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Body scanners used as porn by airport security
It had to happen sooner or later.The Nigerian newspaper This Day has reported that security officials at Lagos airport are getting their jollies by watching female passengers go through a full-body scanner.
Nigerian investigative reporters visited the airport during a slow period when security officials had time to spare. The journalists found some of them hanging around the scanner display. Since the scanner blurs the face in an attempt to give anonymity, the officers were hurrying over to the line to peek at the passengers before going back to the scanner to check out their favorites.
The scanner was installed after the failed attack by underwear bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who was from Lagos, yet technicians have revealed a full-body scan wouldn't have caught him. An Israeli security expert who helped plan security at Israel's super-strict Ben Gurion Airport says body scanners don't work. Israeli airports don't use the device.
Many Nigerians feel it is against their religion to expose themselves to a stranger, while others fear the effects of radiation. The investigative journalists witnessed passengers objecting to go through the scanner until security turned off one of the metal detectors, giving them the choice of using the full-body scanner or waiting in a longer line.
Filed under: Africa, Nigeria, Transportation, Airports, Travel Health, Travel Security
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Marina K. Villatoro Sep 28th 2010 11:44AM
Radiation plus perverts? That’s the worst idea that anyone could have had.
BTDT Sep 29th 2010 9:55AM
I daresay this is not restricted to Nigeria.
Melinda Sep 29th 2010 6:24AM
Yeah.. and..?? You expected anything different..??
Ryan Lee Sep 29th 2010 6:34AM
People insisted that there would be no way to store images. These machines would be real time only. Guess what!
Can't wait for wives and daughters to start showing up on internet web sites.
GB Sep 29th 2010 9:30AM
They were looking at the real time images---no images are stored
Lynda Sep 29th 2010 10:09AM
What the heck are you talking about? Nowhere in this article did it mention images were stored. You need to comprehend what you're reading before making a comment!
bill Sep 29th 2010 7:38AM
Lessee, Nigeria, the country where the GNP is predicated on oil first and crime second. Where the national pasttime is theft, larceny and related crimes of dishonesty. Where half of the world's internet scammers infest. Where about 5,000 people are killed a year by explosions relating to them attempting to cut into and poach gas pipelines. They're loitering and leering? At least you know they're not up to something more serious
Harry Hurt Sep 29th 2010 11:01AM
Wouldn't set foot in Nigeria? I wouldn't set foot outside the United States. Well, England or Canada, maybe.
Roy Sep 29th 2010 8:33AM
How can they possibly get their jollies from something that makes everybody look like a terminator?
ML Sep 29th 2010 8:58AM
People in Nigeria always try to send me money.
Mac Sep 29th 2010 9:55AM
Me too, ML. You have to admit that they are extremely generous people, frequently offering to place millions of dollars in the bank accounts of complete strangers. Gotta love them.
On the other hand, Chuck posted a message advocating pre-emptive nu-cu-lar strikes against Nigeria and half a dozen other inconvenient countries. I sure do hope that the $23 million which is headed for my bank account from the widow of a highly placed Nigerian government official gets here before we start bombing.
chuck Sep 29th 2010 9:15AM
I can see peoplw wanting to get out of a place like Nigeria, but, the questions is, who would want to go there to start with? Corruption....well maybe not as bad as Mexico, but how much better would the world be without Nigeria, scam artistist capital, or Somali, pirate capital, or Yemin, Terrosit capital, or Mexico, Drug capital? Although in Mexico's defense if it weren't for the heavy drug usage by the US, it could be a productive member of World Society. Nuke Nigeria, Somali, Yemen, Iran, and North Korea, and you solve MANY, MANY problems so you can concentrate of American users and Mexican suppliers!
Qser Nov 24th 2010 7:42PM
@chuck
I am hoping you are just being sarcastic, otherwise that's a totally insensitive and quite idiotic statement. Yeah bomb all Nigerians to the stone age- way to go
I will tell you what the world needs ignorant morons like you.
lking4trbl Sep 29th 2010 9:54AM
It's a shame their lives are so lonely and pathetic they can get their jollies looking at such images.
My daughter has flown twice since these things were installed at our airport and she's been picked both times to get scanned. Don't tell me they aren't using them for "jollies" around the world.
Megs Sep 29th 2010 1:03PM
Well, I'm an overweight, over-40 mother of 3. If anyone gets his jollies from THAT then they are more pathetic than perverts, lol
beenaroundtheworld Sep 29th 2010 4:54PM
Please know that your daughter---anyone---- CAN refuse! I travel extensively by air and I always try to pick a line that does not have the machine. If I wind up in one, or it's the only one, I refuse and take the pat-down. They MUST provide an alternative to the machine... at least here in the U.S.
I would never let my pre-teen and teen daughters go through one for the very reasons stated in this article.
Also, read this recent article posted on CNet: "Feds Admit Storing Checkpoint Body Scan Images, August 4,2010.
Susan Sep 29th 2010 5:29PM
to BeenAroundTheWorld, In theory we have the right to refuse, however I've recently seen several ladies told no, they had to go through as they had "picked" that lane. Me, I threw a major fit and they hand wanded and patted me down. Of course I had some hours to kill before my plane got there and so had spare time. My husband just shook his head. By the way I was done before the lady going through the scanner next to me as the idiots were scanning and then patting down everyone who went through @@. I got nasty looks from the TSA agents when I mentioned that if someone went through the scanner, they should not need to be patted down except for rare exceptions.
Jerome Crosson Sep 29th 2010 9:47AM
Have we forgotten the claim of "airport security" is a hoax ? Every couple of years there is a new gadget for the TSA people to use, so they don't get bored.
Any future terrorists will enter via the employee door, which has no 'security'.
All of this because someone was counting beans while the WTC terrorists were learning how to fly big planes into buildings and didn't bother to learn how to land a plane; they didn't need that skill..
Jack Sep 29th 2010 9:55AM
You are all morons. First off, it's Radio Frequency. If you have a cell phone, these machines are emitting 1/10000 of the radio frequency that a cell phone would.
Secondly, you CAN opt out though apparently nobody ever thought of that as an option.
And lastly, they cannot be stored. This reporter, along with many others, have no idea what they're talking about.
Sean McLachlan Sep 29th 2010 9:58AM
Radio Frequency radiation is still radiation, and I never said it was harmful, only that some Nigerians are afraid it is harmful. Also, I never said the images could be stored. You need to work on your reading and science skills.