APF Policy Statement re Body Scanning at Airports

The Office of Transport Security announced in October 2008 that it was commencing airport trials of a scanning technology that presents a display of the human body much as if the person were naked.

It does not appear that there had been any prior public consultation process, nor any consultation with representative and advocacy groups.

On the basis of the media reports about the Office's announcement, the APF makes the following observations:

1. Any scheme that has significant potential to intrude into privacy, in any of its forms, needs to be the subject of a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA). A preliminary PIA is necessary even before trials of such a nature are undertaken.
2. The Office claims that privacy is protected because "the officer examining the images is located away from the screening lane and cannot see [the person concerned]". This suggests a serious lack of appreciation of the nature of privacy. Many people regard the appearance of their naked bodies as being private, and are concerned about a breach of this expectation whether or not the person looking at the image knows who they are.
3. Any privacy-intrusive measure requires justification, and exposure of the justification to review. It is far from clear what the problem is that this technology is meant to address, and far from clear that it is any more effective or efficient in addressing that problem than are other, less privacy-intrusive alternatives.
4. The trials should be halted, and a PIA conducted.
5. This technology exposes the serious limitations on current privacy laws. They are limited to protection of 'personal information' and do not apply to the intrusion involved in depersonalised body-scanning.

Stop Press: Europe shelves airport full body scans (The Age, 21 November 2008)

Resources

The tiny amount of public information available on the project appears to be as follows:

• the home-page of the relevant Commonwealth agency
• its 'Aviation Security Screening Review'
• its media release on 'Advanced Screening Technologies Demonstrated at Adelaide Airport'
• its brief page on 'Advanced Technology Trials'
• its brief page on 'Your Privacy'

Media Reports include:

• Airports to trial virtual strip searches, The Age 2 October 2008 (incl. sample image)
• Melbourne Airport scanners 'will show private parts', The Age, 15 October 2008. This includes a link to the agency's PR video (after the ad), and the diagram that is being used in the brief information sheet available to passengers
• 'Nude' airport scanners under fire, The Age, 22 October 2008

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Created: 23 October 2008 - Last Amended: 21 November 2008 by Roger Clarke - Site Last Verified: 11 January 2009
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