There has been another scare and now each and every passenger will be put through a machine that exposes them naked like a pinned bug.

http://aftermathnews.files.wordpress.co ... irport.jpg

I know it would be better than dying en route, but so would almost anything. Highly trained dogs would be my preference, being more reliable than humans and unable to exploit the situation.

Highly trained dogs can be put off the scent; how does a dog smell a plastic knife and know that it is a knife and not just another bit of plastic?

I thought the searches were to find ingredients that could be assembled on board and made into explosive devices, like the man who had such items sewn into his undies the other day.

The searches are to find any weapons or explosive or anything else that may be used to cause harm.

Given the world population is nearly eight billion and a compariviely small number of these people would be likely to be terorists lets consider some time saving ideas.

Maybe the Federal Police or ASIO could create a profile on us all at their leisure and then issue us with a plastic card which states our degree of risk. Then if we are considered a low risk we should be able to bypass the scanner search.

I see no ethical issue. In the first place, if looking at clothed people and seeing them naked is the goal you might as well buy the x-ray glasses that were advertised on the back of comic book. If we actually looked like that naked, strip joints would go out of business. I see it as no more of an ethical problem than x-raying luggage or opening luggage and rummaging through everything. Now, when the person rummaging takes whatever strikes their fantasy that's unethical.

Dogs get great P.R. but when their effectiveness is tested, not by their handler who loves them, they're not Lassie saving Timmy from the well.

Pre-approval has some potential but I wonder if a U.S. Army major who is a psychologist will have any trouble getting approved. I also assume the people who steal from our luggage are being screened by the government. Great job, folks.

How about using sense? Nah! A Muslim man who has no passport or visa and is acting weird. No problem. Wouldn't want people to think you're biased. People signing up for flight training and saying they're not interested in landing or taking off. Just turning. Okay, good to go.

It seems the loss of dignity we must endure is a feather in the cap of the terrorists.

Dignity does not come with clothes, it is in the mind and shown by one's behaviour. I see no ethical issue with such scanners at airports either.

One solution could be to have the operators displayed using the same scanner to the airline passengers? Tit for tat?

I agree Christine O , profiling is probably the way to go rather than expensive scanners . Those who are in positions of responsibility should take heed of any intelligence advice and act on it .

I agree with Christine here, it is the ethical equivalent of a strip search and the potential terrorist threat does not justify this invasion of privacy when there are other ways of checking people are not a 'threat'.

Actually I think dignity does come with clothes. Its also about control. We like to pick and choose who sees us nude and in what circumstances.
Have you thought about the many people who conceal disabilities like mastectomies and colostomies under their clothes?
While it is a funny idea to have the scanning technicians also exposed, in my opinion that still wouldn't be enough to compensate for their use on us all.

How many lives, not likely to be yours, are worth an excessive concern over dignity. For me, it isn't just terrorists. I'd like to know the really weird guy in the next seat didn't have a large plastic knife.

Anyone who considers these images erotic or even "naked" is weird. I've seen x-rays and none particularly interested me.

I think having an option would be reasonable though. I could walk through the x-ray device and those who choose could come even earlier and get a personal search, sufficient to find a plastic knife, in a private room.

It is worth noteing that plastic knives are not just those little, almost useless, things that are given out at fast food places. The US military and probably the armed forces of other countries tried plastic bayonets in the 1960s and possibly still use them. So 'plastic knife' can cover some formidable weapons.

Two years ago I was going through the entry scanner at Sydney Airport when all the 'bells and whistles' went off, security personell went into a frenzy with a number of overweight men screaming (literally screaming) "STOP" "DON'T MOVE". I was wearing a back support belt with spring steel stiffeners in it. Last trip I wore one with strong plastic stiffeners, no alarms, nothing. So much for security.

Just to play the devils advocate: weirdos can be on buses and trains to. Don't forget the devastating attacks on the London underground and buses, and the trains in Madrid.

The latest guy on the Amsterdam to Detroit flight was known to the authorities as a potential terrorist but the various countries and departments failed to co-ordinate their information in time.

How do you feel about being searched when leaving a shop like K Mart? I've always disliked it. Especially when the assistant shares a friendly chat and then insults me by asking to look in my handbag. Sometimes, depending on the attitude of the employee, I remove all the items, and place them on the counter, even as they assure me they are satisfied until the bag is completely empty, telling them they might as well have a good look. They don't like this as it slows things down. I've noticed however, that some people have a different reaction to being searched and are proud to display that they have no stolen items in their bag.

Back in the 1980s, when I was working in Sydney, I used to often go to a pistol range in the city after work, sometimes I'd need something at a supermarket and on the way out I'd be asked to open my bag. I'd tell the checkout girl that all that I had in the case was a pistol, open the case and show her and be on my way. No comments other than, sometimes "That's a nice one". Today I imagine that the SWAT squad would be called and all hell would break out.

I'll just add that supermarkets are wide open for theft and their security is so easily by-passed that I'm amazed that their losses are not far greater. Probably theft balanced against wages etc., for a few extra staff shows a net gain for the store.

I am somewhat comforted by the knowledge that I can get off of a bus.

In the U.S., I've never had my bag searched when I left a store. In Mexico, we check our bags when we enter. Of course, women get a pass on purses but I've never seen anyone looking in those.

I've never seen these images so I don't know whether they are the equivalent to being naked, I'm just going on what Christine has said. I've flown a lot and never has anything gone wrong. The chances are miniscule with the current security. I don't see that there is a need to make the security more extreme. If there was, then maybe I would consider it, but right now, I don't see a need. Especially if it compromises people. I don't know about you patrickt, but I don't think all our values (such as the right to privacy) should be compromised just so the chance of a terrorist attack can be reduced from 0.00002% to 0.00001%

You're more likely to die in your car on the way to the airport. We'd be better off spending the money on more speed cameras. That would save more lives

I guess we all wonder where are these hyper security measures going to end ?
Will there be screening before we even enter the airports for screening? What about airport carparks? Terrorists will keep on executing their evil deeds in other ways . The human imagination for evil seems limitless . we live in worrying times.

A factor here is that a lot of people suggest that measures such as this are not there to make us more secure; they are they to make us think that we are more secure, or that the powers that be are making us more secure. In the trade it’s called “security theatre”; a performance intended to suggest to the "audience" - that's you and me - that we are secure.

While, considered in isolation, using an X-ray scanner on all passengers might be thought to provide a greater reassurance than just using a metal detector, remember that not only flight crew and cabin crew but also maintenance crew, catering staff, cleaners, inspectors and many others get on and off aircraft without any kind of scan at all. All the would-be terrorist wanting to smuggle something onto a plane therefore, is to take a job as an airport cleaner instead of booking a ticket as a passenger. His suicide-minded colleague can book a ticket and pass through the scanner carrying nothing suspicious, and subsequently recover the explosives (or whatever) from where they have been hidden in the lavatory (or wherever).

Thus measures like this don’t present a serious obstacle to the determined terrorist; they’re more of an annoyance. And the security authorities are perfectly aware of this. They persist with these measures more because of their PR value than their substantial contribution to security.

Where terrorist threats to planes have been successfully averted, it has been either through the vigilance of passengers or cabin crew who observe an attempt to damage or interfere with the plane and stop it, or through good intelligence, whereby police are aware of threats before they are carried out. Seriously, how many bombs have been detected by boarding-gate scanners?

arry, have a look at the link on the original post and you will get an idea of how revealing the scans are.
Genitals, nipples, and butt cracks are all clear to see. I read somewhere that a plastic knife hidden in a body cavity would not be detected by these scans.

Perigrinus, it is interesting that this kind of blanket security is referred to as theatre, and is designed to make us feel secure.
There was a case last year in Australia which involved drug couriers secreting drugs on the plane somewhere and they were later retrieved by catering staff. The reverse could be done, the explosives are left by catering staff and detonated by passengers.