Screened, Scanned and Stripped for Security

The European Commission is moving to get to know all visitors and travelers in and out of the continent in a very intimate manner - beyond what travelers would consider a transient acquaintance - by viewing every inch of their visitors' anatomy in all their naked glory. What used to be the exclusive province of some perverted minds of the human race, those who figuratively undress people by their lecherous looks at curves and bulges of other individuals, will soon become the official greeting method at airports in the continent.

The plan put forward by the European Commission involves scanners that will virtually strip search each passenger regardless of the layers of clothes they are wearing, and flash their entire body on a screen only in their birthday suit. The proponents argue that the images produced could be modified to eliminate positive identification, but the images produced nonetheless leaves very little to the imagination. The airport security and staff would therefore know every curve of a passenger's body way beyond what these passengers would want. Issues on human rights, data protection and personal dignity are being thrown out the window.

A number of countries have cautioned against the plan, calling it ill-conceived and without a thorough assessment of its impact on fundamental rights nor human health - regardless if it is cost efficient. Even the plan to draw up a rule book for how these devices will be used is a mere justification for an unjustified and invasive procedure. What's worse is that some of these devices are already being used in a number of airports. What if hackers mount an attack on these systems and then post all those naked bodies on the internet? Even if the images were altered, hackers would know how to enhance the image to elicit the true identity of the individual, and soon these photos will be used like paper dolls being plastered with different types of clothing perhaps for commercial value, or worse for prurient purposes. A new class of paparrazzi will emerge from these band of hackers who can single out celebrities and politicians.

This plan, if not modified or carefully studied, would put George Orwell to shame for being less invasive and less security conscious. And unless travelers to and from Europe have a predilection for nudist colonies and would like to mingle with more of their cohabitants in a more formal or "dressed manner", traffic to the continent would be greatly reduced. Perhaps the plan should be used for government functionaries, officials and their wives first, to set an example - Carla Bruni Sarkozy is certainly no stranger to nudity. Perhaps the world will be witness to what makes Gordon Brown resolute, or what makes George Bush ramble incoherently.

The other point is that it may be applied to the elderly only as a test, since no enhancement of the images could possibly be used commercially nor for prurient intentions. It wouldn't be very enticing. As the famed comedienne Phillis Diller once said "the best contraceptive for the elderly is nudity".

Haaaarrrrwwwwk...Twooooooph...Ting!