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| January 18, 2010 | UK full-body airport scanners raise human rights fears | | London: The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) of UK has written to Home Secretary Alan Johnson raising concerns over the proposed introduction of full-body scanners
at airports across the country. It fears the body scanners could breach an individual's
right to privacy as laid out in the Human Rights Act. The EHRC has said that the
proposals are likely to have a negative impact on privacy, especially in concern
to certain groups such as disabled people, the elderly, children and the transgendered
community. "The commission fully accepts the Government's responsibility to protect
the safety and security of air travellers. The right to life is the ultimate human
right and we support the Government reviewing security in the light of recent
alleged terrorist activity," The Telegraph quoted John Wadham, group director
legal at the EHRC, as saying. "However, the Government needs to ensure that measures
to protect this right also take into account the need to be proportionate in its
counter-terrorism proposals and ensure that they are justified by evidence and
effectiveness," he added. Meanwhile, privacy campaigners have welcomed the EHRC's
move. "The EHRC is completely right to question the use of full-body scanners
in airports," said Dylan Sharpe, campaign director of Big Brother Watch. "They
are another intrusion into our privacy in the name of protection, yet we know
that they are not fail-safe and could see airport authorities becoming reliant
on a deeply flawed method of detection," he added. Earlier, the campaigners had
said that the images created by the 80,000 pounds scanners are so graphic that
they amount to "virtual strip-searching" and had called for safeguards to protect
the privacy of passengers involved. The Gordon Brown government also faces demands
to exempt under 18s from the scans or face the delays of introducing new legislation
to ensure airport security staff do not commit offences under child pornography
laws. They also face demands to ensure that the images from the scanners, including
those of celebrities, do not end up on the Internet. | |
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