EU to scan the skies?
Share
The attempted Christmas Day plane bombing over Detroit has focused the world's attention on boosting air security. Many countries are planning to introduce controversial full body scans, and experts meet tomorrow to discuss whether the EU as a whole should follow suit.
Emergency airport security measures were introduced around the world as news spread of a Nigerian man's failed attempt to set off a bomb on a US airliner arriving in Detroit on 25 December.
Since then both the Netherlands - where the Detroit plane set off from - and the UK have already introduced full-body scans on a systematic basis for all US-bound passengers. The UK says it intends to deploy the machines for all flights in the near future.
The technology, which has been used on a trial basis in a number of airports, uses microwaves to "see through" the passenger's clothing. The new scanners are causing controversy, in part because they produce a near-naked image of the subject's body that some campaigners claim violates human rights and privacy laws.
Others claim the technology is ineffective and is being introduced simply as a knee-jerk reaction to the attempted Christmas Day attack.
A meeting of aviation security experts has been called in Brussels tomorrow to look at whether scanners should be introduced on an EU-wide basis and to investigate some of the concerns about the technology. Brussels correspondent Vanessa Mock says it is highly unlikely any blanket ruling will result from this in the short-term, leaving it up to individual countries to decide for themselves whether to introduce the procedure or not.
