve Lock commented on your link:
“Well they can walk or go by boat then…Tough luck, it’s safer if they take their own transportation then…”
Stephan Caraway commented on your link:
“If a Christian said that they would put them in jail.”
Well, the Fatwah solves the problem. If no muslim wants to be screened, then they don’t need to fly. The whole reason for the body scanners is what the Muslim terrorists have done to the Western world.
Buy them a set of waterwings when they want to go back home, or take the slow boat to Mecca.
Ken (FF)
Ken:
Well there’s a plan!