Full Body Scanner at Narita Airport
Narita Airport has installed a full body scanning machine as a trial. Whether or not one wants to be scanned is supposedly optional, so those who see it as a gross violation of privacy can bypass it (for now):
A U.S. millimeter wave scanner, said to be safe for humans, was set up on July 5 on a trial basis in front of the security inspection area at the South Wing of Terminal 1. When a passenger stands on a designated point, the machine scans the passenger’s body, which is then displayed as an animated image on a monitor. If there is a hidden item under the passenger’s clothes, the machine automatically shows it on the screen.
Taking part in the trial is optional for passengers. Among the five scanners, there is a model that shows a detailed outline of a person’s body, but images will be displayed with the faces airbrushed on the screen to protect passengers’ privacy, and operators screening the images in a separate room are the same sex as the passengers who are scanned. Images taken by the five models are all deleted after use.
If you are unaware of the controversy over the use of the machines, here is a short CNN report about how it performs a “strip search”:
In addition to the concerns about privacy, there have also been recent news stories about how the airport body scanning machines emit 20 times more radiation than previously thought, posing a possible cancer risk.
- Akihabara News – Gadgetry from Japan (Subscribe)
- dannychoo.com – Your portal to Japan (Subscribe)
