Controversial X-Ray Airport Scanners to be Replaced

Posted January 19th, 2013 at 6:55 am (UTC-5)
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The U.S. Transportation Security Administration says it is removing full-body airport scanners that produced what appear to be naked images of a traveler's body.

The TSA said it will replace the scanners with new scanners that allow greater privacy.

The TSA has canceled its contract with Rapiscan, the company that makes the X-ray scanner that produced the revealing body images. The TSA has 174 Rapiscan scanners at about 30 airports.

Rapiscan failed to meet a congressional deadline to deliver software to protect the privacy of passengers.

A TSA spokesman said the Rapiscan scanners will be largely replaced by scanners made by L-3 Communications. L-3 scanners, already in use at some airports, produce a generic outline of passengers' bodies instead of what appear to be naked images.

TSA had increasingly relied on the full-body scanners after a man allegedly tried to detonate a bomb hidden in his underwear aboard a transatlantic flight in December 2009. The bomb set off a rush to upgrade security to detect explosives underneath clothing.

Some airline passengers considered the X-ray images an invasion of privacy.