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Radio wave scanners like this one at Amsterdam's Schiphol airport are designed to detect hidden weapons and explosives.
Visitors to the freewheeling Dutch city better be prepared to bare all

Amsterdam's Schiphol airport has become the first in the world to deploy a new "see-through" security system that allows screeners to view the shape of the traveler’s body beneath their clothes. The system is designed to detect weapons and explosives hidden under clothing.

Numerous airports have tested the system, but this is the first permanent installation of the security devices. Schiphol officials are making the body scanners optional, allowing passengers to submit to the 3-scond scans in lieu of waiting in long security lines or being frisked by security personnel.

The "security scan" system uses a short blast of ultrahigh frequency radio waves to reveal the contours of the traveler. According to the airport officials, the person steps into the phone booth-like device and assumes what is known as the "ballerina position," with both arms up in the air.

While many consider the machines to be a safety improvement over X-ray scanners, and a better alternative to conventional strip searches, others feel the head-to-toe scans are an invasion of privacy. According to Reuters, Schiphol's screeners  will view the images in a room off-limits to other passengers, and the images will be destroyed after each passenger is screened.

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Invasion of privacy?
By kontorotsui on 5/16/2007 2:45:28 AM , Rating: 4
Invasion of privacy?
I would be more worried about health problems from this blast of ultrahigh frequency radio waves, especially to people who travel a lot.




RE: Invasion of privacy?
By cheetah2k on 5/16/2007 2:58:12 AM , Rating: 2
I'd be more worried if i had a pacemaker.

Stuff iPods, this looks like an instant killer


RE: Invasion of privacy?
By astrodemoniac on 5/16/2007 3:31:05 AM , Rating: 2
" blast of ultrahigh frequency radio waves"

Could have been put more delicately... sounds a bit scary to say the least :)


RE: Invasion of privacy?
By danskmacabre on 5/16/2007 4:31:21 AM , Rating: 2
agreed, Even though I'm all for speeding up all these checks and a full body scan sounds convenient.
I'm not too keen on getting a "blast of ultrahigh frequency radio waves" until after a few years of it being in use first (and no reports of leukemia, cancer or whatever).


RE: Invasion of privacy?
By TSS on 5/16/2007 6:59:13 AM , Rating: 4
i saw a discovery channel documentairy on these machines a year or 2 back (damn that program has a documentairy on friggin everything...). if anything i'd say these things are more private then having some security guard (who has toutched alot of other people before) feel if you have anything stuffed anywhere. and the images... well.. unless your a latex addict i dont think it'll be very horny making. since your skin looks like a latex suit.

i'd propose for everybody against this to first take a scan and look at the image, then do a full strip search to the point that the guards can see the same as on the image, then let them decide what the best method is.


RE: Invasion of privacy?
By alifbaa on 5/16/2007 8:18:20 AM , Rating: 5
I just have to ask when all of this "security" will stop. I'm a pilot, and I have to say, I seriously doubt any of this security screening has ever stopped an incident. Whenever TSA conducts a security check, they are able to get all sorts of weapons through their own security without taking any steps to make them harder to detect. If a terrorist sits down and thinks in a marginally methodical manner, he can easily find several ways to smuggle all sorts of things through security.

Is taking a scan of my body a big deal to me? No. Having said that, I'm not too happy about the prospect of having to raise my arms like a criminal every time I go to work. Making paying customers and hard working employees submit to all the indignities of security screening only creates the FEELING of security, not actual security.


RE: Invasion of privacy?
By kattanna on 5/16/2007 10:02:44 AM , Rating: 5
oh come on..admit it.. you know you feel safer knowing you dont have to worry about someone busting into the cockpit wielding a pair of finger nail clippers trying to hijack the plane


RE: Invasion of privacy?
By povomi1 on 5/16/2007 10:28:52 AM , Rating: 2
LoL! Thats good.


RE: Invasion of privacy?
By Soviet Robot on 5/16/2007 10:30:12 PM , Rating: 2
Nothing more terrifying than a terrorist with shampoo!


RE: Invasion of privacy?
By rbuszka on 5/17/2007 10:04:47 AM , Rating: 2
Actually, that's scary stuff. The nail file integrated into many fingernail and toenail clippers can stab if driven with enough force. It's true, however, that even a long fingernail can become a fearsome weapon, so it's almost a losing battle to try and eliminate every potential type of weapon a hijacker may carry.

People just need to understand that there need to be police officers (perhaps from the country of the flight's destination) on every airplane flight, who can immobilize a would-be hijacker with a taser and then inject the person with a tranquilizer, and perhaps even carry a small handgun. The sort of full-body scans being proposed here would still be useful for detecting concealed explosives.

I'm surprised nobody has tried to blow up an airport security checkpoint.


RE: Invasion of privacy?
By mezman on 5/17/2007 3:46:31 PM , Rating: 2
Anything can be used as a weapon should it used with enough force, including your own body.

There needs to be an arbitrary cutoff somewhere, obviously, but it's gone a little overboard IMO.


RE: Invasion of privacy?
By Scorpion on 5/16/2007 2:04:22 PM , Rating: 3
You know, with technology like this, you do realize that there is only one recourse for smuggling ANYTHING on an airplane right? In your ***. At least with this technology we have the satisfaction of knowing that these criminals are so desperate, they're willing to stick anything in their *** just to get it on a plane.


RE: Invasion of privacy?
By Emily on 5/18/2007 1:27:04 PM , Rating: 2
What would provide 'actual security' then? Would things really be better if there was no security?

If the current system is as bad as you make it, then would it not be better for everyone to skip security as a whole? I am not sure if a body scan is the best solution, but I certainly welcome attempts to flights safer. There is not even a hope for a solution without further development.

Though it really seem like privacy and security are two things that do not get along well.


RE: Invasion of privacy?
By theapparition on 5/16/2007 11:16:20 AM , Rating: 3
We are constantly being blasted with high frequency radiation from all sorts of natural sources, like comsmic radiation.
The amount of radiation absorbed in this test is much less than a day at the beach, or sitting 12" away from an old CRT monitor.


RE: Invasion of privacy?
By Shining Arcanine on 5/16/2007 7:16:55 AM , Rating: 2
The waves are designed to create an image of you. Therefore they should bounce off your skin, which would make them harmless.


RE: Invasion of privacy?
By phil126 on 5/16/2007 5:18:25 PM , Rating: 2
They actually penatrate into the first layer of skin cells just like the suns radiation. I will be curious to see if skin cancer incidents will increase with frequent travel. Must RF and microwave radiation passes through most is not all of your body (some percentage being absorbed as it passes). Lower frequency electromagnetic radiation is much more dangerous because of this reason.


Totally Pointless
By mkruer on 5/16/2007 3:31:53 AM , Rating: 3
Being a man, I am all for the strip searches; providing I am in no rush and it's done by an attractive female security officer. Not some fat, ugly, pimply looking person. Seriously how many men would not spread them for a model? Its all about customer service.




RE: Totally Pointless
By cheetah2k on 5/16/2007 3:57:16 AM , Rating: 3
Unfortunately, you are more than likely to get some some fat, ugly, pimply looking person....

Please bend over now...


RE: Totally Pointless
By tmarat on 5/16/2007 4:00:15 AM , Rating: 2
Loool


RE: Totally Pointless
By techfuzz on 5/16/2007 8:25:12 AM , Rating: 1
You using the whole fist, Doc?


RE: Totally Pointless
By Crazyeyeskillah on 5/16/2007 8:49:05 AM , Rating: 1
i'd give it sideburns and make the security guard refer to my 'member' as john travolta for the the duration of the 'search'