There is a weird balance with privacy related items these days. A pilot project involving a "millimeter multi wave" scanner (wiki-link) at Manchester airport (MAN) results in many angry reactions of the public. Perhaps very understandable but I am always surprised with the level of perceived intrusiveness of such devices.
While everybody can see what is in your suitcase in the xray, people feel that their privacy is evaded because someone they don't know, in a remote location, is looking at an image of their body contours in black and white. The face is not recognizable, and clothes are not visible. The picture reveals the same details as a tight bathing suit.
The application of such scanners is not new. Early 2008 the scanners came in the news and since then various pilots have been held. Like at Schiphol, for crew. It was voluntary and you could also choose to take the regular route: undress, take of shoes, being petted down, etc.
So, what do airports need to do? Those scanners promise to increase security, increase the level of comfort for the passengers who don't object and speeds up the process (less queues for the security line).
Our approach would be:
- Inform, inform, inform: show the image the scanner would generate, indicate privacy measures (remote location, face blurred, coverage of the visible genital area, instant deletion of the images, refer to the privacy policy). Do not forget to explain why it good to have people scanned this way, without the regular "scare" tactics.
- Stress the positive sides of it: no more undressing, no more frisking, more speed
- Give the passenger a choice. If you don't want to be scanned as such, please undergo the regular treatment
- Perhaps one step further: show the image the agent can see to the passenger on a screen only visible to the passenger. People will see for themselves how much is shown.
