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A new full-body scanner will not yet be rolled out by the Transportation Security Administration due to privacy concerns for passengers.
The scanner, built by the British firm Thruvision, is in the demonstration phase at the TSA testing facilities in Arlington, Va., and will not be considered for use in U.S. airports until the company fulfills government officials’ requirement to add a “privacy filter” to further protect passengers.
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The machine, which, according to Thruvision, can perform a full-body screening with no blind spots in just eight seconds, and successfully screen passengers from up to 25 feet away, invited some controversy over its potential to show too much — though Thruvision Americas Vice President Kevin Gramer said the scanner does not violate travelers’ privacy.
The Thruvision scanners use terahertz technology that is similar to thermal imaging to create a “green blob-like” image of a passenger, a spokesperson for the TSA said to Fox News. A dark outline is used to show if weapons or explosives are hidden on the passenger’s body. (Thruvision)
“A piece of narrowly drawn legislation from several years ago created a requirement that all people-screening technologies used at U.S. airport checkpoints have a privacy filter regardless of the image displayed,” Gramer said to the LA Times in a statement.
The company’s screening equipment and technology has “tremendous privacy and safety benefit[s],” Gramer added.
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The concerns stem from a group of full-body scanners made by Torrance manufacturer in 2013 that reportedly used low levels of radiation to create a seemingly nude image of the passenger.
The Thruvision scanners, however, use terahertz technology that is similar to thermal imaging to create a “green blob-like” image of a passenger, a spokesperson for the TSA said to Fox News. A dark outline is used to show if weapons or explosives are hidden on the passenger’s body.
Though the spokesperson told Fox News that the scanner was not in violation of privacy laws per federal regulations concerning advanced imaging technology, the administration was concerned over potential privacy concerns and requested the addition of the filter. TSA could not confirm how the privacy filter will obscure the images further.
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TSA is expecting the privacy filter software updates to be available for the scanners in June. The agency will then determine how and when the scanning technology will be implemented at airports.