EP committee supports the introduction of body scanners in EU airports

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To the dismay of liberal groups, the European Parliament’s Transport
Committee decided on 31 August 2011 to back up the European Commission in
the introduction of body scanners in EU airports.

Although imposing certain conditions such as excluding x-ray technology, the
EP committee did not oppose the EC rules which do not specifically rule out
the use of naked imagery. “The rules do exclude the use of x-ray technology,
which is something we wanted. But it doesn’t oblige producers to use stick
figures instead of the actual body image,” stated Benjamin Krieger, a
spokesperson for the German Liberals in the European Parliament.

This decision comes when some European countries have reached the conclusion
that body scanners are not performing properly.

The German interior ministry has recently decided to postpone the
introduction of body scanners at airports for security reasons, after the
devices used for trial failed to do their job, giving false alerts at a 49%
rate. The errors included confusing sweaty armpits with concealed bomb
chemicals while body scanners are supposed to detect plastic or ceramic
elements concealed under clothing.

The technology has been strongly opposed by human rights groups, religious
organizations and even the European Parliament because it shows a real
outline of one’s bodily features, which raises serious privacy concerns. The
devices are also expensive, reaching up to 130 000 euro/piece.
In 2010, Italy also fell back on the plan to implement the technology in
airports after experiencing the same results during the trial period.

Germany ditches body scanners after repeat false alerts (1.09.2011)
http://euobserver.com/22/113479

Meeting minutes TRAN Committee (30-31.08.2011)
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+COMPARL+PE-470.049+01+DOC+PDF+V0//EN&language=EN

EP transport committee votes in favour of body scanners (31.08.2011)
http://euobserver.com/1016/113478

Welcome to body scanners at EU airports (6.07.2011)
http://www.europolitics.info/sectoral-policies/welcome-to-body-scanners-at-eu-airports-art309256-20.html

Parliament sets conditions for airport body scanners (6.07.2011)
http://www.eubusiness.com/news-eu/security-aviation.b5r

EDRi-gram: MEPs approve body scanners on airports on a voluntarily basis
(1.06.2011)
http://www.edri.org/edrigram/number9.11/body-scanners-airports-ep