INFORMEDdebate
YES
from members:
Should air travelers
be required to
undergo
Robert Cassidy
Westminster, CO
whole-body
security
scanning?
SCANNING DEVICES that produce
an image of a person’s naked body
are being tested in airports with
the hope of catching passengers
carrying explosives and other
prohibited items beneath their
clothing. Where the devices are
being used, passengers typically
have the choice to opt out and
instead go through a metal detector
and physical pat down, but this
might change.
Proponents of the scanners would
like them to be a primary method for
screening that is mandatory for everyone.
They say the devices are quick and safe and
would have prevented the attempt to blow up
a Detroit-bound jetliner last December.
Critics say the scanners are unnecessarily
invasive and abuse privacy rights. The money
being spent on new security equipment, they
add, would be better invested in investigation
and intelligence work to detect bombers before
they arrive at the airport.
What do you think?
Rhonda Peterson
Galena, OH
Privacy rights are
respected through
modification of the
image. This, along with
profiling those whose
actions are suspect, can speed
security while keeping us safer.
Denver Perkins
St. Louis, MO
We are dealing with a
new type of enemy. I
think we need to use
every means possible
to protect our citizens.
We are a nation at war.
NO
from members:
Carol L. Mitzelfeldt
Arlington, WA
Jennifer Warren
Brooklyn, NY
[It’s] going beyond the
call of privacy. They
should do something
else to detect dangerous things.
BrAnD x PIc Tures/juPITer IMAges
18 The Costco Connection MARCH 2010
Find out more about this topic on the Web:
•;www.tsa.gov/travelers/index.shtm
•;www.luggagepros.com/blog/2009/02/airport-security-body-scanners-
vs-metal-detectors/
•;www.cnn.com/2009/TRAVEL/05/18/airport.security.body.scans/index.html
•;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole_body_imaging
Lissa Horikawa
Honolulu, HI
This device is not good
at all. I even prefer the
dogs sniffing on me
than this new machine.