FROM THURSDAY'S WALL STREET JOURNAL...

Are These X-Rays Too Revealing?
New Device Spurs Talk of Privacy

By MICHAEL ALLEN
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

A new X-ray device used by the U.S. Customs Service sees
through clothes -- and privacy advocates are seeing red.

In six major U.S. airports, passengers who arouse suspicions that
they might be smuggling drugs from abroad now have a choice:
either submit to a traditional "pat-down" search, in which a
customs inspector runs his or her hands over the suspect's body,
or stand in front of a box-like machine that renders an image of
the suspect naked.

The Customs Service is using the
machines with passengers' consent, but
some other customers aren't, fueling
fears that the technology could be
abused. Mexican law-enforcement
authorities already have been deploying
a machine secretly in the Tijuana airport
as part of an effort to nab U.S.-bound
drug couriers, people familiar with the
matter say. An African head of state
uses a hidden X-ray device to screen
visitors for weapons without their
knowledge.

The X-ray machines are just one
example of how new technology is
igniting a far-reaching debate over
personal privacy -- at home, work, and
on the Internet. In the case of the X-rays,
the debate is particularly thorny since
the war on drug smuggling has so much
public support.

Customs authorities had hoped the new
technology would help quiet a
controversy over the agency's searches, which civil libertarians
contend focus too much on minority passengers. A hands-off
approach, customs officials reasoned, would seem less intrusive.
Offering suspects a choice of procedures would give them a
sense of control.

But privacy advocates say the X-ray is just as bad, if not worse.
Some worry that dishonest officials will retain the images of
unclothed suspects -- or release them for public viewing on the
Internet. Others argue that the new technology will make it easier
to conduct searches, leading to more examinations by customs
agents. "It's an electronic strip search, and it's extremely graphic,"
says Barry Steinhardt, associate director of the American Civil
Liberties Union in New York.

U.S. Customs officials insist they would never use the machines
without suspects' permission. "We'd only use it when everyone is
fully aware, on a voluntary basis," Raymond Kelly, the U.S.
Customs Commissioner. Mr. Kelly is an advocate of the device,
dubbed the BodySearch, made by American Science &
Engineering Inc. of Billerica, Mass.

In the U.S., customs inspectors must obtain a signed consent
from any passenger sent through the device, and a supervisor
must approve the search. As with pat-downs, the X-ray operator
must be of the same sex as the person under examination. The
level of radiation exposure is low -- much less than the amount a
passenger would typically receive just by going up in a plane --
but pregnant women can't be scanned. Agents don't retain an
image of the search unless they find contraband.

The images, however, aren't erotic. The bodies, as displayed by
the machine, are bald and shorter and stouter than they are in real
life. This is because the images are squished onto a
video-display terminal instead of etched in film like traditional
X-ray photographs, American Science says.

Indeed, models hired by the company to demonstrate how the
machine works complained about how fat it made them look,
says Vincent DiGilio, a supervisory inspector at New York's John
F. Kennedy International Airport, which installed its first of two
BodySearch machines last February. "These international signs
outside the bathroom [indicating men's and women's lavatories]
are about as graphic as this," he says.

Chances that any one passenger will be subjected to a body scan
are low. Only about one in 2,000 disembarking international
travelers are subjected to searches for showing signs that they
may be smuggling drugs, either through nervous behavior or
inconsistencies in their travel itinerary. Only about 5% of suspects
given the choice between a pat-down or a body scan opt for the
X-ray search, says Mr. DiGilio. About 5% of those scanned turn
out to be carrying drugs.

BodySearch systems are currently in use at JFK, Miami
International Airport, Chicago O'Hare Airport, Atlanta Hartsfield
Airport, Houston Intercontinental Airport and Los Angeles
International Airport. Mr. Kelly, the customs commissioner, says
"we'd ideally like 20 of our major airports to have it."

At one time, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration looked at
the possibility of using the BodySearch to screen passengers for
weapons or bomb-making materials before they board planes --
potentially a much bigger market for American Science. But the
FAA has opted out for now, partly due to privacy concerns.

The company has looked into whether it could produce images
that highlight contraband but render the human body less
explicitly, but the result was an unacceptable level of false alarms,
says Robert Peters, vice president of marketing for American
Science.