CONCERN OVER AIRPORT SCANNER THAT 'STRIP-SEARCHES' PASSENGERS

CIVIL rights groups in the United States have expressed concern about a new
X-ray scanning device being used in airports to electronically strip-search
passengers.

The BodySearch X-ray is being used in six major airports in the US in an
effort to snare contraband without the need to pat down suspects.

Customs agents say it is used with passengers' consent. But the groups
claim travellers are being stripped without their knowledge. "We'd only use
it when everyone is fully aware, on a voluntary basis," said Raymond Kelly,
the US Customs Commissioner.

Mr Kelly is an advocate of the device, made by American Science &
Engineering of Billericay, Massachusetts. But fears are being raised that
the technology will be abused.

Mexican law enforcement authorities are deploying the device secretly in
Tijuana airport in an effort to stop drugs entering the US. And the Wall
Street Journal claimed yesterday an African head of state uses a private
machine to screen visitors for weapons without their approval.

The machine was initially designed in an effort to quell protests over
controversial pat-down searches, but the hands-off approach is backfiring.
Privacy advocates say the machine is as bad - if not worse - than a
pat-down search and fear the technology will be abused in the wrong hands.
"It's an electronic strip search," said a spokesman for the Civil Liberties
Union.

JFK in New York, Miami International Airport, Chicago O'Hare, Atlanta,
Houston International and Los Angeles International airports all use the
apparatus at present.

The Federal Aviation Authority had planned to use it to screen all
passengers for bomb-making materials, but backed down after privacy
complaints.

In the US, customs officials must obtain a signed consent from any
passenger sent through the device and a supervisor must approve the search.
As with traditional searches, the agent must be the same sex as the
suspect. The level of radiation exposure is low but pregnant women cannot
be scanned.

The company which manufactures the machine said it tried to highlight
contraband without rendering the body naked but the results were poor and
raised the level of false alarms. Robert Peters, the company's vice
president, said the scanner's images "are not erotic", and "make people
look shorter and balder than real life".