Controversial Body Scanner to be Used Shortly at Ezeiza and Santiago Airports

Tuesday, January 18th 2011 - 17:52 UTC

Full article 9 comments

The Body scanner will soon be used by the Airport Security Police (PSA) at Argentina’s main airport.

Airport Security Police is equipped with seven units which they will begin using at Ezeiza Airport and later on at Aeroparque, Mendoza, Salta, and Bariloche. Procedures published in the Official Bulletin indicated that this new technology will be used following specific guidelines.

These include having officers of the same sex as the passengers in question performing the scans as well as analyzing the images, and also that the scanners will only be used if there is sufficient reason to suspect that a passenger is carrying illegal drugs, explosives, or other prohibited substances or elements.

In approximately a month the body scanning system will start being used at the Arturo Merino Benitez terminal in Santiago de Chile. The machine will be used mainly in the fight against drug trafficking, and the scans will be carried out by the Investigations Police (PDI).

The PDI has already been using one of these scanners at the border station in Chacalluta, Arica since April of last year. Thanks to the use of this technology, 90 kilos of cocaine have been found in the stomachs of 65 traffickers, most of which were of Peruvian descent. Around 20 people are scanned each day at the border office in the northern zone.

Supporters claim that there are advantages to using the full body scanner as opposed to the traditional strip search as you can look for hidden objects without physically touching a person or removing clothes. However, the scanner has caused controversy world-wide due to the violation of people’s privacy as the body appears almost nude in the images it provides. Opponents also object to the fact that this technology uses radio waves, the long-term effects of which are not yet known.

Categories: Politics, Argentina, Latin America.

Tags: Argentina, Arturo Merino Benitez airport, body scanner, Chile, Ezeiza airport.

Top Comments

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xbarilox
When in the USA they used these body scanners, Cristina's government said that there was a violation of human rights, but now, this same government wants this body scanner to be used at Ezeiza Airport haha.
Jan 18th, 2011 - 06:20 pm 0
Fido Dido
Michael Chertoff is laughing his ass off.

Chertoff is a former homeland security secretary and the founder of the Chertoff Group, a security consulting firm whose clients include manufacturers of full-body scanners.

Chertoff to the Government of Argentina: Thank you for your business, and You're welcome!
Jan 18th, 2011 - 07:58 pm 0
I
Boycott planes, I invite everyone to never travel again by “PLANE”, because, it pollutes, it pushes people into perverts hands and it's targeted by terrorits, besides if they treat people like criminals they better look for some other way to travel no violation of my body is going to take place with my consent, and if you let them search you like a criminal maybe you deserve to die since you have given up your rights you are no longer protected by them.
Jan 18th, 2011 - 09:20 pm 0

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