Full Body Scanner: An Anti-Terror Measure Or Privacy Violation?

No I would not submit to this invasive technology.  Security is moving from dumb and crazy to absolutely absurd.  Quite frankly I would rather stop flying all together or living with some risk then giving away my freedom and dignity.The problem with this technology is it is not foolproof either.  Objects swallowed, or ummmm...stuck in places where the sun doesn't shine still won't be detected.  So what has been accomplished in reducing the the threat of terrorism with these devices?  Nothing.At some point  people need to say enough is enough.  If we have to sit handcuffed to our seats and give up our dignity with invasive body cavity searches and scans to fly, the terrorists have won, and we have descended into a prison.Just say no to this latest dopey idea.

The scanning needs to start a long time before someone gets to the boarding gate.  The screening of those buying tickets should be locked in electronically to the national watch list.  If they appear on the watch list, their request for a ticket is denied automatically.  However, the terrorists will be vigilant to circumvent this as well.  Next would be picture ID or fingerprint ID (although fingerprint ID is losing efficacy because they can be manipulated now. ).  Then there is retinal scan which is the most secure. All these methods prevent the person from getting a ticket, rather than searching techniques that effect all passengers.  I would rather have secure measures taken for ticket purchase in conjuction with boarding screening measures; therefore, the process is more cumbersome for terrorists. 

However, all the measures have to be constantly upgraded and changed because the terrorists wait for security protocols to become known and the administrators lazy.

I say install the full body scanners. For those who object the solution is simple. Don't fly or else charter a private service. We can't shut down the entire air travel system to satisfy those who have privacy concerns - nor can we make the screening process take longer than the flight itself. Fingerprint manipulation? I had not heard of that. A fundamental tool used in courtrooms around the world is in deep trouble if defendants can simply claim that their fingerprints were "manipulated."Retina scans? Not a bad idea if you already have on file the retina scans of all the potential bad guys. Obviously that is not the case now and never will be.

To me this sounds like just an example of the government exploiting a real threat in order to push overly-invasive measures. Its just like the Patriot Act after 9/11, something needed to be done, but they took advantage of people’s fear to go way too far. This has been something that has bothered me alot recently, so Ive been following this type of stuff closely. I found a website www.littlebrotherprivacy.com that talks about this kind of stuff. There is some pretty interesting stuff on there, and I think it will make you think twice before you start signing away your rights in the name of defense from terrorism.

I think we can all shout about it as much as we want, if they want to put them in, they will - when did you ever hear of a vote on this sort of subject?

Personally, as long as I don't have to look at live scan pics of people's wobbly bits, they can look at mine all they like, what a horrible job to have to do....I mean, have you seen some of the people that get on flights?

The current effort to increase flight security by introducing full-body scanners lacks proper perspective: the real work is in discouraging the attitudes that motivate terrorism -- not selling off our liberties to create a false sense of safety (to, as Mr. Saletan said recently, treat the war on terrorism as an arms race (Slate.com 30 Dec. 2009).  The claim that some U.S. and UK officials are making, that body scanners are an absolute necessity (on the heels of Abdulmutallab's failed attack) is political fear-mongering and sophistry.  They are not the only option, nor the best.  They are a dangerous result of lethargic civic engagement and uninspiring leadership.  Does no one consider that terrorism is visited upon each of us when our policies expose us to such indignities and call it security?  Benjamin Franklin expressed a sentiment of which we cannot be reminded too often these days: "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety."

I agree with AHAWilliams wholeheartedly...  and remember also the words of Winston Churchill "All we have to fear, is fear itself"... The War on Terrorism begins within oneself... overcoming personal fears that would allow you to give up your basic freedoms and rights.  Each time we comply we move toward the next level of indecency until nothing shames us anymore... and by then we are (morally) dead inside.

I won't every fly again if they do this.

Some idiot waltzes his way through security undetected, gets on a plane, and tries to blow it up. As a result, the government decides to put full-body scanners in place, to view our private parts and who knows what else. With all that, get on an airplane? Are you kidding me? Forget it! Faces are blurred out so that you can't be identified with the image? Bull! I don't buy it for one minute! I'm traveling to <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 />Maryland this summer with my parents, and guess what? They’ve decided to drive. They too don't approve of all the overly excessive measures at the airport.  I refuse to set foot on an airplane if I have to be subjected to being groped by some snotty TSA agent, or be forced to walk through that radiation-infested chamber of theirs. If I can't get to my destination by ground travel, I'll stay home. Full-body scanners won't make me feel any safer traveling by air. I miss the days of the friendly skies.