Airport

Netherlands and Nigeria to Use Full Body Scanners


Christine Sarkis
Christine Sarkis

    Both the Netherlands and Nigeria have announced plans to implement full body scanners, the type that would have picked up the explosives hidden under the clothes of attempted terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. According to the Associated Press, Dutch airports are to begin using the advanced scanners immediately on flights heading to the U.S. The Washington Post reports that Nigeria will implement the use of full body scanners early next year.

    So is this the beginning of a worldwide airport security sea change? Will 2010 bring a movement away from old scanning technology and physical pat downs and toward the new body scanners? And how will concerns over physical privacy play out now that the focus is on implementing these body scanners quickly?

    The high cost of the scanners make sweeping changes unlikely in the short term, but full body scanners are already in place at some airports in the U.S., U.K., and elsewhere. Have you been through one of the full body scanners? What was your experience?