02 April,2009 11:33 AM IST | | Agencies
Travellers in America are being asked to pass through whole body scanners at airport security checkpoints, which penetrates their clothing.
The new technology, developed by New York based L3 Communications, has raised concerns after it was revealed that underwear is visible in the scans.
It has drawn comparisons with scanners on the 1990 science fiction film Total Recall, which revealed the bodies of Mars-bound passengers beneath their clothing.
Passengers have to remove metal items, jackets, shoes and step into a small glass chamber. The sensors of the whole body scanner scan the body for about three seconds.
The sensors can detect part of the electromagnetic spectrum that emits energy from the body at wavelengths of one millimetre.
Because the energy from a human body is radiated at a higher rate than plastic, metal and ceramic, the unit can then reveal those objects.
The scan blurs out the face of the passenger, and the image is not stored.
However, the American Civil Liberties Union said the body scanning technology could be too intrusive as it could project images of mastectomies and catheter tubes.
The Transportation and Security Administration has placed the scanners in airports in Salt Lake City, Las Vegas, Miami, San Fransisco, Tulsa, Okla and Albuquerque, in a pilot programme.
It is currently a voluntary system.
