The Full Body Scanner Invasion; New Scanners Break Child Porn Laws

Here comes the body scanner invasion:

– Invasion of the Body Scanners (BusinessWeek):

Digital security scans are coming to more airports. They’ll increase aggravation, but won’t help security much

“If we use full body scans, [terrorists] are going to do something else. This is a stupid game, and it’s time we stop playing it.”

– Italy to install body scanners in Rome, Milan (Toronto Sun)

– France to Introduce Body Scanners At Airports (New York Times)

– Controversial body scanners to be installed in Canada’s airports (The Canadian Press)

– Britain to start full-body scans at Heathrow Airport (Los Angeles Times)

Who benefits?

– Former homeland security chief Michael Chertoff puts his mouth where his money is and argues for whole-body imaging (Washington Post):

What he has made little mention of is that the Chertoff Group, his security consulting agency, includes a client that manufactures the machines. The relationship drew attention after Chertoff disclosed it on a CNN program Wednesday, in response to a question.

An airport passengers’ rights group on Thursday criticized Chertoff, who left office less than a year ago, for using his former government credentials to advocate for a product that benefits his clients.

“Mr. Chertoff should not be allowed to abuse the trust the public has placed in him as a former public servant to privately gain from the sale of full-body scanners under the pretense that the scanners would have detected this particular type of explosive,” said Kate Hanni, founder of FlyersRights.org, which opposes the use of the scanners.

– Full Body Scanner Lobby: Michael Chertoff & Rapiscan (Now Public)

Full body scanners are another attack on your health, freedom and of course your money, because you will pay for them destroying your health and take away your freedom:

– Full-Body Scanners Emitting ‘High-Energy’ Radiation Increase Cancer Risk (NoWorldSystem):

There is just no “safe” dose of radiation, 50% of America’s cancers are radiation-induced.

– How Terahertz Waves Tear Apart DNA (Technology Review – MIT):

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.

– Continuing Its Path of Health Destruction: Canada Approves Harmful Airport Scanners (Prevent Disease):

“Anything that interferes with DNA replication can cause cell death,” said geneticist Andrew Lau. “Cell mutations and chromosomal aberrations would likely be more common once such scanners are implemented.” Lau stated that the cumulative radiation would likely affect passengers in the long-term.

The Germans still ‘pretend’ to use their brains before they will ‘eventually’ give in and install the scanners:

– Europe Debates Use of Full-Body Scanners at Airports (New York Times):

Germany’s position, he said, is that the scanners cannot be deployed until it has been shown that they will improve security, that they are not a health hazard and that they will not be so invasive that they harm individuals’ rights.

So we will see body scanners everywhere because of another inside job:

– US government lies about Flight 253 ‘crotch bomber’ patsy: Summary of the evidence; Yemen attack implication (Examiner)

– Evidence Mounts for US Complicity in Terrorism (Veterans Today)

———–

“The truth is, there is no Islamic army or terrorist group called Al Qaeda. And any informed intelligence officer knows this. But there is a propaganda campaign to make the public believe in the presence of an identified entity representing the ‘devil’ only in order to drive the TV watcher to accept a unified international leadership for a war against terrorism. The country behind this propaganda is the US.”
– Robin Cook, Former British Foreign Secretary

“Terrorism is the best political weapon for nothing drives people harder than a fear of sudden death.”
– Adolf Hitler

“The easiest way to gain control of the population is to carry out acts of terror. The public will clamor for such laws if their personal security is threatened.“
– Joseph Stalin

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New scanners break child porn laws

A 12-month trial at Manchester airport of full body scanners only went ahead last month after under-18s were exempted. Photograph: Paul Ellis/AFP/Getty Images

The rapid introduction of full body scanners at British airports threatens to breach child protection laws which ban the creation of indecent images of children, the Guardian has learned.

Privacy campaigners claim the images created by the machines are so graphic they amount to “virtual strip-searching” and have called for safeguards to protect the privacy of passengers involved.

Ministers now face having to exempt under 18s from the scans or face the delays of introducing new legislation to ensure airport security staff do not commit offences under child pornography laws.

They also face demands from civil liberties groups for safeguards to ensure that images from the £80,000 scanners, including those of celebrities, do not end up on the internet. The Department for Transport confirmed that the “child porn” problem was among the “legal and operational issues” now under discussion in Whitehall after Gordon Brown’s announcement on Sunday that he wanted to see their “gradual” introduction at British airports.

A 12-month trial at Manchester airport of scanners which reveal naked images of passengers including their genitalia and breast enlargements, only went ahead last month after under-18s were exempted.

The decision followed a warning from Terri Dowty, of Action for Rights of Children, that the scanners could breach the Protection of Children Act 1978, under which it is illegal to create an indecent image or a “pseudo-image” of a child.

Dowty told the Guardian she raised concerns with the Metropolitan police five years ago over plans to use similar scanners in an anti-knife campaign, and when the Department for Transport began a similar trial in 2006 on the Heathrow Express rail service from Paddington station.

“They do not have the legal power to use full body scanners in this way,” said Dowty, adding there was an exemption in the 1978 law to cover the “prevention and detection of crime” but the purpose had to be more specific than the “trawling exercise” now being considered.

A Manchester airport spokesman said their trial had started in December, but only with passengers over 18 until the legal situation with children was clarified. So far 500 people have taken part on a voluntary basis with positive feedback from nearly all those involved.

Passengers also pass through a metal detector before they can board their plane. Airport officials say the scanner image is only seen by a single security officer in a remote location before it is deleted.

A Department for Transport spokesman said: “We understand the concerns expressed about privacy in relation to the deployment of body scanners. It is vital staff are properly trained and we are developing a code of practice to ensure these concerns are properly taken into account. Existing safeguards also mean those operating scanners are separated from the device, so unable to see the person to whom the image relates, and these anonymous images are deleted immediately.”

But Shami Chakrabarti, of Liberty, had concerns over the “instant” introduction of scanners: “Where are the government assurances that electronic strip-searching is to be used in a lawful and proportionate and sensitive manner based on rational criteria rather than racial or religious bias?” she said.

Her concerns were echoed by Simon Davies of Privacy International who said he was sceptical of the privacy safeguards being used in the United States. Although the American system insists on the deletion of the images, he believed scans of celebrities or of people with unusual or freakish body profiles would prove an “irresistible pull” for some employees.

The disclosures came as Downing Street insisted British intelligence information that the Detroit plane suspect tried to contact radical Islamists while a student in London was passed on to the US.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab’s name was included in a dossier of people believed to have made attempts to deal with extremists, but he was not singled out as a particular risk, Brown’s spokesman said.

President Barack Obama has criticised US intelligence agencies for failing to piece together information about the 23-year-old that should have stopped him boarding the flight.

Brown’s spokesman said “There was security information about this individual’s activities and that was shared with the US authorities.”

Alan Travis, home affairs editor
Monday 4 January 2010 22.14 GMT

Source: The Guardian