Monday, September 5, 2011

New York becomes latest city to get 'non-intrusive' airport body scanners

New York has joined three other major U.S. cities in installing 'non-intrusive' body scanners in one its airports.
The machines are being installed around the country in a bid to avoid passenger protests over the 'naked' X-ray type scanners currently in use.
The technology was originally tested in February at Atlanta, Las Vegas, and Washington, D.C., and rolled out in July.
Generic: Passengers are reduced to an outline, with software then detecting any anomalies that need further checking
Generic: Passengers are reduced to an outline, with software then detecting any anomalies that need further checking

Transportation Security Administration officials unveiled the software at Newark Liberty International airport on Friday, where more than 8 million passengers boarded planes last year.
In all, the technology will be installed in 241 security machines at 40 airports around the country over the next few months at a cost of $2.7 million that includes research and development, according to the TSA.
The agency plans to install it in all airports eventually.
The new system uses a screen that displays a gray silhouette of a generic body.
The screen is placed at security checkpoints in a spot where both the traveller and the security agent can see it.
In demonstrations Friday using TSA employees as travelers, yellow boxes appeared on the silhouette denoting items that needed to be removed such as cellphones or keys.
Revealing: Previous full-body scanners showed very clear physical images of passengers
Revealing: Previous full-body scanners showed very clear physical images of passengers

Under the previous system, the images of travelers' bodies were displayed in a separate room, where a TSA officer would radio the officer at the checkpoint that a traveller was carrying an item that needed to be scanned.
The new system speeds that process by using the yellow boxes to display the exact locations of the offending items, according to Donald Drummer, the airport's federal security director.
'In the past there was an image viewing room that was remote that looked at a body-specific image,' Drummer said.
'In this case we will have a silhouette on the screen that both the passenger and our officer will see and they will know where to target.'
The body scanners' debuted last fall sparked a heated debate over security concerns versus travellers' privacy.
In response, New Jersey's legislature issued a resolution urging Congress to review the program.

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