Suspend airport body scanner program, privacy groups say

EPIC, Nader call for halt to deployments, seek review of scanners

The Electronic Privacy Information Center and consumer advocate Ralph Nader are urging President Obama to review the administration's multibillion-dollar plans to install whole body scanners at U.S. airports.

In a joint letter, Marc Rotenberg, the president of EPIC, and Nader asked the president to suspend deployment of the devices until a "comprehensive evaluation" of the effectiveness of the technology and potential health hazards, is completed.

The letter pointed to an event hosted last week by EPIC and Nader's Center for the Study of Responsive Law (CSRL) at which aviation security and radiation experts discussed the potential impact of whole body scanners. The group also included members from the Muslim community and air travelers who have been placed on watch lists and are subject to secondary screening, according to EPIC.

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The Electronic Privacy Information Center and consumer advocate Ralph Nader are urging President Obama to review the administration's multibillion-dollar plans to install whole body scanners at U.S. airports.

In a joint letter, Marc Rotenberg, the president of EPIC, and Nader asked the president to suspend deployment of the devices until a "comprehensive evaluation" of the effectiveness of the technology and potential health hazards, is completed.

The letter pointed to an event hosted last week by EPIC and Nader's Center for the Study of Responsive Law (CSRL) at which aviation security and radiation experts discussed the potential impact of whole body scanners. The group also included members from the Muslim community and air travelers who have been placed on watch lists and are subject to secondary screening, according to EPIC.

Based on the discussions at the event, it is evident that body scanners can be easily defeated by concealing explosive materials in body cavities, the letter says. There is also little information on the health risks posed by the use of such scanners, the letter states. The fact that the systems can be configured at any time to record and store images of travelers also raises privacy questions , the letter said.

"The public does not currently understand the inability of these devices to detect the types of explosive materials that could be used or the possible risks to privacy and health," Rotenberg and Nader wrote. "The Department of Homeland Security has made significant mistakes with similar programs in the past," pointing to the agency's discontinued effort to install explosive-sniffing technology as one example.

Speaking with Computerworld today, Rotenberg said the goal is to try and persuade the administration to conduct a review of whole body scanners similar to the three-month review underway in the European Union.

"Obviously there are groups that favor canceling the program entirely," Rotenberg said. "All we have said is that there needs to be an independent review that could be similar to what the EU required back in January," Rotenberg said. I think there are also some issues that need to be discussed from a security standpoint," he said.

Whole body imagers, or Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) scanners as the government calls them, are designed to detect non-metallic weapons and explosives concealed under a passenger's clothing, such as the explosive PETN powder that the would-be Christmas Day bomber concealed in his underwear.

The scan creates a graphic image of an individual's body. Privacy advocates have blasted the plan to install such devices, saying they enable virtual strip searching of passengers at U.S. airports. However, polls taken in the wake of the attempted bombing attempt appear to show growing public support for use of the technology.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) plans to deploy about 200 AIT scanners at airports around the country by the end of this year. By 2014, close to 900 of the machines are expected to be installed at a cost of $130,000 to $170,000 per scanner. The current TSA budget asks for close to $450 million for 500 scanners.