X-ray vision is back, without the glasses

by Daysha Taylor, August 23rd, 2006, 7:00 am

During the comic book days of my childhood, I wasn’t dumb enough to order Harold von Braunhut’s “Amazing Illusory X-Ray Vision” glasses – but, my brother was. Sucker. The mail-order marketer’s specs may be a thing of the past, but his concept may soon play a big part in the future of airport security.

The most recent terrorist plot in London involving liquid explosives has brought x-ray vision back to the spotlight, with Rapiscan Systems’ Secure 1000 product taking center stage as one of the must-have security features for airports worldwide. At about 100 grand a unit, give or take, Rapiscan’s Secure 1000 would be considered more of the “De Luxe Model” of x-ray goggles. And ladies: Don’t even think about smuggling in your prized tube of discontinued Chanel lip gloss. This machine could probably reveal, well, just about everything about your body.

The system works by scanning a person with a beam of X-rays, not strong enough to penetrate the skin. Waves are reflected off the body as backscatter and Voila!, the next intrusion into our personal privacy is created.

According to an article by Mark Frary on the UK’s Times Online, the BAA is currently using four systems at London’s Heathrow Airport. The Secure 1000 system was tested at Orlando’s International Airport in 2002, but the virtual strip search proved to supply too much detail for the tastes of American passengers. As terrorists become more creative, our tastes may have to be put aside in the name of “safety,” or as NAPCO likes to call it, “significant growth driver.”

I’ve watched enough episodes of MacGyver to know that there are thousands of ways to blow stuff up. Why don’t we just cut through the flak and buy into everything the security industry has to offer? By the end of the decade, the TSA will have us streaking through customs with baggage claim tickets shaped like fig leafs after waking up from our in-flight anesthesia. At least then, I won’t have to wonder if my backscatter is going to end up on some security guy’s personal Myspace page.