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Philadelphia International Airport Body Scanner Upgrades Coming

by: Rebel - Havertown, PA
started: 07/21/11 11:46 am | updated: 07/21/11 11:46 am

Body scanner upgrades are coming to Philadelphia International Airport. The scanners will stop using passenger-specific images in coming months.

The new software will show a generic outline of a person, not a specific image of an actual passenger.

Passengers will be able to view the same outline that the TSA officer sees, and a TSA officer will no longer be required to view the image remotely.

If a scanner detects a potential threat, additional screening will be required.

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Philadelphia International Airport has three body scanners - one each in Terminals B, C, and F - and each will get the software upgrade in coming months, TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis said.

The TSA began testing the software in February at Atlanta, Las Vegas, and Washington Reagan National airports, after an outcry by privacy advocates and some passengers that the machines were too invasive and performed a virtual strip search.

The technology can detect metallic and nonmetallic items, such as explosives and plastic weapons, under clothing.

"Right now, the officer viewing the image is seated in a remote viewing room and has no contact with passengers," Davis said.

"The images themselves look like a fuzzy photo negative. With the new software, there will be no need for a remote viewing room. The image will come up on a monitor right there on the machine itself."

"It will be a very generic, almost stick-figure-like image," she said. "Every image will be the same for every person."

In all, nearly 500 scanners are in use at 78 U.S. airports. The approximately 250 scanners that are not part of the change announced Wednesday are so-called backscatter body scanners used at 38 airports. The TSA plans to test similar software on those machines this fall, with the goal of eventually upgrading them as well.

Last Friday, a federal appeals court upheld the use of full-body scanners to screen air travelers, but it said the TSA should have sought public comment before deploying them in airports.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled that the use of the machines did not amount to an illegal search under the Constitution's Fourth Amendment.

TSA Administrator John Pistole said in a statement, "This software upgrade enables us to continue providing a high level of security through advanced imaging technology screening, while improving the passenger experience at checkpoints."

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