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"The Tech Innovators Series is supported by Lenovo. Lenovo does not just manufacture technology. They make Do machines \u2014 super-powered creation engines designed to help the people who do, do more, do better, do in brand new ways. \nWith the holiday travel season just around the corner, you're probably already starting to dread the long security lines that snake through terminals. Sure, it's a hassle, but the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has implemented some pretty cool technology to keep travelers safe.\nA division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the TSA began testing full body scanners for airport security purposes in 2007 and has since implemented at least 500 body scanners in 78 U.S. airports.\nThe TSA's installation of full body scanners marked a proactive movement on the agency's part to deter crime, namely terrorism. While whole body-imaging technology is innovative and was developed to minimize security issues in commercial environments, it has received much backlash from travelers, scientists and activists for its privacy and safety implications.\nRead on for a look at how both types of advanced imaging technologies work and the privacy concerns that have been raised as a result of the technology's growing presence in airports across the United States. \nHow Full Body Scanners Work\n\n\nThere are two types of full body scanners.\n\nThe first full body scanner was developed by Dr. Steven W. Smith, inventor of the Secure 1000 whole body scanner in 1992. Smith sold the scanner and associated patents to Rapiscan Systems, who now manufactures and distributes the device. Rapiscan is just one of three companies that manufacture commercial X-ray devices used as security scanning applications \u2014 the other two companies are Tek84 and American Science and Engineering.\nIf you've flown with a commercial airline in the past two years, you've probably encountered or heard news of full body scanners, which use either X-rays or millimeter radio waves to create a virtually nude image of a person's body to identify any hidden objects, such as weapons or explosives, that the person may have concealed.\nDavid J. Brenner, the Higgins Professor of Radiation Biophysics at Columbia University, explained quite simply in an interview with NPR late last year that \"both [scanning technologies] work on the same basic principle of firing a beam of radiation at the individual and looking at what it's reflected back, quite similar to radar or sonar, but in one case using millimeter waves, which are not so different from microwaves, in fact, and the other uses X-rays.\"\nInventor Steven W. Smith explains backscatter X-ray scanning quite thoroughly in his 1993 patent for the technology behind the Secure 1000: \n\"A pencil beam of X-rays is scanned over the surface of the body of a person being examined. X-rays that are scattered or reflected from the subject's body are detected by a detector. The signal produced by this scattered X-ray detector in then used to modulate an image display device to produce an image of the subject and any concealed objects carried by the subject.\"\nEach pixel in the processed image is determined by the intensity of the backscattered signal collected by the X-ray detector. Because heavy elements (like most metals) backscatter electrons more strongly than light elements (such as tissue, organic materials and plastics), they show up differently in the processed images. With current technologies, heavy elements show up darker, while light elements appear brighter \u2014 as a result, concealed weapons, which are often made of heavy elements, can be detected.\nMillimeter wave scanning works in the same way, except it uses millimeter waves instead of X-rays. The basic difference between the two technologies is that millimeter wave radiation \u2014 unlike high frequency X-rays \u2014 is not genotoxic and cannot cause cancer. \nSafety Concerns\nSo, what does the proliferation of these scanners mean for the safety of travelers undergoing full-body scanning? \nBackscatter X-ray scanning has received the majority of attention when it comes to safety issues, because \"as far as we know, there is no health hazard associated with the millimeter wave scanners,\" Dr. Brenner told NPR. On the other hand, he notes, \"We know that X-rays can damage DNA in cells, and we know that X-rays can ultimately produce cancer. So the concern is about the possibility of inducing X-ray-induced cancer in one of the individuals who's scanned.\"\nNo conclusive studies have been conducted that confirm that backscatter X-ray security scanners are safe for commercial use. Advocates for the use of the scanners believe that low-energy X-rays are of negligible risk to scanned travelers, but researchers protest that even very small doses of ionizing radiation is carcinogenic. The health effects of backscatter X-ray scanning remain under scrutiny, especially in scientific communities focused on cancer and imaging.\nPrivacy Issues and Updates\n\n\nNew, less invasive body scanning software produces a generic \u2014 rather than seemingly naked \u2014 image of travelers.\n\nBoth types of full body scanning technologies have raised privacy concerns, since they produce nude-like images of travelers.\nThe TSA announced in July that it plans to install software that will put an end to privacy concerns related to the scanners. \nThe software eliminates passenger-specific images. Instead, the machine uses a generic image to pinpoint any potential threats hiding under a passenger's clothes that require further screening. If no potential threats are automatically detected, an \"OK\" appears on the screen and the passenger is cleared.\nThis is especially positive news given the fact that a number of supposedly-secure body scan images were leaked in late 2010.\nIs It Worth It?\nThe use of commercial full body scanners has been highly scrutinized, especially given the safety and privacy concerns and the findings of a paper published in the Journal of Transportation Security that outlines how easy it would be for terrorists to slip through the scanners with small explosives and weapons.\nYes, it is important to stop terrorism, but at what cost? Do you think full body security scanners are helping keep the world safe, or are they just creating new, unnecessary problems? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.\nSeries Supported by Lenovo\n\n\n\n\nThe Tech Innovators Series is supported by Lenovo. Lenovo makes machines specifically for the innovators. The creators. The people who move the world forward. Machines like the Lenovo ThinkPad and IdeaPad, meticulously engineered with visibly smart second-generation Intel\u00AE CoreTM processors to help the people who do, do what's never been done.\n\n\n\n\nImage courtesy of iStockphoto, Marchcattle"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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