Australian airports trialling optional virtual strip searches

Australian air travellers are about to be invited to participate in a new security screening process being called the ‘virtual strip search,’ when the country’s government introduces the programme on a limited basis later in the month.

Included in the new screening is a controversial body scan that penetrates the subject’s clothing.

According to the government, the purpose of the scan is to detect explosives and weapons, but the plan’s critics are saying that it invades the air traveller’s privacy.

The executive director of the transport security office of the Australian government, Paul Retter, has clarified that airline passengers would not be required to submit to the body scan before boarding a flight. He added that measures were in place that will ensure a passenger’s dignity and privacy.

The transport security office claims that the scans are safe, involving an exposure of less than one four-hundredth of that during a normal medical x-ray.

Other technologies to be introduced during the trial include x-ray machines that detect explosives, and also liquid and vapour analyzing equipment. All equipment involved in the trials has been examined and approved for use by the Australian Nuclear Science Technology Organisation and also the Defence Science and Technology Organisation.

Airports in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney will begin trials shortly, which will run for approximately six weeks.

www.infrastructure.gov.au