Nudity no longer mandatory for under-18s
John Ozimek
The Register
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Manchester Airport will be taking legal advice on proposals to send children through its new X-ray scanners.
This is a change from its position, reported in The Register yesterday, that they did not believe the images created by the new scanning technology (the slightly unfortunately named Rapiscan) would fall foul of child pornography laws, because they use X-rays and therefore “they do not make an image”.
A spokesman for Manchester airports talked to El Reg this morning. “Our view is that it does not break the law,” he told us. “However, since a number of people have been in touch and pointed out that there might be a problem, we have ourselves been in touch with charities working in this area to take further advice.
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“We have spoken to Shy Keenan, co-founder of Phoenix Chief Advocates, which works with child abuse survivors. She agreed that this was a difficult area and that there might be an issue.
“As far as Manchester airport is concerned, we are not in the business of endangering children – our only interest is in making sure all passengers get on the plane safely. We will abide by the advice given by experts in this area.”
The problem is that the practice of scanning – and checking – children brings together in one activity several of society’s current obsessions and moral panics.
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