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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 2 of 3)
Dennis K Sep 29th 2010 10:24AM
Any idiot who thinks RF radiation is harmless should crawl into his microwave and one of the requirements Homeland Security had before full body scanners were installed was that they could store and send images of suspected subjects.
Dennis K Sep 29th 2010 10:26AM
Jack, Jack, Jack! You have swallowed all the propaganda like a good, but undereducated boy and are now regurgitating it as planned. Any idiot who thinks RF radiation is harmless should crawl into his microwave and one of the requirements Homeland Security had before full body scanners were installed was that they could store and send images of suspected subjects. Where have you been getting your information, CNN? Obama's news secratary?
Sean McLachlan Sep 29th 2010 10:31AM
RF radiation, like all radiation, can be harmful in large doses, or small doses over long periods of time. We soak up natural radiation every day, and the more radiation we get from cell phones, x-rays and, yes, body scanners, the more likely we are to have health issues. There are a lot of variables, so it's hard to predict with any accuracy, but it's best to try to avoid as much radiation as possible. Easier said than done in the modern world!
michelle Sep 29th 2010 10:36AM
question for you Jack.. If the images can not be stored how can we all be looking at examples of those images in the article? Now I am not saying those are the exact same images mentioned but there is a way to save and share those images and the proof is right in front of us all.
cliff Sep 29th 2010 11:13AM
Jack, good input. You are a smart guy. Thanks for setting the record straight. My one question is why do you call everyone a moron. Because you have knowledge and share it does not mean people are morons. To me that sounded condescending. Again your input was good.
Rebecca Sep 29th 2010 1:03PM
If the image cannot be stored, then what is the picture at the top of this page??
mike Sep 29th 2010 5:54PM
the images can be stored on most machines, there have been previous articles on the subject. i know someone who worked in the transit authority for a number of years, and yes the images can be stored
Mark Sep 29th 2010 10:09AM
Let's not forget, these same scanners are to be used in the United States. They were going to be installed in every major US airport, but obviously that hasn't happened as of yet anyway. Airport security here in the US are just as bad as the ones in Nigeria. If people trying to board airplanes in the US are wearing explosives under their clothes, on in their shoes or stitched into their clothing should be shot and killed right in front of everyone, this would slow down or stop people from trying to do harm to innocent passengers aboard passenger airliners in the United States. Terrorists have no rights to a trial, they should be executed on sight, have their bloody bodies drug off leaving a bloody trail showing everyone that airliner terrorist will not be tolerated ever in the United States. This sounds crude, but it would work. As for the security in Nigeria ns many other third world countries, for them to sell or send those pictures as porn shoud be fired, and never be hired on as security for any company but that won't happen due to their government is more corrupt them the United States Government is. For now anyway.
john Sep 29th 2010 10:03AM
quick solution. throw them in prison for 5 years. won't take long for the word to get around
exoticdoc2 Sep 29th 2010 10:10AM
Need anyone say "I told you so?"
exoticdoc2 Sep 29th 2010 10:21AM
By the way, for those interested, if you sometimes post comments on Pop Eater (and their related popsugar) and AOL sites, they will censor what you say, and not just for vulgarities. If the comment is not PC enough and disagrees with what they think, they will not post it. I found it ironic in that the place I tested this idea with popeater was on the article on Muslim censorship, via threats of violence (surprise, surprise), of South Park. So just be aware that Pop Eater is into censorship big time. Two of their favorite protectorates are Muslims and illegal aliens. Politics daily will also follow suit and censor an absolutely true, non-vulgar comment simply because they disagree with it and it is not PC enough. I have been repeatedly testing the popeater and Politics Daily comments section and they also censor any negative comments about themselves, such as this. Apparently they are ashamed of what they are doing and trying to hide it. In soome, popeater was censoring comments while allowing others to use profane vulgarities. How inconsistent. The latest confirmatory test was 9/15/10.
J. Crowell Sep 29th 2010 10:42AM
Dennis K. obviously must get his "news" from FIXed News, the Right Wing Propaganda Network. Now don't sit very close to that TV set! You'll get "nuked" from the RF radiation watching FIXed News!
Krissy G. Sep 29th 2010 12:03PM
This is absolutely disgusting. I went through one of these at O'hare international when I was flying American Airlines and I now refuse to go on any airlines that has them. It makes you feel like a legit criminal as you raise your arms over your head and it doesn't help that there are about 4 or 5 guys standing around the machine too. If Orlando is storing the body images, than I'm sure they can do it anywhere and the fact that it is used as porn in Nigeria is seriously disturbing.
srsnakes Sep 29th 2010 10:57AM
I'd rather go through the Nigerian scan than be in an American airport restroom with a Republican politician......
Angiebaby Sep 29th 2010 11:16AM
On the upside, even I know the images on Federal scanners can be saved, printed and/or transmitted. Hell, why bother if you can't produce the hard copy evidence the scanner supposedly ferrets out? On the downside, I guess I thought there would be more privacy involved in reading the initial scans, like the TSA agent would be in a booth or private cubicle where others couldn't just look over his shoulder at what then becomes... porn. My ignorance as usual. Hell, yesterday I was having a conversation with a message on my answering machine before I remembered it was not a real person but a message. Some days DO suck more than others.
frank Sep 29th 2010 12:04PM
I've been suspicious of these like everyone else but in no way do these images constitute pornography. Computer enhanced nudity, yes, but don't call it porn.
bhwfa Sep 29th 2010 12:04PM
We have had these scanners in Tulsa, Oklahoma for quite some time now.
Shawn M Sep 29th 2010 12:13PM
If the images can't be stored, where did the picture come from?
Laurie Sep 29th 2010 1:03PM
If there is a real problem with body scanning perverts, then there should be separate lines for males and females, with female security scanning the women and male security scanning men.
Problem Solved...for now...
scott Sep 29th 2010 1:12PM
RF radiation??? I just read an article saying they used x-rays.