See-through scanners an 'invasion of privacy'
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The technology will be trialed at Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide airports. (AAP Image: Supplied)
Civil liberty advocates say a new airport security scanner that can see through a passenger's clothes "goes way too far" and invades peoples' privacy.
The hand luggage and body scanners will be tested on passengers at Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide airports on a voluntary basis, and was put on display at Melbourne airport today.
The head of the Australian Council for Civil Liberties, Terry O'Gorman, told ABC1's 7.30 Report that the technology allows virtual strip searches.
He says it has grossly overstepped the mark.
"You have to ask yourself, 'has the war against terrorism got to the stage where we, in effect, have to have our genitals shown, viewed by someone in another room, in the name of airport safety?'" he said.
"We say this goes too far.
"We say it skews the balance between proper security on the one hand and the maintenance of basic civil liberties, particularly bodily privacy, on the other."
The Government says while the technology is controversial, it is still very safe.
Andrew Tongue, from the Office of Transport Security, says it "takes aviation security into a new realm" and passenger privacy is still protected.
"Anybody but the person viewing the image is remote from where the person will be going through the body scanning, so they can't link in any way a person and their image," he said.
"Faces are blurred, so we've tried to build a system that is very protective of people's privacy. Anybody participating in the trial is a volunteer."
Mr O'Gorman says airports may be only the first application for the scanners.
"You can bet once it's introduced at airports there will then be calls for it to be introduced at sporting stadiums," he said.
"There will then be calls for it to be introduced at public malls to deal with teenagers carrying knives, etc.
"It will not stop at airports."
Adapted from a report for The 7.30 Report by Adrian Raschella, October 15.
