Aviation security privacy issues – scanners and profiling

Aviation security privacy issues – scanners and profiling

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11846956_sIf you think that the “profile” system used by the security personnel in Ben-Gurion airport creates a privacy problem, think again.

Privacy issues challenge today’s scanning technology. Companies worldwide are forced to adjust their technology so their scanners won’t be affected by privacy issues. Innovative thinking in the continuing race to find a suitable form of detection may be found in the example of a body scanner, which uses live Bio-Sensors, mice. An Israeli company, BioExplorers uses multiple, extremely sensitive biosensors that detect vapors of target substances measured at parts per trillion.

The American Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has announced that scanners which used a low-dose X-ray will be gone by June because the company that makes them can’t fix the privacy issues.

The use of body scanners was introduced after an airline passenger snuck explosives onto a flight bound for Detroit on Christmas day in 2009.

The first full body scanners which were introduced attracted strong criticism as passengers were viewed as if they were naked. The idea behind this model of scanner was sound since security workers could spot both metallic objects like guns as well as non-metallic items such as plastic explosives. Unfortunately the scanners also showed every other detail of the passenger’s body, too.

The TSA defended the scanners, saying the images couldn’t be stored and were seen only by a security worker who didn’t interact with the passenger. But the scans still raised privacy concerns. Then, the American Congress took action ordering that the scanners either produce a more generic image or be removed by June.

Other airport body scanners being used currently produce a generic outline instead of a naked image. These scanners will remain in use.

Last Thursday Rapiscan, the maker of the X-ray scanner, or backscatter, has acknowledged that it wouldn’t be able to meet the June deadline. As a result the TSA announced on Friday that it ended its contract for the software with Rapiscan.

“The need for detecting substances is constantly growing, and presents increasingly complex challenges, among them is the privacy issue,” says Yuval Amsterdam, VP HLS at Tamar Group. He adds, “Companies worldwide are being forced to adjust their technology to adapt to the new conditions resulting from privacy issues. This adjustment hasn’t brought about better technology; on the contrary, it has taken us back to square one.”

Amsterdam acknowledges however, that new innovations are always being introduced. One of those innovations is the use of bio sensors to detect prohibited substances.” BioExplorers of Tamar Group has developed a pioneering solution to meet the increasing demand for the reliable and safe detection of explosives, narcotics and est. This patented solution includes a number of cartridges, each housing multiple biosensors – MICE – which remain hidden from view at all times.
Air flow passes the individual being screened and is directed into the cartridge housing the biosensors. The biosensors sample the air concurrently and individually, each contributing its own result. The biosensors detect a specific target substance as part of their routine existence. The entire screening process takes a mere 6 to 8 seconds. According to Amsterdam, “we basically take the most complicated and still innovative machine and allow for its continued use. Since biosensors can be trained to detect any new target substance within days, the range of applications to which they could be used can be expanded quickly.”