Is it me or...

[bunn]

is this a bit horrible?

http://www.breastcancercare.org.uk/breast-cancer-breast-health/treatment-side-effects/surgery/breast-prostheses/uk-airport-body-scanners/

"The purpose of the scanners is to be able to identify concealed weapons and prohibited items, but they will also reveal external breast prostheses, the type worn after a mastectomy operation.

The Department for Transport advises people wearing an external breast prosthesis to notify security staff before being scanned.

Although this may be awkward or embarrassing, it will mean you are less likely to be searched than if you have not declared it. It may also be helpful for you to carry a letter from the GP or breast specialist, confirming your situation, to help ease transit through security.

Upon seeing the external prosthesis on the scan, it is an individual decision by the member of security staff as to whether they conduct a body search. This means that wearing a breast prosthesis does not inevitably lead to a body search, but may do so."

 Are prostheses REALLY such a major security threat that this undignified and unsavory approach is justified...?     Very dubious about the body scanning thing in general, but this is an extra level of intrusive ick!

Can't help thinking of the foil wrapped cucumber scene in Spinal Tap tho...

Comments

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

It's impossible to search everyone comprehensively. However, there is enough data available on suicide bombers, hijackers etc to make use of profiling and target those air travellers in the queue who are more likely to be terrorists. It's a particularly perverse form of political correctness that makes a nun just as likely to be searched as a sweaty, nervous looking Muslim bloke.

One side effect of sensible profiling would be to make the prosthetic breasts thing less of an issue - most suicide bombers are male.

[firin.livejournal.com]

Though I dislike the thought of such intrusive scanning intensely, I have to concede that the moment we decide to scan, but to downgrade the perceived issue posed by prosthetic breasts, terrorists will probably start training more women. It's already not an unheard of tactic - I'm pretty sure I recall reading relevant news articles, though I can't think of any to reference off the top of my head.

Bunn is right though. Even if we made it impossible to blow up planes - and I don't think that even this type of scanning will be impervious to really persistent and determined attempts to smuggle explosives on board - there are then all the other modes of transport that can be turned into devices of mass slaughter.

Where do you draw the line?

I think it was Benjamin Franklin that said something along the lines of, "Any society that is prepared to give up a little liberty to gain a little security deserves neither and will lose both."

[bunn.livejournal.com]

Even if you narrow it down to 'darkish nervous looking blokes' it seems hopelessly imprecise, and as Firin says, you then probably change the profile of the people you are looking for, just by the act of looking for them.

If safety is an excuse for searching people, it would also be an excuse for forcing them to travel in the nude. Or for every person who wants to fly to get a special permit. You have to draw the line somewhere.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

I can't remember much in the way of details, but there's quite a bit on this subject in Superfreakonomics (still sitting on my bedside table I think), in the chapter on 'Should Suicide Bombers Buy Life Insurance?'

One part that I do remember was the calculation of how many minutes of their life each person loses in security queues because of this and that if you then multiply this by the number of travellers, you get a number of years, which if you then divide by the average lifespan of an air traveller can be used to work out how many 'virtual deaths' the terrorists are ultimately responsible for. (Rather convoluted sentence, but you get the idea.)

[kargicq.livejournal.com]

Travel in the nude! Now there's an idea. Might get reluctant flyers like Sigisgrim more enthusiastic??, either that or ensure they never fly again.

Re the special permit, the ESTA thing to enter the US is not terribly dissimilar.

- N.