Re:Hitchens: The truth about airplane security measures
by ghshephard on Tuesday December 29, 2009 @10:36PM
(#1021845)
Yes - given a choice between dealing with idiots who are damned and determined to get on an airplane with me with PETN stitched into their underwear and a liquid detonator, I'll take the bodyscan. Particularly as it actually makes things more convenient than the time-consuming pat-down that you need to go through now when flying into the US.
#1 - that's not to say that, for the privacy sensitive individuals, appropriate safeguards should not be taken. Penalties against displaying the information, no ability to save it, faces blurred. These types of scans can be made as secure as medical records - and those are far more sensitive than a faceless body-scan.
#2 - I'm interested in hearing about alternative ways to defend against the PETN in the underwear + Liquid Detonator. It seems to me to be the most straightforward attack vector possible on an airplane right now. I recognize we can't forsake all our privacy for a small amount of security, but neither can we forsake all our security for a small amount of privacy.
#3 - for those really opposed to the bodyscan, they can always subject themselves to a full pat-down. That has always seemed more intrusive to me, and less effective as well - as they sensitive areas (Groin, Chest) are never searched and would seem to me to be ideal locations for explosives.
#4 - I really don't consider Body Scans to be much of a privacy issue - Any nudist or burning man attendee will tell you that real-actual-nudity, even in person, really loses any excitement for the viewer after being in its presence for about 90 seconds. The people working a shift scanning will not be getting any visceral enjoyment from eyeballing scan after scan. (Particularly as they will probably be monitoring several dozen scanners over all the terminals simultaneously)
#5 This is all moot anyways - BodyScanning/X-Ray scanning is going to be a prime candidate for automation. I'm guessing within five-seven years, no human alive will be as effective at spotting issues on a Luggage X-Ray/Body scan as software, and so you will basically either sail on through under the observation of software (which only the most extreme privacy advocates would have an issue with), or be flagged and subjected to a pat-down/luggage search.
#1 - that's not to say that, for the privacy sensitive individuals, appropriate safeguards should not be taken. Penalties against displaying the information, no ability to save it, faces blurred. These types of scans can be made as secure as medical records - and those are far more sensitive than a faceless body-scan.
#2 - I'm interested in hearing about alternative ways to defend against the PETN in the underwear + Liquid Detonator. It seems to me to be the most straightforward attack vector possible on an airplane right now. I recognize we can't forsake all our privacy for a small amount of security, but neither can we forsake all our security for a small amount of privacy.
#3 - for those really opposed to the bodyscan, they can always subject themselves to a full pat-down. That has always seemed more intrusive to me, and less effective as well - as they sensitive areas (Groin, Chest) are never searched and would seem to me to be ideal locations for explosives.
#4 - I really don't consider Body Scans to be much of a privacy issue - Any nudist or burning man attendee will tell you that real-actual-nudity, even in person, really loses any excitement for the viewer after being in its presence for about 90 seconds. The people working a shift scanning will not be getting any visceral enjoyment from eyeballing scan after scan. (Particularly as they will probably be monitoring several dozen scanners over all the terminals simultaneously)
#5 This is all moot anyways - BodyScanning/X-Ray scanning is going to be a prime candidate for automation. I'm guessing within five-seven years, no human alive will be as effective at spotting issues on a Luggage X-Ray/Body scan as software, and so you will basically either sail on through under the observation of software (which only the most extreme privacy advocates would have an issue with), or be flagged and subjected to a pat-down/luggage search.