Terrorist Attempt May Strip Fliers of More Privacy

Back in early October -- nearly three months before Umar Abdulmutallab tried to blow up a jetliner bound for Detroit -- the Transportation Safety Administration's blog cheerily announced it had received US$355 million of Recovery Act money for "a lot of really nifty improvements to aviation security."

Included in that amount: $25 million to pay for 150 backscatter advanced imaging units which allow screeners to detect threats under people's clothes.

"This deployment follows a successful pilot phase, during which 46 imaging technology units were deployed at 23 airports and passengers opted to use imaging technology for primary screening 98 percent of the time," according to the blog post. "It is important to note that this technology is always optional to passengers."

The "optional" aspects of airport security, and just how effective whole-body scanning technologies can be, are back in the headlines this week following President Obama's vow to review airline security procedures in the wake of a failed attempt to blow up a Northwest Airlines (Nasdaq: NWAC) jet. Abdulmutallab is accused of trying to use explosives sewn into his underwear.

Whole-body scanning has so far been done away from public security areas at airports, and TSA employees never see a passenger's face during the scan; in most cases, they aren't even in the same room.

Debate about the scannners has come up before in the years after Sept. 11, but their full implementation in airports has been delayed by privacy concerns. Groups like the ACLU call them "virtual strip-searches" and have suggested that the potential for abuse and civil rights violations outweighs any security benefits.