Suvarnabhumi Airport To Introduce Body Scanners

[pimay11]

I wonder why they can procure technology the Germans can't. According to them the stuff isn't developed to a stage where its implementation would make sense. See here...

http://www.flightglo...y-scanners.html

It was already mentioned:IT IS NOT ABOUT SECURITY IT IS ABOUT MONEY:

Amen! You hit the nail on the head.

This blindly aping the USA is not in Thailand's best interest, only a handful of the elite making the dough.

I would so very much like to see Thailand find it's own way and do it their own way but I'm a dreamer.

Your dream has come true. Aping the USA or any other country where there is a chance to enrich themselves is the norm. This is their own way, money, money, money from top to bottom of the food chain. I came here sixteen years ago. It didn't take but a few visits to the local shops to learn NOT to be seen with my wife when looking to purchase anything. She goes in first, identifies what we want, asks the price, phones me and I come in and pay for it.

[richardblanc]

I COULD 555

[Familyonthemove]

I experienced these body scanners in the US ... you need to removed everything from your pockets; bank notes, credit cards, tissues, passports ... everything into your bag .... where it can be easily stolen.

HUGE delays becasue it's not a quick process.

Then when some nutter bomber tries to blow up is underpants/shoes/socks/water bottle, the terrorost will be foiled in the good old fashioned way of passengers beating the cr&p out of him on the plane.

Total waste of passenger time for no increase in safety just so some people can get a huge kick back from the manufacturer.

[americaninbangkok]

Even Germany has decided not to introduce these bodyscanners - after they tested them for 10 month at Hamburg airport!

They are not reliable and produced so many false alarms which called for time consuming additional checks by security personell that the German government decided they need to be developed further before they are introduced at all airports.

800.000 people used the scanners during the test period and in 49 % they caused false alarms !

Oh... so now the Germans are your measuring stick for such matters? I suppose it is irrelevant that the Aussies, Americans, Brits, Canadians, Dutch, French, Nigerians and a host of other countries ARE using it? But Germany said no, so I guess that's the final word.

I'd welcome seeing all the research you pored over in making your decision . I just went through the scan in the US a few months ago. As fast (or faster) than the standard check. No pain. No slow down. And no sense of frying my cells with radiation. According to studies (for comparison) a single scan using backscatter technology produces exposure equivalent to two minutes of flying on an airplane, and the energy projected by millimeter wave technology is thousands of times less than a cell phone transmission. So you may as well skip the flight and hang up your phone while youre not going through security.

Edited September 5, 2011 by metisdead
Font reset.

[americaninbangkok]

I experienced these body scanners in the US ... you need to removed everything from your pockets; bank notes, credit cards, tissues, passports ... everything into your bag .... where it can be easily stolen.

HUGE delays becasue it's not a quick process.

Then when some nutter bomber tries to blow up is underpants/shoes/socks/water bottle, the terrorost will be foiled in the good old fashioned way of passengers beating the cr&p out of him on the plane.

Total waste of passenger time for no increase in safety just so some people can get a huge kick back from the manufacturer.

Greatly concerned about your tissues...?

[JohnAllan]

Even Germany has decided not to introduce these bodyscanners - after they tested them for 10 month at Hamburg airport!

They are not reliable and produced so many false alarms which called for time consuming additional checks by security personell that the German government decided they need to be developed further before they are introduced at all airports.

800.000 people used the scanners during the test period and in 49 % they caused false alarms !

But this is Thailand. Anything that fails to work elsewhere, finds a natural market in the Land of Smiles - or Laughs.

Now assuming they do put them in, and assuming they do work, are passengers, well before that happens, going to raise the question already raised in the US - that of invasion of privacy? Yes, this IS Thailand, where every government organisation under the sun - and many that aren't - invade privacy. But here, we are talking about the privacy, not just of citizens and residents, but of tourists, who must already be starting to question their decision to spend their money here, whilst needing to take great care to avoid all the scams and intimidation already the subject of other posts. How much will it take to persuade them that Thailand - optimistically forecasting 30M tourists in 2015 - just isn't THAT attractive a destination?

And if enough of a fuss IS made about such privacy concerns, does the AoT REALLY think they can make it work? I think not.

And as an aside: they improve the security process substantially by moving it to where they have. Now they plan to stuff things up again!

[Firefan]

There is plenty real concern that this technology is not safe - and the exposure can not be compared directly to other exposure as the scan will stop directly on your skin. Google Dr. Mercola and airport scanners for the latest studies - we simply do not know enough about this type of scans. If I get the option; I will go for the normal pat down - i just doubt that we will get that option here in Thailand.

Another concern is that the machines might be ok initially - but if they are mis-managed/serviced badly/settings changed they will certainly be able to do lots of harm. Another of Dr. Mercolas concerns too.

Cheers!

[JohnAllan]

With these set up in US airports, they then failed dismally to stop a terrorist walking through and boarding a plane.

When will they learn that the best deterrent is the human - and canine - one?

[SICHONSTEVE]

I am not going through no body scanners...this is not Ameri(k)a. If they want to search me, they can, but do not treat us like f**king criminals or terrorists. You can introduce them all you want, but I am not going through those highly radioactive emitters-10 times than normal; not to mention someone(s) viewing your naked body.

Good luck getting in and out of Thailand by Air then. :jap:

Yes!!! I don't think that safety checks are optional somehow!!!! You either go through it or face a few uncomfortable hours in police custody - I don't think that they will be a radio-active hazard either. Lastly, I hope that you don't see an attractive young lady doing the checking as there might be some revealing (literally) and embarrassing moments for the excited men!!!!

[Familyonthemove]

I experienced these body scanners in the US ... you need to removed everything from your pockets; bank notes, credit cards, tissues, passports ... everything into your bag .... where it can be easily stolen.

HUGE delays becasue it's not a quick process.

Then when some nutter bomber tries to blow up is underpants/shoes/socks/water bottle, the terrorost will be foiled in the good old fashioned way of passengers beating the cr&p out of him on the plane.

Total waste of passenger time for no increase in safety just so some people can get a huge kick back from the manufacturer.

Greatly concerned about your tissues...?

Yep .... that what caused the delay in US ... people being sent back becasue paper tissues and banknotes still in pockets.

Up to now ... people could go through scanners with paper in their pockets and passports and credit cards in hand .... now pockets must be empty ... and there's always that tissue, ticket or bit of paper you forgot in a back pocket .... the same one that disintegrates in the washing machine and gets you in trouble with your wife!

[otissp]

I'd rather fly naked then go in these cancer machines. It's been statistically proven these machines kill more people from cancer then they do save people from terrorists and that's not even mentioning people that have gone through these things with box cutters, etc without problems.

Cancer machines, waste of money, waste of electricity and wastes people's time. DO NOT WANT!

uuhh huhhh. Well you two just toddle off to your local duly elected member of Thai parliament and voice your concerns.

oooppss thats right you dont have a duly elected member to complain to seeing as you have no rights in the country. oh well you'd better start saving up for that lead suit.

Hmmm... so let's get this straight. Hippo is not a thai citizen and cannot vote in Thai elections. Therefore.... s/he is not allowed to utilize that function of the brain known as "thinking" and have an opinion on the topic?

I'm not sure that analysis works.

First of all, it's unclear to what degree the thai "elections" mean anything in the first place, so not sure that even enfranchised thai citizens can influence things very much in the manner you describe.

Also, Hippo raises a very good point. These "body scanners" serve only one purpose, that is, increasing generally the ability of governments to discipline and control their citizens. It has nothing to do with "Terrorizers".

The vast majority of airports on the planet even today do not have these scanners. Where are all the underpants bombers? They don't exist. Even if they did exist, say one such bomber every 5 years, that would be statistically insignificant. You'd have a much higher chance dying in a car accident on the way to the airport than having an underpants bomber on your plane.

Also, even if they were on your plane, and managed to detonate their underpants, the chance that the plane would be brought down out of the sky is very low. (Search NY times for an analysis/article on this). The unspoken assumption that everyone makes is that an underpants bomber, if successful, would drop the plane out of the sky. That just isn't so. Anyway if "Terrorizers" actually existed in any significant number, which they do not, and they really were determined to take a plane out of the sky, couldn't they just get a hold of a surface to air missle from the supplies out of control in libya or elsewhere? Yeah, they would. But the fact is that terrorizers are an extraordinarily rare threat. They get a hell of a better threat-to-anxiety ratio than things that actually do harm us like radiation or governments with too much power.

The bottom line is the body scanners exist so governments can increase their ability to detect people smuggling drugs/money/etc., it's just a general law enforcement measure. Has nothing to do with "terrorizers". In general governments/law enforcement agencies will use any excuse possible to expand their powers of surveillance and control over populations. Since the underpants bomber gives them an excuse to convince stupid people, plus intelligent people who haven't taken the time to actually think things through, that these body scanners are needed. So they'll push for them. Idiot sheeple like the dopes in this thread posting crud like Hagler's analysis above will just go along with it.

As for cancer, I agree with Hippo that they may pose a risk. We really don't know what the risk is. I noticed the TSA had signs in the US trying to claim the scanners were safe, saying that, for example, a cell phone emits 10,000 times as much radiation energy as a body scanner.

Problems with this analysis - cell phones operate on a wavelength designed to pass through your body and not interact with it. If your body absorbed the energy, the phones would have no range. The body scanners on the other hand use energy designed to be absorbed and partially reemitted by your skin. That's why you get an image. Plus, the energy is concentrated in a very short thickness of your skin. So the total energy deposition per gram in the involved skin is tremendously higher than anything a cell phone could ever do.

But then again, I'm thinking.... we're not supposed to do that. Right, Hagler?

Edited September 5, 2011 by otissp

[djlest]

So...

The improved immigration which was earlier this year? Yet never actually happened - but cost millions...

Cos i can assure you its now worse than it was before...

Now its time to blow expenses on expensive and faulty equipment, that can be tossed in the trash after a few weeks, just as long someone scoops a couple of million off the top first...

[marquess]

I'd rather fly naked then go in these cancer machines. It's been statistically proven these machines kill more people from cancer then they do save people from terrorists and that's not even mentioning people that have gone through these things with box cutters, etc without problems.

Cancer machines, waste of money, waste of electricity and wastes people's time. DO NOT WANT!

uuhh huhhh. Well you two just toddle off to your local duly elected member of Thai parliament and voice your concerns.

oooppss thats right you dont have a duly elected member to complain to seeing as you have no rights in the country. oh well you'd better start saving up for that lead suit.

Hmmm... so let's get this straight. Hippo is not a thai citizen and cannot vote in Thai elections. Therefore.... s/he is not allowed to utilize that function of the brain known as "thinking" and have an opinion on the topic?

I'm not sure that analysis works.

First of all, it's unclear to what degree the thai "elections" mean anything in the first place, so not sure that even enfranchised thai citizens can influence things very much in the manner you describe.

Also, Hippo raises a very good point. These "body scanners" serve only one purpose, that is, increasing generally the ability of governments to discipline and control their citizens. It has nothing to do with "Terrorizers".

The vast majority of airports on the planet even today do not have these scanners. Where are all the underpants bombers? They don't exist. Even if they did exist, say one such bomber every 5 years, that would be statistically insignificant. You'd have a much higher chance dying in a car accident on the way to the airport than having an underpants bomber on your plane.

Also, even if they were on your plane, and managed to detonate their underpants, the chance that the plane would be brought down out of the sky is very low. (Search NY times for an analysis/article on this). The unspoken assumption that everyone makes is that an underpants bomber, if successful, would drop the plane out of the sky. That just isn't so. Anyway if "Terrorizers" actually existed in any significant number, which they do not, and they really were determined to take a plane out of the sky, couldn't they just get a hold of a surface to air missle from the supplies out of control in libya or elsewhere? Yeah, they would. But the fact is that terrorizers are an extraordinarily rare threat. They get a hell of a better threat-to-anxiety ratio than things that actually do harm us like radiation or governments with too much power.

The bottom line is the body scanners exist so governments can increase their ability to detect people smuggling drugs/money/etc., it's just a general law enforcement measure. Has nothing to do with "terrorizers". In general governments/law enforcement agencies will use any excuse possible to expand their powers of surveillance and control over populations. Since the underpants bomber gives them an excuse to convince stupid people, plus intelligent people who haven't taken the time to actually think things through, that these body scanners are needed. So they'll push for them. Idiot sheeple like the dopes in this thread posting crud like Hagler's analysis above will just go along with it.

As for cancer, I agree with Hippo that they may pose a risk. We really don't know what the risk is. I noticed the TSA had signs in the US trying to claim the scanners were safe, saying that, for example, a cell phone emits 10,000 times as much radiation energy as a body scanner.

Problems with this analysis - cell phones operate on a wavelength designed to pass through your body and not interact with it. If your body absorbed the energy, the phones would have no range. The body scanners on the other hand use energy designed to be absorbed and partially reemitted by your skin. That's why you get an image. Plus, the energy is concentrated in a very short thickness of your skin. So the total energy deposition per gram in the involved skin is tremendously higher than anything a cell phone could ever do.

But then again, I'm thinking.... we're not supposed to do that. Right, Hagler?

A great post and I am generally in agreement with you about the control thing! Another good example of that is the amount of liquid one is able to take on a plane, the whole thing seems designed to sell more expensive drinks in Duty Free. Also the take of your belt and take or your shoes non-sense seems be intent on reducing to public to mindless children. Law enforcement agencies would love to have everyone tattooed with a number or have microchip placed in their heads at birth, all in the interest of creating a 'safer' society.

[witsawakorn]

I am not going through no body scanners...this is not Ameri(k)a. If they want to search me, they can, but do not treat us like f**king criminals or terrorists. You can introduce them all you want, but I am not going through those highly radioactive emitters-10 times than normal; not to mention someone(s) viewing your naked body.

Get ready not to fly then! Leaving Manchester Airport last month everyone had to go through a body scanner. Opting for a search didn't seem to be an option.The scanner showed an outline of the body with coloured boxes highlighting items of interest in pockets or elsewhere concealed Everyone is treated like a terrorist these days until proven otherwise. Start worrying if someone ever takes a bomb on a plane hidden up their poop chute. If that happens we'll all be getting cavity searches before we get on a flight. You'd better get used to the idea of body scanners as the security check area of an airport probably isn't the best place to make a stand in this kind of thing. Try getting angry and tell them what you said in your post and you might get a few extra nights free accomodation:-)

[peppersasen]

Are these the same type of nekid scanners the TSA uses to see us naked?

[Seismic]

I experienced these body scanners in the US ... you need to removed everything from your pockets; bank notes, credit cards, tissues, passports ... everything into your bag .... where it can be easily stolen.

HUGE delays becasue it's not a quick process.

Then when some nutter bomber tries to blow up is underpants/shoes/socks/water bottle, the terrorost will be foiled in the good old fashioned way of passengers beating the cr&p out of him on the plane.

Total waste of passenger time for no increase in safety just so some people can get a huge kick back from the manufacturer.

Greatly concerned about your tissues...?

Yep .... that what caused the delay in US ... people being sent back becasue paper tissues and banknotes still in pockets.

Up to now ... people could go through scanners with paper in their pockets and passports and credit cards in hand .... now pockets must be empty ... and there's always that tissue, ticket or bit of paper you forgot in a back pocket .... the same one that disintegrates in the washing machine and gets you in trouble with your wife!

Not too sure about that, I went through the scanner in Houston after removing everything from my pockets and it flagged tow spots where they did a pat down, I went throught the same in LAX about 4 hours later and it flagged nothing, even though I had left my cigarettes and lighter in my shirt pocket. Then again, I have talked with security staff at airports and they tell me the machines are set to give an alarm randomly around 1 in 5, As for the idiot talking about cancer, well....I wont get into that.

regards

[thailandcalling]

Your guilty until proven innocent.

[Richard4849]

Your guilty until proven innocent.

And thank goodness for that, or we'd all be blown up by evil doers.

[surangw]

Given the fact that many security staff are females of breeding age, it could be advantageous to request a pat down.

Pat downs are done by the same sex employee, so please enjoy, i'll take the scanner

And who would do it for katoey ?

double gloves?

[surangw]

There is plenty real concern that this technology is not safe - and the exposure can not be compared directly to other exposure as the scan will stop directly on your skin. Google Dr. Mercola and airport scanners for the latest studies - we simply do not know enough about this type of scans. If I get the option; I will go for the normal pat down - i just doubt that we will get that option here in Thailand.

Another concern is that the machines might be ok initially - but if they are mis-managed/serviced badly/settings changed they will certainly be able to do lots of harm. Another of Dr. Mercolas concerns too.

Cheers!

I wonder what kind of problem they would have if someone wanted to use their own radiation detection device to test them?

[furyrider]

I'd rather fly naked then go in these cancer machines. It's been statistically proven these machines kill more people from cancer then they do save people from terrorists and that's not even mentioning people that have gone through these things with box cutters, etc without problems.

Cancer machines, waste of money, waste of electricity and wastes people's time. DO NOT WANT!

As A technician working on Scanners and Backscatter vans for the military I would love to see the studies and facts you are basing your statistics on. Can you supply some links or tell me where I can get a hold of this information

[JamesOB]

As if the airport is not stressing enough.

[Tokay]

It's not enough that I catch Thai males looking at my penis every time I'm at a public urinal, and now they are going to look at it in its entirety at the airport.

Gonna start charging them a viewing fee.

[Rinrada]

Thought that you could keep you clothes on while going through the scanner...even if only your socks....

those floor tiles can be cold....roll on.....

[rametindallas]

I wonder why they can procure technology the Germans can't. According to them the stuff isn't developed to a stage where its implementation would make sense. See here...

http://www.flightglo...y-scanners.html

These machines are made by two U.S. companys and they have top lobbyists pushing every airport to install them. I'm pretty sure the U.S. government is pushing them on Thailand.

[WilliaminBKK]

Do it for inbound passengers to send the drug smugglers a message

[rametindallas]

This is safety theater. These things will not keep you safe!

Body Scanner Demonstration (German w/ English Subtitles).mp4

Edited September 6, 2011 by metisdead
Absolutely no need to supersize the font size of your link.

[luvU2much500THB]

We tested those body scanners in germany and these are not good so we decided against them!

[captspectre]

I am not going through no body scanners...this is not Ameri(k)a. If they want to search me, they can, but do not treat us like f**king criminals or terrorists. You can introduce them all you want, but I am not going through those highly radioactive emitters-10 times than normal; not to mention someone(s) viewing your naked body.

Guess you will not be flying out of Thailand anytime soon! there are trains that go to singapore but they have body scanners coming to! So, guess I'll see you at the scanners!

[mca]

It's been statistically proven these machines kill more people from cancer then they do save people from terrorists

How were those statistics obtained? Number of people dying from cancer compared to number of terrorists apprehended using the equipment in airports employing the scanners?

Edited September 6, 2011 by mca