Sydney Airport yesterday began its long-awaited trial of a full-body scanner – only to have the machine go haywire over a passenger with sweaty armpits.
The controversial trial of body-imaging technology began at Sydney International as part of a test run that will continue until 19 August.
The Australian Government has touted the equipment on trial as “the most advanced passenger screening technology available in the world”.
The body scanner uses low-energy millimetre-waves to detect metal and non-metal items under clothing. It then pinpoints where the item is hidden using a generic human outline.
The first person to pass through the new machine yesterday was Australia’s Federal Minster for Infrastructure and Transport, Anthony Albanese.
But then, Sydney’s Daily Telegraph reported, the second person to go through sent the machine haywire. Perhaps it demonstrates that technology tends to function differently in real life than in the laboratory.
When the second person triggered the alarm three times, security staff blamed the passenger’s armpits (allegedly sweaty) for upsetting the machine.
The glitch raises a few questions. If armpits are sweaty in August, the middle of Australia’s winter, what will they be like in January, when the temperature in Sydney can hit the high 30s C and sometimes top 40C? Or in February, when the weather gets humid. Airports are air-conditioned, but even so…
German police last week reportedly rejected the scanners for being too sensitive.
German weekly Welt am Sonntag, quoting a police report, said 35% of 730,000 passengers checked by the scanners set off the alarm more than once “despite being innocent”.
The Telegraph said the alarm had gone off in error in more than two thirds of cases in the German trial, as clothing, zippers and unusual posture – not to mention armpits – triggered false positives.
The Australian Government says the scanners are “perfectly safe and one body scan emits 10,000 times less radio frequency energy than an average mobile phone call,” according to the publicity.
“The machines will only produce a generic outline of a passenger which appears like a stick figure and no images will be stored or shared.
“The trial is voluntary and any passengers not wanting to try the body scanner will proceed through standard screening procedures,” an issued statement said.
Which is all very well, provided the scanners work.
Trials of the scanners will be held in Sydney and Melbourne before being progressively rolled out at Australia’s international airports. Around 13 million people fly out of Australia’s international airports each year and Australia has one of the safest aviation records in the world.
“This new technology will add another important layer of security at our airports and is part of the Government’s AUD200 million Strengthening Aviation Security Initiative which is well on its way to being implemented,” Albanese said.
Written by Peter Needham
(Source: eGlobaltravelmedia.com.au 3rd August 2011)
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