UK lawmakers: privacy fears over body scanners overblown

The privacy fears raised by the deployment of full body scanners at airports are overblown, a committee of British lawmakers said Wednesday, adding that the technology was no more of a threat to passengers’ rights than pat-downs or bag searches. The government promised to install body scanners across Britain’s airports after a botched attempt to bring down a Detroit-bound jet on Dec. 25 — allegedly by a terrorist who hid explosives in his underwear.But privacy groups bristled at the prospect of scans that can peer under clothes to reveal hidden items, likening them to a “virtual strip search.”The report welcomed the introduction of the scanners and recommended that other security measures be adopted quickly, including new equipment to sniff out trace levels of explosives.Source: Los Angeles Times; find article here>>.

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