Dutch will use full-body scanners for flights to U.S.
Most passengers flying to the U.S. from the Netherlands will have to go through full-body scanners before boarding their aircraft according to Dutch airport officials. Guusje Ter Horts, the Dutch Minister for the Interior claims that fifteen of the machines will be in place within three weeks at Schipol Airport. The move to introduce the scanners which give detailed images of what is under a passenger’s clothing comes after Abdul Mutallab’s alleged failed attempt to blow up a Northwest Airlines jet en route to Detroit from Amsterdam on Christmas Day. Although the scanners have been called into question because they intrude on a persons privacy by not only showing up contraband beneath a passengers clothing but also detailed images of genitalia, it looks like the world is demanding safety from bombers at the moment over safety from voyeurs.
Many politicians in the U.S. and some airport security experts claim that if scanners had already been in place then Abdul Mutallab would never have been allowed to board the Northwest Airlines flight. They are calling for the deployment and mandatory use of the machines which cost around $150,000 a piece. Others claim that the presence of a sniffer dog might also have resulted in Abdul Mutallab and his explosives not being allowed to board.
Britain is also looking into the viability of placing full-body scanners in airports throughout the country. A trial of the machines is underway at Manchester Airport. The scanners have raised a legal issue when it comes to their taking naked pictures of young children. It is still illegal to do this in the U.K. which puts scanner operators at risk of prosecution if the machines are used on a minor.