New airport scanners see 'private parts'

MELBOURNE , Oct. 15 (UPI) -- Australian officials say new X-ray scanners being field tested at Melbourne Airport are effective enough to reveal the nude bodies of travelers.

Cheryl Johnson, general manager of the Office of Transport Security, said the scanners, which are to be used on domestic passengers at Melbourne Airport for the next six weeks, will show the "private parts" of travelers but will blur their faces to protect their privacy, the Daily Mail reported Wednesday.

She said the scanners can see right through clothing to the "genitals and breasts (of passengers) while they're going through the machine," the British newspaper said.

"It will show the private parts of people, but what we've decided is that we're not going to blur those out, because it severely limits the detection capabilities," Johnson said.

However, she said "the faces are automatically blurred" by the machines. She said the scanners also avoid becoming too invasive by displaying the nude bodies only as "a chalk-style outline."

"The security officer that's looking at it is located away from the screening lane, so there's no comparison of the person walking through and the image," Johnson said.