Extra Feature Story
Airport Body Scanners: Security or Invasion of Privacy?
January 12, 2010
Personal privacy advocates are opposing plans for more widespread use of
full-body scanners at airports following the blocked attempt by an alleged
bomber to set off explosives in his underwear on a flight from Europe to
the U.S.
Currently, 19 U.S. airports use a total of 40 full-body scanners, which are able to take
clear pictures of passengers' bodies.
The Transportation Security Administration has said that it wants to purchase an
additional 300 machines.
TSA spokesman Greg Soule told the Chicago Tribune that the machines "significantly
enhance security because they can detect metallic and nonmetallic items hidden under
clothing."
"It is 100 percent optional for all passengers," Soule said in response to the protests over
privacy. "They can choose to be screened with a full-body pat-down."
What is a full-body scanner?
Full-body scanners are tall telephone stall or portable toilet-sized boxes. Air travelers
stand in front of the machine for about 10 seconds to scan their entire body, producing a
black and white image that blurs out the passenger's face.
Screeners looking at the image sit in a separate room so that they are unable to see who
they are scanning.
Lawmakers and privacy advocates speak out
The American Civil Liberties Union and other watchdog groups oppose the scanners,
calling them an invasion of personal privacy and have expressed fears that the images
could be misused.
"That degree of examination amounts to a significant -- and for some people humiliating -assault on personal privacy to which travelers in a free country should not automatically
be subjected," the ACLU said in a statement. The group argues that scanners would be
able to see if someone was wearing an adult diaper or private medical device.
Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz of Utah also opposes the scanners -- in 2008, he coauthored a bill that would prevent the government from widely using such machines in
airports.
"We don't need to look at naked 8-year-olds and grandmothers to secure airplanes,"
Chaffetz said last week. "Are we really going to subject 2 million people per day to that? I
think it's a false argument to say we have to give up all of our personal privacy in order to
have security," he added.
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But 78 percent of Americans surveyed in a USA Today/Gallup Poll said that they
approved of the scanning machines, and 84 percent of those surveyed believed that the
scanners would help prevent terrorists from trying to blow up planes.
Tension between individual privacy and national security
After the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the Bush administration made national security a
priority, citing the need to collect more personal information about potential terrorists
through processes like wiretapping.
Privacy advocates fought against the 2001 PATRIOT Act which eased restrictions on the
government's authority to search through private personal communications and records
for the purposes of gathering intelligence.
Supporters of the act said that it was instrumental in providing law enforcement officials
with information that would help protect Americans from future terrorist attacks.
Does the U.S. Constitution protect personal privacy?
The Constitution does not directly address the individual right to privacy, but many
Supreme Court decisions have concluded that privacy is a fundamental human right.
For example, the 1972 case Roe v. Wade controversially concluded that the government
could not prohibit abortion based on a women's right to personal or bodily privacy. The
case was decided primarily on the 9th Amendment, which says that even though the
Constitution lays out certain specific rights, such as free speech and religious choice, it
cannot be used to "deny or disparage others retained by the people."
Right to privacy is also mentioned indirectly in several amendments such as the 4th
Amendment which protects against "unreasonable searches and seizures."
-- Compiled by Kate Stanton for NewsHour Extra
© 2009 MacNeil/Lehrer Productions
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