Passengers using Heathrow and Manchester airports have been told that from today they will not be allowed to board their flights if they refuse to submit to full-body scans.
The advanced imaging technology (AIT) scanners went into operation at the two airports at noon, despite concerns expressed by civil liberties campaigners. Birmingham airport will follow suit later this month, ahead of a national rollout.
The new security measure for air passengers follows the attempted bomb attack aboard a US plane on Christmas Day. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is accused of trying to detonate a bomb hidden in his underpants as his flight was about to land in Detroit.
Lord Adonis, the Transport Secretary, confirmed the new policy in a written parliamentary statement, saying that the scanners would help security staff to detect explosives or other dangerous items.
“In the immediate future, only a small proportion of airline passengers will be selected for scanning,” he said. “If a passenger is selected for scanning and declines, they will not be permitted to fly.”
The scanners are being used despite a warning from Trevor Phillips, head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), that they breach privacy rules under the Human Rights Act.
In a letter last week to Alan Johnson, the Home Secretary, Mr Phillips also warned that using profiling techniques to single out Muslims, Asians and black people would breach discrimination laws.
But Lord Adonis said that an interim code of practice on the use of body scanners stipulated that passengers would not be selected “on the basis of personal characteristics”.
He said there would be a consultation on their use, but added that there was an immediate need to begin using them.
“Given the current security threat level, the Government believes it essential to start introducing scanners immediately,” he said. “However I wish to consult widely on the long-term regime for their use, taking full account of the experience of the initial deployment.”
The body scanners at Manchester airport will be confined initially to Terminal 2, where they have been trialled since late last year. Additional scanners are planned for Terminal 1 and Terminal 3 by the end of the month. The airport said that its previous exemption for children had been overturned by the Government.
Sarah Barrett, head of customer experience, said that passengers had “privacy concerns” but stressed that the airport had put in strict procedures.
“It will enhance security for everyone, which can only be a good thing, without compromising people’s privacy,” she said.
“The image generated by the body scanner cannot be stored or captured, nor can security officers viewing the images recognise people. Contrary to reports, the equipment does not allow security staff to see passengers naked.”
Alex Deane, a barrister and director of campaign group Big Brother Watch, said such measures meant “the terrorists have won”.
“People are understandably afraid of terrorism,” he said. “But we didn’t allow the IRA to impede our freedoms or change our way of life, and we shouldn’t change now either.
“Those upset by the prospect of undergoing these scans shouldn’t be forced to choose between their dignity and their flight. What kind of a free society does the Government think it is ’protecting’, when it invades our privacy like this?
“When we are forced to expose ourselves at the airport in order to go on holiday, the terrorists have won.”
Aftermath News 
Hmmm. Haven’t flown in two and half years, but haven’t had to.
According to my memory most IRA bombings were preceded by a warning. Todays terrorists only issue indistinct threats.
Arcotiri,
Gleiwitz Incident, Reichstag Fire, ‘Dirty War”, Omagh, Gladio, “Strategy of Tension”, Balogna rail station, Operation Ajax, Russian Apartment Bombings, the London Tube Bombings, Operation Northwoods, 9/11, Pearl Harbor Deception. These are all examples of false flag state-terrorism. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_flag
The underwear bomber socalled, presented to us to get authorities looking down everybody’s underwear, was given a green light to board despite being reported to US authorities by his own father and being on watchlists. And he had no more explosives than just enough to catch his own pants on fire. Immediately afterwards the full body scanners are rolled out at $250K a pop and besides the invasion of privacy, these do cause harm to DNA according to a study by Los Alamos lab reported in MIT’s technology journal.
So, it doesn’t matter if their are warnings or threats or any of that because the real terrorists are the governments of this planet, staging incidents as pretexts to push through their agendas. In fact governments have been doing this since ancient times to consolidate power. The real terrorists throughout history is the shadowy military intelligence community that is international in scope with global agendas to push through.
To make statements that you just made is to totally ignore these things and continue thinking along the false paradigm set up under the auspices of the Perpetual War on Terror. The real threat is the very governments who claim to keep us safe.
911 Proof
http://www.911proof.com/
9/11 and Other False Flag Terrorism
http://erlenda5.blogspot.com/
It’s all BS. They (government) will make you believe it’s needed when they created the problem in the 1st place. It’s only a matter of time before they make this mandatory for all passengers. People are still not seeing what’s really going on because they are blinded by what the media tells them. They can no longer think for themselves.