Airport body scanners 'may be illegal'

16/02/2010

By Jeremy Price.

Body scanners recently installed at Manchester and Heathrow airports may be unlawful, it has been claimed.

According to the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), there are currently no safeguards to ensure the scanners are used in a "fair and non-discriminatory manner" and they may represent a breach of privacy.

Writing in a letter to secretary of state for transport, Lord Adonis, the commission urged the home secretary to ensure that passengers are selected entirely at random and to make the selection process as transparent as possible to avoid inequality.

It adds that breaching passengers' right to privacy is justifiable for purposes of national security, but that the government is yet to demonstrate the legality of the scanning process.

EHRC chair Trevor Phillips said: "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."

The body scanners, designed by Rapiscan, have been installed at Heathrow Airport and are currently on trial at Manchester Airport.