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There are better ways than body scanners and group-related profiling to improve security at airports

01 January 2010

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Privacy and security can be reconciled - There are better ways than body scanners and group-related profiling to improve security at airports (Guardian, link) by Martin Scheinin, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism:

"Some measures are, and ought to remain, prohibited because they nullify the right to privacy and therefore conflict with foundational principles of a free society. Further, the most privacy intrusive measures are not always the most effective ones from the perspective of preventing terrorism.... body scanners are ineffective. They are unlikely to detect 80 grams of PETN explosives hidden in the underware of a person. And once it is known that body scanners are in use, they are easy to avoid by hiding this type of explosives in a body cavity or in a commercial item in one's hand luggage. Further, as body scanners will slow down the security checks at airports, it is likely, although not unavoidable, that their use will result in a new wave of discriminatory profiling based directly or indirectly on nationality, ethnicity or religion."

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