Makeover for Airport Body Scanners?

Image via CrunchBase

SPIE Newsroom
8 September 2010

SPIE Corporate Member L-3 Communications Holdings, which makes scanners for airport security lines, is delivering software upgrades in the United States that may ease passengers' privacy concerns about the so-called "naked" cameras that have recently been installed in airports in Europe, the United States, and elsewhere. The body scanners see through clothing and reveal clear outlines of passengers' anatomies.

L-3 Communications and OSI Systems Inc.'s Rapiscan are delivering the upgrades that show a generic figure rather than an actual image of a passenger's body parts. The new display would mark sections of a person's body that need to be checked.

The revisions "certainly address most of the privacy concerns," Peter Kant, a Rapiscan executive vice president, said in an interview. Every passenger will generate an avatar that "looks like a guy wearing a baseball cap," he said.

The U.S. Transportation Security Administration aims to add the software to the machines, which sparked complaints, as more airports get the scanners. As of 27 August, 194 of the devices were in use at 51 U.S. airports.

"TSA continues to explore additional privacy protections for imaging technology," Greg Soule, a spokesman for the security agency, said in an e-mail.

An alternative system to the controversial body scanners using a passive terahertz security camera was the subject of a recent article in SPIE Professional magazine. Researchers at the Institute of Photonic Technology Jena in Germany see this approach as a promising solution to worries about health effects as well as privacy concerns.

The scientific challenge of using a passive imaging technology is to achieve enough sensitivity in the detector to identify weapons and other hidden hazardous materials. The THz camera developed at IPHT is able to record images with a frame rate of up to 10 Hz. That is close to video but not sufficient to image a person passing the camera at a walking pace without motion blurring. For that reason, the forthcoming fourth-generation camera will use a receiver with 50 detectors to achieve full video rate at 25 Hz.

Bloomberg Businessweek article
SPIE Professional article (SPIE Member login required)

The solution to Islamic modesty concerns about airport scanning lies in Terahertz

It has recently been reported that Muslim-American groups are very concerned that the current airport scanners are far too revealing, and violate Islamic rules on modesty.
Here are two press releases, the first identifies the issue, and the second, which is a repost from this blog of an earlier news article proposes a solution.
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Detroit Free Press:

Saying that body scanners violate Islamic law, Muslim-American groups are supporting a "fatwa" -- a religious ruling -- that forbids Muslims from going through the scanners at airports because of concerns that the scanners are too revealing, and violate rules governing modesty.

The following is a repost of an earlier story on this blog last month that identifies the solution to this issue. Please share this with your Muslim friends or acquaintances.
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Detroit television news story on Advanced Photonix airport scanning capacity


http://www.clickondetroit.com/video/22278105/
(note you may need to copy and paste this link into your browser)
Below is a short summary posted of the story, but please take the time
to watch the video, it's really good and perhaps someone can send it to
a national news show.

Local Company Has Solution To Airport Body Scanners
POSTED: Tuesday, January 19, 2010
UPDATED: 3:49 pm EST January 19, 2010
Picometrix is working on a new type of body scan that may solve the battle between security and privacy with regard to body scanners at airport security checkpoints.
For 15 years, they have used terahertz wave technology for customers like NASA to scan shuttle tiles and seals for flaws.
This week, Picometrix, of Ann Arbor, landed a contract to scan the U.S. Air Force's F-35 Lightning II fighter jets for structural integrity. This is a multi-million dollar contract.
A terahertz scan can identify the makeup of a material, whether it's the metal of a gun, or the chemical signature of PETN, which is the chemical explosive that authorities said terror suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab used in his Christmas Day bombing attempt.
Current scanners produce a high-definition image of travelers, which some see as an invasion of privacy. The ability of terahertz waves to identify material without the use of detailed images could provide the necessary compromise.
Each substance, from metal to chemicals, has a signature that can be stored in a database. A traveler carrying a substance on the threat list will trigger an alarm when scanned.
There have been claims that terahertz waves are damaging to human DNA. Not true says IRL DULING/ PicoMetrix. The light waves are similar to infrared or microwaves, and the terahertz scanner puts out wave equivalent to a light bulb, and thus poses no threat to humans.
The technology exists now, but it's up to the Transportation Safety Administration when we might see it in airports.
http://www.clickondetroit.com/seenon4/22275268/detail.html