European Parliament rejects, for now, full body scanners at airports

by Jeffrey White on

Here’s a quick follow-up from a post I did yesterday.

The European Parliament yesterday overwhelmingly voted against authorizing — for now, anyway — the use of full body scanners at European airports.

As I wrote yesterday, these are the scanners that see through people’s clothing, ostensibly for the purpose of better protection against concealed weapons and contraband that might make it through more traditional airport security.

The EP, which is based part of the year in the French city of Strasbourg, voted 361 to 16 against the scanners. Instead, lawmakers want considerably more study done on the privacy and health aspects of these machines.

There is currently one European airport that is testing the machine — Amsterdam’s Schiphol.

The full body scanners are popping up at several US airports, amid complaints from the American Civil Liberties Union that they constitute an extreme invasion of privacy and should only be used as a method of last resort in the screening process, when there is justifiable cause.

In Europe, some lawmakers have called the machines “virtual strip searches.”

New TSA rule aims to improve security and cut down on hassle

by Meg Massie on

Up until now, airline passengers have only been required to provide as much as their first initial and last name to get a plane ticket. However, due to the high rate of false matches to names on the government’s terrorist watch list, passengers will soon be required to provide their full name and birth date before they can fly.

If your name resembles a name on the watch list, you might get held up at security. It has happened to Senator Edward Kennedy as well as to numerous children, but the TSA says that if they have a full name and birth date for every passenger, they won’t get all the false matches they get with the current first initial and last name system.

Airlines have resisted because of the cost and hassle of updating their computer systems, but as of July 2009, full names will be mandatory. Travelers who book flights without giving all the required information will be unable to print or receive boarding passes until they confirm the missing information with an airline ticket agent.

While the TSA is confident that the new procedure will greatly reduce false matches, it’s not clear that it will actually improve security. Security expert Bruce Schneier says terrorists could get around the rule by buying a ticket using someone else’s name.

European lawmakers object to full body scans at airports

by Jeffrey White on

Gadling’s been following the slow implementation of so-called “whole body imaging” machines at US airports for some time now.

Machines have been either installed or are coming soon to Dallas, Detroit, Miami, Las Vegas, Reagan National, JFK, LAX, Baltimore, Denver and Albuquerque.

To review, these machines use pretty strong x-ray technology, where millimeter waves are bounced off a passenger’s body, producing a very accurate image of his or her body without clothes. The goal, of course, is to get a better view of whether a passenger is concealing something at security.

Not surprisingly, the American Civil Liberties Union has been all over this one, saying the technology at the very least should be a last resort, used only when a passenger qualifies for an intrusive search.

The ACLU has some allies on the other side of the Atlantic.

The European Union has suggested that it would go along with the machines in its own airports. But this week, a group of EU lawmakers brought the matter back for debate, objecting to the scanners for much the same reason that the ACLU does: It violates the privacy of passengers.

One British MP called it a “virtual strip search,” according to the Associated Press.

It’s hard to say just how many EU lawmakers are against the machines, but Brussels is continuing to debate the program.

The European Commission, which is the executive branch of the EU, said on Tuesday that the legislation it is considering that would install these machines at airports respects established EU safety and privacy rules.

The body scanners were installed in Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport last year, and few passengers reportedly complained, instead liking the speed at which lines moved because of them.

I personally think that that argument will eventually propel these machines into wider use. More travelers are likely to be happy about quicker lines and not having to remove shoes, coats, etc. than be concerned whether some security worker is going to see what kind of underwear they have on.

This is especially true in Europe, as Europeans in my experience have considerably less modestly issues than Americans.

JetBlue’s JFK Terminal 5 opens its doors

by Grant Martin on

After a few brief delays, a dry run and countless days of anticipation, JetBlue finally opened the doors of Terminal 5 at JFK today.

The building, a Gensler re-design of the old TWA behemoth, features wide open spaces, new amenities, all sorts of lovely food options and a dedicated home for the once-cramped JetBlue airlines. Blogger Jeremy Kressmann took a look through T5 earlier this fall and wrote it up for us here.

So how are things going so far? Have there been any epic fails like Heathrow’s Terminal 5 that opened up earlier this year?

Things actually seem to be moving pretty smoothly so far. JetBlue launched a liveblog (of sorts) that details some of the features and hobknobbery that’s going on during the first day activities and things seem pretty calm. Sure, you can’t trust content coming straight out of the lion’s mouth, but the blog is at least worth taking a look at for all of the fun pictures and insider looks into operations.

Later this week, our own Jerry Guo will be wandering through T5. Stay tuned to hear his take on the facilities.

Woman: The TSA broke my ankle

by Jeffrey White on

A Washington state woman is on the hunt for a lawyer to go after the Transportation Security Administration, after screeners at the Pasco, Washington airport made her remove a foot brace she was wearing for a sprained ankle.

Screeners at the airport not only made her remove the brace — apparently against regulations — but then made her balance on one foot, then the other.

The woman, Lona Dunlap, had a sprained left ankle and had been told to keep off it.

It seems that the screener asked her, essentially, to prove it, which is why Dunlap was forced to do the one leg shuffle.

Visiting two doctors after the incident, Dunlap claims her ankle now has two fractures.

“Then she made me lift up each foot individually and put all the weight on it. It was incredibly painful,” Dunlap tells KEPR TV out of Pasco.

According to the TSA Web site, screening regulations do not require the removal of leg or foot braces, but rather screeners are required to swab those braces down for explosive traces.

A TSA spokesman out of Spokane told the television station that the agency is looking “seriously” into the matter, including reviewing video of the encounter.

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