Airlines, passengers jittery about full-body scanners

Mumbai: With the threat of terrorism becoming more apparent every day, travellers are conflicted about the idea of having a full-body scanner installed at airports.
Neither airlines nor passengers are sure about how to react to this move — a recent recommendation to the home ministry by Intelligence, following the Christmas Day scare when a Nigerian tried to set off explosives on a US-bound Northwest Airlines aircraft. Privacy issues — the fear of abuse of the scanned images of near-naked passengers — appear to be the main objection, both with airlines as well as passengers.
“It is not feasible to have full-body scanners (FBS) at airports as it involves privacy issues,” says Arvind Jadhav, chairman and managing director (CMD), Air India. Jet Airways says they will have to oblige if the government so demands. “We are watching for developments on this matter, but we know that people are divided over the issue. However, if its implementation is relevant, we will go ahead with it,” says a spokesperson for Jet.
Although this idea has met with opposition in India in the past on privacy grounds, security concerns are making some passengers agree, somewhat reluctantly, to the idea of FBS.
“Technically, it makes sense as it will make security much more fool-proof.It will also make security checks less time-consuming as passengers will be scanned at one go,” says entrepreneur Robin Singhvi, 24. “But the airport/airlines should also address privacy issues. For instance, it should be made clear who is manning these scanners and what will happen to the images subsequently.”
03/01/10 Naveeta Singh/Daily News & Analysis

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Categories: Airports Jan 2010, New Jan 2010, Safety Jan 2010