Ever since the
Attack on 9/11, America as a whole has taken steps to further protect herself
and her people. We have all taken extra precautions to ensure that we as a
nation would never be put in such terrible circumstances ever again. From
states getting new identification requirements to airports boosting security,
America has ensured that we would never be taken by surprise again. One major step in protecting our country starts
in the airports; after all, maybe if our airport’s security would have been
more alert and had better scanning equipment, the attacks on 9/11 could have
been prevented. Now, with TSA taking extra procedures to make sure everything
runs smoothly and changing the rules on what can and cannot be traveled with,
we as travelers and non-travelers alike can have more peace of mind. But what
happens when the new practices and equipment that were made to protect us,
begin to be intrusive and ethically questionable? Body Scanners have been a popular topic of discussion
ever since they were put into effect. They have been a major step in
keeping us safe, but many people still argue the fact that they violate our privacy
and are ethically wrong.
To this day there
are many questions that need to be answered as to what is the next step that
needs to be taken in order to better the scanners. Although putting the
scanners in airports have brought us closer to having a safer nation, it has
not done all it could to keep us safe. There have been many incidences where the
scanners have completely missed objects that could have been a threat. Personally, the ethical issues and the risks
they pose are greater than the benefits. Me being a frequent traveler, I do not
feel comfortable when I am placed into the scanner and watch as my very detail
image gets put on surveillance screen. I do believe it is an invasion of
privacy and unreasonable in some circumstances. There are many kinks that need
to be worked out because the scanners still cannot detect invisible threats
such as liquids and what could be inside a person’s body. Several officials have stated there are better ways of detecting something harmful without passing
radiation through a person’s body as well. Also, in order for this system to be
really successful, these body scanners need to be placed in more than just a
few countries. So far, The U.S. is one of the only countries that has scanners
into place, Great Britain has scanners in some of their main airports as well.
So far, Germany has rejected the idea of placing scanners at their airports. What if someone was traveling into the U.S with something
harmful? Not much can be done then. I believe that this is the beginning of
something that can be potentially helpful and beneficial, but many years of
research and perfecting the scanners is still needed. Hopefully one day there
will be an improved version of the scanner that everyone can agree on that will
keep us all safe without being so controversial in nature.
Here is a Video that argues against scanners and talks about why they are not beneficial:
References:
DHS Fact Sheet: Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) Health
& Safety. U.S Department of Homeland Security. http://www.tsa.gov/. web. Feb 2012.
Travis, A. (2010, January 4). New
scanners break child porn laws. Retrieved from http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2010/jan/04/new-scanners-child-porn-laws.
Web. Feb 2012.
Brenner, D. J. (2011). Are x-ray
backscatter scanners safe for passenger screenings?. Journal of Radiology,
(259), 6-10.
Israel, B. (2010, January 6). 5
reasons body scanners may not solve our terrorism problem. Discover Magazine,
Retrieved from http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2010/01/06/5-reasons-body-scanners-might-not-solve-our-terrorism-problem/.
web. Feb 2012
