SNIFFING UP YOUR PAST

Which is more invasive, to be X-rayed or to be sniffed electronically? The
answer might surprise you. Now being tested in Orlando and, some hope,
coming soon to an airport near you, is the Rapiscan Secure 1000. The Secure
1000 is an X-ray machine that gives screeners an unrestricted view of
everything in and under a target's clothing.

It should be called RapeScan, quips an aviation industry newsletter, because
"it reveals every last inch of said target's assets." (There's a sample
Rapiscan Secure 1000 image at
http://www.aclu.org/issues/privacy/Bodyscanner.html.)

The ACLU's Barry Steinhardt condemns this as a "virtual strip search." He
paints a picture of a family on its way to Disney World and having to
provide a peepshow on the way.

"It's Big Brother meets Mickey Mouse," he told me, adding that he doesn't
believe that Americans will stand for it.

Steinhardt instead hopes that the FAA will choose another technology, one
that sniffs instead of zaps. These "particle analyzers," which look for
traces of explosives, would ensure "the same level of security without
destroying passengers' bodily privacy," says Steinhardt.

Currently, airport screeners use a similar technology when they swab your
luggage. But the newest class of analyzer, which looks like a walk-through
photo booth, can sniff people all over.

Now being tested in Orlando, whole-body sniffers are already being used to
screen prison visitors. Because with a flip of a switch, they can detect
more than 60 kinds of drugs in extremely small concentrations.

False positives have already triggered lawsuits in several states. There are
tales of grandmothers testing positive for LSD. Other stories tell of people
standing in line being told to count their money and then coming up positive
for drugs. No surprise, since much of the currency we carry has minute
traces of cocaine.

In Iowa, officials have even used visitor sniffing to trigger several
full-bore investigations. Randall Wilson of the Iowa Civil Liberties Union
told me that when one toddler tested positive for pot, the police launched a
child-welfare probe against the mother.

Steinhardt insists that airport machines must not be used to detect drugs.
That, he says, would be like turning airport screeners into DEA agents.

But Orlando's mayor, Glenda Hood, who does double duty as chairwoman of the
Florida Domestic Security Advisory Panel, likes having "the ability to use
technology to be able to stop some of the drug trafficking."

With a flip of a switch, they could sniff up your past. "And the next time
you get stopped for a traffic violation," says Wilson, "you may end up
staying there for quite a while."