Millimeter wave scanner

A Millimeter Wave Scanner (also called whole body imaging) is an imaging device used for airport security screening.

Technical details

Clothing and other organic materials are translucent in some extremely high frequency (millimeter wave) radio frequency bands.

According to Farran Technologies, a manufacturer of one model of the millimeter wave scanner, the technology exists to extend the search area to as far as 50 meters beyond the scanning area which would allow security workers to scan a large number of people without their awareness that they are being scanned.

Deployment

These machines have been deployed in the Jersey City PATH train system .

Three security scanners using millimeter waves were put into use at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam on 15 May 2007, with more expected to be installed later. The passenger's head is masked from the view of the security personnel.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration deployed scanners at airports in Denver and Minneapolis to scan people in public areas during the 2008 Democratic and Republican National Conventions.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration is planning to deploy several machines in airports for testing in the United States in spring 2008. As of May 2008, one has been deployed to Baltimore-Washington International Airport, as part of a larger security checkpoint redesign. Additionally, The Transportation Security Administration will begin testing millimeter wave passenger imaging technology at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport as a voluntary alternative to a pat-down during secondary screening.

One is currently in use in London Luton airport.

Kelowna International Airport in Kelowna, British Columbia will host the first such device in a Canadian airport.

Privacy concerns

Privacy advocates are concerned about the use of this technology because it allows screeners to see airport passengers without clothing.

Currently the technology does not mask any part of the bodies of the people who are being scanned. Proposed remedies for privacy concerns include only scanning people who are detected to be carrying contraband, or developing technology to mask genitals and other "private parts." At least one government official has stated this technology is already in place, leading some to suggest that there are no privacy issues for regular passengers. In some locations, travelers have the choice between the body scan or a traditional "pat down."

Note that in the specific case of the TSA, they have promised to separate the people viewing the private images from the people being scanned in order to retain some privacy. This policy seems to have been recently neglected, however, when the TSA set up scanning stations in public areas of the airports of Denver and Minneapolis during the 2008 Republican and Democratic National Conventions.

See also

• Security scan
• Backscatter X-ray

References