Airport security could get a little more intimate By Neil McMahon July 27, 2005 Sydney Morning Herald A traveller's checklist: luggage, passport, visa, ticket. And now this: do I look good naked? Sydney Airport says it is keeping a close eye on overseas trials of a machine that can see through your clothes and show whether you are carrying a bomb or a gun. The drawback is that in answering the question "Is that a gun in your pocket?", it removes the pocket - and the rest of your clothing, too, leaving security staff looking at an image of you naked on a screen. The technology - millimetre-wave imaging, which detects radiation emitted by the body - is being trialled at airports in Britain and the United States. It is billed as an electronic strip search, but civil liberties groups have raised privacy concerns, as well as fears that images, particularly those of children, could be misused. In a submission to a federal inquiry into aviation safety, Sydney Airport Corporation says the Australian industry is "making inquiries into millimetre-wave technology . however, it is understood that privacy may be an important issue." Kyile Whyte, the airport's manager of security infrastructure and technology, said the intrusiveness of the scans would make it difficult to sell to the public in its current form. They were also slow. "It's a very tedious procedure, you have to stand in three different positions to get a clear image, so in terms of [processing] passengers it's very time-consuming," he said. Greg Timms, a research scientist heading the CSIRO's millimetre-wave project, said addressing privacy issues was vital. "You don't want to develop something that has got no hope of regulatory approval." The CSIRO team is working on a millimetre-wave scanner that produces even sharper images than those developed overseas. Dr Timms said a prototype would be ready in about a month, but how it would be used had still to be decided. "From a commercial point of view, public security and airport security is the leading opportunity." The rays can also pass through smoke, clouds and fog, meaning the technology could be used by pilots and firefighters. British immigration authorities are already using the scanners to detect illegal immigrants hiding in canvas-covered trucks. Eventually, police may be able to scan large crowds, or carry mobile units that can show drugs or weapons on nightclub patrons. In Britain, there has been discussion about installing them at train stations and in schools. That, Dr Timms said, is a little way off, because the image quality on hand-held units is "pretty poor", and the technology extremely expensive. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
