Thaindian News

By Meena Kar
Nov 17, (THAINDIAN NEWS) United States is getting more worried about their security and privacy these days as the new X-Ray body scanners, that have been installed in the airports and several other government organizations, not only give an impression of their private body parts but also make them more vulnerable to skin cancer.

Recently, these maligning images of several passengers were leaked online by technology blog Gizmodo. It showed several images of visitors standing inside this controversial machine as it takes the photograph in a rather defaming way. Although this website has uploaded the images under the Freedom Of Information Act, and taken care that the identities of these people are concealed, this matter demands serious scrutiny as it puts the privacy of the people at stake. Pilots and passengers of the airport have put their voices together to establish that the privacy of the passengers cannot be ignored for the sake of security. According to the regulations drawn up by the Transportation Security Administration, The government bodies and organizations who use this machine, should delete the images immediately after the security check. On that note, Gizmodo had committed a breach of law. The editors of Gizmodo have defended themselves by saying that they have deleted the identifiable pictures, and are not therefore entitled to any law suit.

This particular machine also has a lot of medical hazards. Dr. Michael Love, who runs an X-ray lab at the department of biophysics, at the John Hopkins University has said that although the chances are less, but statistically someone might get skin cancer due to this machine. Dr. David Brenner, head of the center for radiological research at Columbia University has also said that considering the huge number of people who frequent to the airports, there might be enough chances for them to be affected by this disease slowly.