EU to install 'strip search scanners' at airports

The Belfast Telegraph reports on the EU’s intention to install what it calls “strip search scanners” at airports across the 27-member bloc.

Under a directive which could come into force by 2010, the paper says the EU is following the US, where 3D body scanners have been in use in Los Angeles and New York airports.

Fears have been raised over how intrusive the scanners are, the paper goes on, as they give very realistic virtual images of the ‘naked’ human body.

The paper quotes chair of parliament’s transport committee Paolo Costa, who is concerned over how the images will be stored.

“What will the impact of the use of body scanners be on passenger health? What will the impact be on passenger privacy?” he asked in a letter to the commission last week.

“How will the image data be held and how will it be destroyed?”

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