Body scanners' legality questioned
Tuesday, 16 February 2010 12:00 AM
Body scanners now in use at Britain's airports could be breaking the law, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has warned.
In a letter to transport secretary Andrew Adonis the EHRC suggests both discrimination and privacy laws could be breached by the scanners, which are currently in use at Heathrow and Manchester airports.
The scanners create images which reveal the passenger's body under their clothes. They were introduced to heighten security in the wake of the failed Christmas Day bombing on a flight to Detroit.
Today's letter from the EHRC is concerned by the lack of safeguards about the operation of the scanners.
The decision to roll them out to all UK airports may not be lawful, it warns.
"State action like border checks, stop and search and full body scanning are undertaken for good reasons. But without proper care such policies can end up being applied in ways which do discriminate against vulnerable groups or harm good community relations," EHRC chair Trevor Phillips said.
"National security policies are intended to protect our lives and our freedoms; but it would be the ultimate defeat if that protection destroyed our other liberties."
Home secretary Alan Johnson has suggested those who are scanned are selected randomly, but Lord Adonis has not publicly endorsed this view.
This creates an ambiguity which undermines individuals' ability to question why they were selected, the letter argues.
The government is carrying out an "equalities impact assessment" into the scanners.
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