It looks as though the use of body scanners at airport security is imminent and has met with mixed reactions from the public.

Some people are happy to be scanned by the electronic monitoring device, happy in the knowledge that this might just deter or even catch potential terrorists and others are up in arms that it breaches our right to privacy. But what is so wrong with the scanned images?

Well, they show a lot of detail about the body being scanned! In fact, they literally show a picture of the passenger completely naked. Of course, these images are seen only by screened and trained security personnel, they are not saved or stored or used for any other purposes but the Equality and Human Rights Commission say this method breaches the Human Rights Act in regard to privacy. They are also concerned that staff could be pressured to use the images for gain ie, selling pictures of naked celebrities or children via the internet.

Ministers pushing through the use of these scanners say that life and liberty are paramount – above the potential embarassment of the passenger and that codes of practice will be put in place to try and avoid abuse of the system.

In addition to the body scanners, the Government are also considering using passenger profiling as part of their new airport safety measures. While the Human Rights Commission accept that the Government has a duty to protect air travellers they still require a detailed report on how profiling or scanners will help. The concern is that vulnerable people such as the disabled, young children and transgendered people will be negatively affected by these new measures.

It has also been pointed out by Dylan Sharpe, the campaign director of Big Brother Watch, that neither of these methods are foolproof. Unfortunately, when it comes to terrorism, these people are very determined and it would be close to impossible to find one single method that offered complete protection. All we can ask is that due diligence is always used but it is feared by safety groups that this will become second place to relying on machinery that could fail.

the first body scanners are expected to be operational at Heathrow Airport by the end of February. It seems wrong that we live in such times that we have to be virtually stripped naked to ensure we do not pose a risk to our fellow passengers but many people would sooner do that than give up their right to travel.