Scanner 'violates human dignity,' say civil rights groups

By Suzanne Fournier, The Province
Calgary Herald
Jan. 06, 2010

Critics say the "naked" body scanners coming soon to the Vancouver airport are a "shocking" invasion of privacy introduced without debate — or even proof that they work.

"Certainly the privacy concerns with these body-scan machines are very, very serious and they are being introduced without debate, without evidence and without any parliamentary oversight," Micheal Vonn of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association said Tuesday.

"Do the machines even work? They would not have detected the [Dec. 25] underwear bomber [who] is being used as an excuse for these to be introduced.

"We have reason to be very, very cautious about everything we're being told about these devices.

"It violates human dignity to be told at the airport, 'Hello, we'd like to see your gonads.' It will deter air travellers, including all those whose religious beliefs or personal scruples require them to retain bodily modesty."

Vonn noted that some European Union countries have been loathe to use the scanners, and Britain found that full-body scans of children violated child-pornography laws.

Transport Minister James Baird announced in Ottawa Tuesday that 44 full-body scan machines will be purchased with public funds to enhance security at Canadian airports.

"Given the recent terrorist incident on Dec. 25, our government is accelerating its actions to protect air travellers," said Baird, claiming that "the new full-body scanners . . . balance safety and security with safeguards to privacy."

Baird said Ottawa will have 11 $250,000 Rapiscan machines "rolled out" next week, while the remaining 32 machines will be delivered within six to 10 weeks.

With the Vancouver 2010 Olympics just weeks away, it's likely Vancouver will become the first Canadian city--except for Kelowna, which used one machine in a pilot project-- to plug in the machines that have been dubbed "a virtual strip-search."

Baird said that air travellers can "choose" either a full-body pat-down or the body scanner, and promised that operators of the scans will be in a different room from the person being scanned.

Images, which lay bare every body feature from breast implants to piercings, won't be copied or retained and children under 18 will be exempt from machine scans, Baird said.

Don Ehrenholz, YVR vice-president of operations, confirmed in an interview that "we have been planning for the last couple of years to get these machines."

"The recent security incident in the U.S. triggered [Tuesday's federal] announcement," said Ehrenholz, but YVR is already deciding "where to plug them in."

"I would expect whatever machines we get are here to stay."

Ehrenholz confirmed no one under 18 will be subjected to a body scan, and that travellers will be given a choice between pat-downs or scans.

Noting the scan is "like a large telephone booth you step into for 30 to 60 seconds," Ehrenholz added, "I've had a full-body pat-down and I personally favour the machines as less intrusive."

However, even proponents of the full-body scan admit that it wouldn't have detected Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, who tried to make a bomb on a Detroit-bound flight on Christmas Day, with powdered explosives allegedly concealed in his underwear.

Baird acknowledged that better-trained behaviour analysts also will be hired with federal funds to spot unusually agitated travellers before they board planes.

Ehrenholz said the YVR body-scanners will be run by employees of the private security firm Aeroguard, who will have to take a five-day course first.

About 40 full-body scans already are in use in about 20 U.S. airports. The huge Amsterdam international airport Schiphol has seven of its 15 full-body scanners in operation and has announced it will now screen every U.S.-bound passenger.