neville_nobody
13th Aug 2011, 02:42
I love how there is no mention of the amount of radiation these thing are emitting. Flying is soon to become a radiation hazard the way it is going.
Body scanner trials at Sydney Airport | See-through safety` (http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/seethrough-safety-20110810-1imab.html)
Body scanning is about to be trialled at Sydney Airport despite reservations in Europe, writes Clive Dorman.
Domestic and international security processing times at airports are expected to increase as Australian authorities trial body scanners in use in the US but rejected this month in Europe as unreliable.
The federal minister for transport, Anthony Albanese, won't rule out the possibility that passenger security charges will increase, putting pressure on airfares, if the technology is introduced as expected late this year or early next year.
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However, Albanese has guaranteed there will be no repeat of the privacy breaches suffered by American travellers with the new scanning technology, dubbed the "nude-o-scope" by one online travel forum.
The US Transportation Security Administration was forced to introduce a software fix to prevent security officers breaching the privacy of women using the system, one version of which, the L3 ProVision millimetre-wave, is now being trialled by the federal Department of Infrastructure at Sydney Airport.
A second trial at Melbourne Airport is due to follow the Sydney testing but privacy may be the least of the system's problems.
In a trial at Hamburg Airport this month, German federal police said they would not use the system until major software changes were made.
They found the system created false alarms for more than 70 per cent of passengers processed.
The scanners were said to have been confused by layers of clothing, boots, zip fasteners and even pleats. In 10 per cent of cases the passenger's posture set them off.
However, Albanese says different software is being used for the L3 system in the Australian trial. He says no contractual decisions have been made on which system will be used at Australia's eight international airports.
"All security leads to a slowing up of the system but we need to get the security right," he says.
"We're confident that any change will be minimal but that's one of the reasons we're conducting the trial in both Sydney and Melbourne. You do that so you can get the systems right."
Albanese says it is too soon to say whether consumers would have to pay more for airport security, given contracts were yet to be signed. "There is cost to all security at airports," he says.
The passenger security upgrade is part of a $200 million package that includes behaviour observation training, information sharing between security agencies, an increase in the number of ETD (explosive trace detection) devices at airports, an increased use of dogs at airports and increased cargo screening.
"It's a matter of constantly being vigilant and taking the correct advice," Albanese says. "There's no single initiative that you can do to make security absolute."
He says the government has engaged the federal privacy commissioner, Timothy Pilgrim, to prevent privacy breaches by any new airport scanning system. "We took into account what I believe are legitimate privacy concerns," Albanese says.
"The image that is generated will be the same for all passengers. There's a generic male outline and a generic female outline ... The images won't be able to be stored or shared in any way, so we've addressed those issues very clearly."
Read more: Body scanner trials at Sydney Airport | See-through safety` (http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/seethrough-safety-20110810-1imab.html#ixzz1UsCGZI9o)
Body scanner trials at Sydney Airport | See-through safety` (http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/seethrough-safety-20110810-1imab.html)
Body scanning is about to be trialled at Sydney Airport despite reservations in Europe, writes Clive Dorman.
Domestic and international security processing times at airports are expected to increase as Australian authorities trial body scanners in use in the US but rejected this month in Europe as unreliable.
The federal minister for transport, Anthony Albanese, won't rule out the possibility that passenger security charges will increase, putting pressure on airfares, if the technology is introduced as expected late this year or early next year.
Advertisement: Story continues below
However, Albanese has guaranteed there will be no repeat of the privacy breaches suffered by American travellers with the new scanning technology, dubbed the "nude-o-scope" by one online travel forum.
The US Transportation Security Administration was forced to introduce a software fix to prevent security officers breaching the privacy of women using the system, one version of which, the L3 ProVision millimetre-wave, is now being trialled by the federal Department of Infrastructure at Sydney Airport.
A second trial at Melbourne Airport is due to follow the Sydney testing but privacy may be the least of the system's problems.
In a trial at Hamburg Airport this month, German federal police said they would not use the system until major software changes were made.
They found the system created false alarms for more than 70 per cent of passengers processed.
The scanners were said to have been confused by layers of clothing, boots, zip fasteners and even pleats. In 10 per cent of cases the passenger's posture set them off.
However, Albanese says different software is being used for the L3 system in the Australian trial. He says no contractual decisions have been made on which system will be used at Australia's eight international airports.
"All security leads to a slowing up of the system but we need to get the security right," he says.
"We're confident that any change will be minimal but that's one of the reasons we're conducting the trial in both Sydney and Melbourne. You do that so you can get the systems right."
Albanese says it is too soon to say whether consumers would have to pay more for airport security, given contracts were yet to be signed. "There is cost to all security at airports," he says.
The passenger security upgrade is part of a $200 million package that includes behaviour observation training, information sharing between security agencies, an increase in the number of ETD (explosive trace detection) devices at airports, an increased use of dogs at airports and increased cargo screening.
"It's a matter of constantly being vigilant and taking the correct advice," Albanese says. "There's no single initiative that you can do to make security absolute."
He says the government has engaged the federal privacy commissioner, Timothy Pilgrim, to prevent privacy breaches by any new airport scanning system. "We took into account what I believe are legitimate privacy concerns," Albanese says.
"The image that is generated will be the same for all passengers. There's a generic male outline and a generic female outline ... The images won't be able to be stored or shared in any way, so we've addressed those issues very clearly."
Read more: Body scanner trials at Sydney Airport | See-through safety` (http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/seethrough-safety-20110810-1imab.html#ixzz1UsCGZI9o)