Look Ma! No clothes!

[skyring]

Looking at this news story about a couple of women refusing to go through a full-body scanner and being refused clearance to fly.

I cannot believe that the British are being so boneheaded. The screening system looks through clothing, revealing the body beneath, as well as any concealed items. Hide some explosives in your undies, and they will be picked up.

Well, that’s good, in theory, but if the bad guys know this, then won’t they go the logical next step and hide the explosives some place where they won’t be detected? After all, they want to blow up the plane, and personal comfort isn’t high on their long-term list of priorities, given that they don’t intend to have a long term.
So, full-body scanning easily circumvented.

But these expensive bits of kit are going to be increasingly used, replacing the existing metal-detecting gates. Travellers have to go into a chamber, stop, turn around, raise their arms, turn around and walk out while someone looks at their bodies through X-ray specs.

Now, I don’t think anyone is going to be aroused by my sagging middle-aged body, but I dare say that my wife and twenty-something daughter could provide some salacious entertainment for the security staff weary of inspecting carry on bags for nail scissors.

What really bugs me is that I’ve organised myself with a web plastic belt and metalfree shoes to march straight through the existing security checks, and now I’m going to have to do all this extra stuff, sealed away, while my laptop, phone, wallet etc is open and vulnerable on the conveyor belt.

I went through SFO in October, and they were randomly selecting people to go through the detector gate or full-body scanner depending on which was next available. I was directed into the scanner, and I flatly refused. I don’t want to encourage these things in any way.

They pulled me aside, patted me down, took some stuff out of my pockets. Lip balm, comb and a few similar non-metallic things. They ran those through the scanner, while I waited, looking at other passengers reaching over my unattended valuables on the conveyor belt to get their stuff.

If I refuse again in Heathrow, where I have to make two transits, am I going to be refused clearance to fly? Or will I, presumably, grit my teeth and pirouette in the observation chamber, grumbling to myself about the numbskullery of it all while some basterd nicks my laptop?

Comments

Re: many issues

[skyring.livejournal.com]

I need to ask you something about the rain in Spain...

As to the scanners, two points. First, if I were someone rotating through the various positions in a security checkpoint, I'd prefer to look through the x-ray specs at the jet set, rather than their baggage. I might not sit there in the private room with my hands busy, but I would visually enjoy at least the aesthetic proportions of the well-built.

Second, the feeling of unease and discomfort is going to be a common one amongst passengers, as demonstrated by the two women who preferred not to fly than to have strangers peering behind their burqas. While one surrenders a certain amount of freedom and responsibility to doctors and security guards, to be sure, medical staff are expected to regard one's nude self with detachment, while security guards having that degree of familiarity are doubtless exceeding expectations.

This is underscored by the certain knowledge that the expensive machines are going to be useless in uncovering bombs. It would have to be the most innocent of people who could not imagine a place or two out of sight of devices that can see through clothes.